Not THAT Tabasco, the state in Mexico. You see, Tabasco is about the closest cacao growing region to us here in the USA.

I spent the better part of Last week with Elaine Gonzales -- the QUEEN of chocolate -- on her farewell tour for Marilyn Tausend and Culinary Adventures and their Discover Mexico's Chocolate Legacy with Elaine Gonzales tour. ( That was a mouth full)

I had planned on going on this tour with Elaine last year but the day I was to fly out I got hit with a kidney stone and had to leave Mexico in extreme pain. It was worth the return trip.

I arrived in Villahermosa Mexico in the state of Tabasco LATE Saturday night, May 10th. The tour didn't OFFICIALLY start until Dinner Sunday night and since several of us were getting early, they offered us a side excursion to Pelinque, an Olmec -- BEFORE the Maya -- archeological site. We were to leave at 7:00 am and though it was a LONG day Saturday, I went for it and was not disappointed. It was a fascinating day of exploration and we had an amazing guide -- Alberto Cabrales. We spent the HOT -- average 100- 105 f -- day hiking around the site learning this amazing civilizations history.

About 3:00 it was time to head back to Villahermosa and we were all glad to get into the air conditioned van. Glad until Alberto began to slow down and pull over and mumbled something about seeing what this fellow wants. It seems the Federales were behind us with lights flashing. After a bit Alberto came back and told us the van didn't have the proper license plate for transporting passengers. We had a letter of intent but not the right plates.

We first were told to go to this truck stop. We waited and waited and then were told we had to go to the police station. Though not really scary it was kind of weird getting pulled over and detained by federal police in a foreign country. After about an hour they told us to go so we headed back to the hotel JUST in time to grab a quick shower and head to dinner.

Villahermosa is an extremely modern city. They told us that in the 70's the population was about 90,000. Today it is 750.000. The discovery of oil was the driving force for that rapid growth and explains why a lot of Villahermosa is new, modern and shiny.

New, modern and shiny describes Sundays dinner choice. We ate at a place called LO. They explained that street slang for boy was lo and that is where their name came from. The specialized in what I would have to describe as Mexican fusion cuisine. We had a FIVE course dinner with everything being top notch!

Monday morning started bright and early and we headed to Comalcalco to Cacep Chocolate and the cacao plantations.

Vicente Guiterrez was the owner and an amazing host. Vicente is determined to bring back Criollo, the original Mexican cacao, the one that started ALL chocolate. He showed us the plantation, the pods growing right off the trunk of the tree, the harvest procedure and all the steps it takes to get the cacao ready to make chocolate. HOW a primitive civilization figured it all out is beyond me, but I sure am glad they did.

I have pictures of the entire trip -- including a few short movies of some of the processing processes -- at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiammaya.

Though this was Elaine's final voyage for Marilyn, I am sure it will not be the final cacao trip .

I was surrounded by chocolate professionals and was humbled by their knowledge and their willingness to share with this novice.