Hispanic Culture Site
	Valerie D. Aguilar BellaOnline's Hispanic Culture Editor

Chocolate
The history of chocolate, inclusing how Spain kept it a secret for a hundred years.

Chocolate - Ancient Drink of the Gods
Treasured by native Mesoamericans for thousands of years, chocolate is the most significant cultural gift from the New World. Cacao beans highly prized and endowed with magical and spiritual powers were originally used to make a chocolate drink for the most elite of Mesoamerican society.

Chocolate! How Liquid Gold Moved the World
The initial discovery of and recognition of the importance of Chocolate is often attributed to Hernan Cortez. Yet in 1502 Christopher Columbus, or Colon, on his fourth and final voyage to the Caribbean, reached the island of Guanaja off the coast of Honduras. History says that he was greeted by

Chocolate: The Treasure the World Loves!
Chocolate! How I love Chocolate. It is rich and delicious. It is given to show love and to cheer someone up.

Costa Rica's Oil Palm Plantations
: In Costa Rica I explored the two hundred miles of Pacific coastline from the north Pacific area of Liberia to the central Pacific area of Quepos. In the central Pacific, particularly around Quepos, I was impressed by boundless forests of palm trees extending for miles along the highway.

Latin American Food Contributions A-P
What would our culinary world be like without the introduction of foods cultivated by the Native Americans of Mexico, Central and South America? Nowadays over sixty percent of the world’s food supply originates from pre-Columbian Native American agriculture.

Latin American Food Contributions P-Z
What would our culinary world be like without the introduction of foods cultivated by the Native Americans of Mexico, Central and South America? No Russian vodka, French pastry, Irish potato, Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, popcorn, pizza, Hawaiian pineapple, peanut butter, jack-o-lanterns and more!

Oil Palm Plantations in Costa Rica
In Costa Rica I explored the two hundred miles of Pacific coastline. In the central Pacific, particularly around Quepos, I was impressed by boundless forests of palm trees extending for miles along the highway. Curiously, the trees appeared to be aligned diagonally.

Romancing the Cuban Cigar
Cuban cigars are highly prized world-wide for their superior quality. Cigar smoking is most often described in sensuous terms. One sips the cigar and enjoys an hour of opulent smoking pleasure. Many law-abiding American have been seduced into crime by the lust for Cuban cigars.

Sao Paolo, Queen of Latin American Fashion
Sao Paolo has long been the Queen of Fashion for Latin Americans but it is not to be neglected on the world stage. Sao Paolo ranks in the top ten fashion capitals along with Paris, New York, London, Barcelona and Madrid. Brazil produces top designers, fashion houses and top models. Sao Paolo Fashio