Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

We've never seen such frenzied consumerism around chocolate. Here in Bariloche I think chocolate buying is considered a sport, or competition.  It could easily be a main export for Argentina.  Chocolate shops literally line the streets, and there are massive grocery store sized shops on the big corners.  The lesser quality shops vie hard for our business, doling out the free samples.  We nearly need to run from some, they don't recognize how many times they've already fed us.  The really good shops, i.e. Mamuschuka, are really stingy with their samples and it's so crowded in their mega-super store that we need to take a number to be served.  It's good to have a wait in the queue, however, as it takes 30 minutes just to browse all the glass display cases to see what they have.  If this were the states, I'm sure they'd have menus for hand out to move the process along and people in and out to maximize sales.  Here you have to really work for your fattening purchase.  We've completed the grueling and oh so competitive purchase process here at Mamuschuka several times now during our stay in Bariloche.  it's like going to the pharmacy in Latin America.  Get your number, wait 30 minutes in line to place your order, receive a receipt that we then take to a "cashier" whose behind a plastic plexi-glass shield. Once we pay, we're given a new receipt which we then take to the collections counter to retrieve our tiny bag of six chocolate squares.  The other women around me are hauling out bags filled with boxes of chocolates, and are coughing up hundreds of dollars for the stuff.  

Alongside the chocolate Santas and penguins are the symbols of our sad state of  "always available, always wired world," ...  chocolate cell phones!  Ugh!  I'm sure there's the black"crack"berry model too.  It's quite an experience here, fending off the other tourists swarming these shops, just to pack on unnecessary calories, but oh, it tastes so good, especially with the right wine pairing.