Adorable chocolate shop only a few blocks from my apartment!

It is so funny how you can visit the same places again and again and not notice certain places.  Yesterday my friends and I went to a local burger place called Ol’ Blue.  It looks like a little Portland hipster restaurant that has been transplanted here to Valencia, Venezuela.  I went there for the first time just a few months ago and fell in love with the delicious, perfectly cooked, burgers and the crisp onion rings.  But that is not the discovery I’m talking about.

Yesterday, while we were eating I glanced up from my table at the restaurant and noticed what appeared to be a cute décor store across the way.  I pointed it out to my friends and one of them had also never been there so we decided to visit after our dinner.

The décor store also reminded me of places that I could find in Portland.  Sadly, I don’t remember the name, but it is just across from Ol’ Blue.  Everything looked handmade, brightly colored, and vaguely floral.  There were a lot of prints on the wall and one of my friends caved and bought one for her apartment- even though she is leaving at the end of the school year (in about 3 months).  I’m trying to not buy anything for myself because I have so many things I need to deal with already in my move to Bahrain.  I almost bought a cute Venezuela t-shirt… I might go back for that!

The best discovery of the day was this delicious chocolate shop called Chocolates Valle Canoabo.  One of my friends had been there a few times but it was the first time that she had seen their chocolate tea! Yes, they have tea just like the tea I found in Mindo, Ecuador.  Delicious and good for you.  Of course, the parchita (passion fruit), lemon pie, and other bonbons I picked up were not so healthy… but at least they were dark chocolate! That’s good for me, right?

I love finding new-to-me-places in a city where I’ve been living for the past few years!