Schokoladentour im indigenen Gebiet BriBri und im Cahuita-Nationalpark

Es war ein toller Ausflug im Kleinbus, zu dritt, mit Fahrer und einem netten Guide, welcher sehr gut englisch sprach. Der Empfang am Cruise-Terminal in Puerto Limón war professionell und herzlich, wir haben Land und Leute hautnah kennengelernt, einheimische Früchte gekostet und konnten sogar Wünsche fürs Mittagessen äußern, was sehr authentisch war. Zum Schluss hat uns der Fahrer direkt an der Gangway zum Schiff rausgelassen. Wir können diesen Ausflug nur empfehlen und haben jeden Moment genossen.

We booked this tour through Trip Advisor and it could not have gone any better! This is a personal tour with your group/family in a taxi. The representatives of Syltravel Day Tours were very easy to find when you get off of the cruise ship. They are located in a red tent, in the area where travelers are met. This was a very short walk from the cruise ship. They had my wife and myself pre-registered from our Trip Advisor booking. As soon as we arrived, they placed us with Juan (Taxi 278). He served as both our driver and our guide. Check out with the port authority was easy and we were on our way to the chocolate forest and national park tour. It was about a one hour drive to the chocolate forest tour. During the drive, Juan was like having a personal Google of information about the plants, animals and the people of Costa Rica. Along the way, he would stop to show us monkeys in trees, a sloth or other interesting sights. We found a cashew tree and tried the fruit from it. At the chocolate forest tour, a native Indian family introduced us to many of the rainforest plants and trees and Juan provided the translation. The end of the tour took us to a native hut where we participated in converting the raw cacao beans in to chocolate. We roasted the beans, ground them with a stone, removed the husks, and then processed them through a fine grinder making them into chocolate. We then got to sample this with roasted and fresh bananas. We also had this mixed with hot water to try the ceremonial drink and then the more family drink mixed with brown sugar and powdered milk. Processed balls of the chocolate were available for purchase. We then went to the Cahita National Park where Juan continued as our guide. He again pointed out several sloths, monkeys, butterflies, enormous spiders and a venomous eyelash snake. At the end of our walk through the park, we found a vendor selling coconut milk and fresh fruit. TIPS: There is a moderate amount of walking in the native area and some of it is over some moderately steep inclines. There is also a moderate amount of walking on a well marked, flat path in the national park. This is not a suitable tour for those with a walking impairment. Ask for Juan if he is available.

This excursion is misrepresented. It says you will taste chocolates (chocolateS plural) from around Costa Rica, which you do not (only one). It says you will make your own chocolate bar, which you do not. It says there is a "chocolate creation lab" but there is not. This was an interesting tour but chocolate was a very tiny part of it - less than 10 minutes for us to mostly watch them make some hot cocoa. No bars. The tour guide was very good and we did enjoy it but we were really excited about the chocolate part and that was a big let down. The transportation was great and air conditioned. They took us to a great spot for lunch (although it was very expensive tourist prices). The stop for fruit was really not a thing (more like a gas station) and we opted not to do the banana plantation thing bc we saw the fields from the car and that was really all it was. Overall I don't think I'd do this one again since the chocolate wasn't what it was represented to be.