. >>> the city of chiclayo lies about 400 miles northwest of lima. over a half million people living there. it's our next stop, the staging area for our trip to the mountains to find our cocao. chocolate. we know we like the stuff. how is it made? where does it come from? columbus was the first european to encounter cocao beans on a mayan trading canoe off the coast of honduras. he's said to have grabbed both crew and cargo and brought them back to spain. a few decades later a spanish conquistador, hernando cortez, came across aztecs using the sacred beans as a drink. it was considered the drink of the gods. like most expensive and delicious things from abroad, the largely inbred and frequently syphilitic european royalty did their best to keep what was fast becoming a craze for hot chocolate to themselves. but it soon found its way to america. in 1765, the first chocolate factory opened in new england. chiclayo's main market is a massive one-stop shop for all things chocolate as well as just about everything else under the sun. oh, man you have your