One of the things that I have discovered while traveling to other countries that they may not offer what I enjoy to drink in the morning. I love my chai tea. That can become an issue, especially when one does not drink coffee. Which seems to be the morning drink that most people enjoy.
Before traveling to Spain, I decided not to bring my own favorite hot morning drink and figured I could at least find some chai latte or hot chocolate somewhere along the line. Oh they had hot chocolate all right, but not the type found here in the states. The first time I ordered it, they brought a chocolate pudding type “item” out. Well that definitely confused me. Then I tried it again, for surely there was a communication problem happening with my first order. <But remember, we are in another country and English is not the first language.> The same thing happened.
Based on these two exact same experiences, I then surmised that hot chocolate in Spain, is really chocolate pudding.
Fast forwarding to a few days later, I found myself in Andorra, a tiny country tucked up in the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France. It was a little chilly and now I was really thinking how some nice hot chocolate with Bailey’s Irish Cream would be a wonderful treat to cap the night off.
We ended up at this quaint little restaurant that was highly recommended to us, El Versailles (it definitely lived up to its reputation).
Surely in Andorra hot chocolate has been heard of. I was sadly mistaken.
However, the owner of El Versailles, Claudia, was incredibly accommodating and asked me how she could make the hot chocolate with Baileys. After listening to my description of what I was looking for…she went to work trying to replicate what I described.
<We’ve found that most owners of small restaurants around the world are super wonderful!>
So she found a big chunk of chocolate that she had in the kitchen and gently shaved pieces of it and mixed it into the milk she had steamed until it came to a perfect cup of hot chocolate, then added the Baileys.
From left: Claudia, Dianne, Gary
What a fabulous experience!! All because I asked and Claudia was willing to listen, learn and attempt to provide my request. We have discovered this dynamic around the world and experienced some of the best people as a result.