I was in Puerto last year at this time but couldn't make the festival. It is a community event and everyone comes out to support the amazing chocolatiers. Everything in town revolves around chocolate this week from cake to chocolate raviolis. 
Thursday was the festival kick off with dinner centered around chocolate & music at Stashu's plus the awards for the chocolate voted the best in it's category. Now exactly how can I get on the list of judges? I have a couple of friends who have judged in past years and I need in for sure.
Friday night brought loads of people out to Hot Rocks where they enjoyed chocolate beer, music, tastings and more. Its a fun way for the community to showcase the artisans in the area, plus chocolate beer is good, right?
Saturday kicked off even more events with workshops on how to make your own chocolate body butter, chocolate making, history of chocolate, and tastings pared with alcohol. Now who doesn't want to try a bunch of chocolate and match it with some yummy drink? The clear favorites were the spicy hot chocolate drink infused with amaretto, a bon bon filled with a jack daniels ganache, meringue chocolate mousse, and a chocolate bar made to taste like mexican hot cocoa paired with a hand-made liquor, and a lovely salted chocolate infused with lime leaves and tequila.
The long and short of it is that everyone in town was high on chocolate and having a blast. 

From Sueño Grande it's about 8km to Punta Uva so I just ride my bike. I've been meaning to get down there for a couple of weeks but hadn't managed. Yesterday I had an appointment cancel which gave me just the perfect excuse to head out even if it was noon.
It was a bit hot at mid-day but I still got to hear all the jungle birds, several troops of howler monkeys, and it didn't take long before I was in the water. On this trip I decided to use the second entrance to Punta Uva. It's  marked with a sign for Arrecife restaurant on the main road.
I locked my bike up and headed out to the right. The water was a stunning calm clear blue. There are some very nice coral formations but not large like you might see in a place like Bonaire. The cracking and popping of the creatures living in a reef never ceases to amaze me. As a scuba diver I enjoy all the bright fish flashing around and trying to ID the ones I've seen dozens of times like damsels, tangs, grouper, wrasse, urchins, parrot & triggers. Almost every time I enter the water there is one thing that stands out as special. On this trip I was graced with spiny puffer fish. They are shy creatures but one hung out under a ledge while we watched each other for quite awhile. The second striking thing is I didn't see a lion fish which is great news because they are not native to the area and in the past have caused havoc with the natural ecosystem here. I paddled around until I got chilled and headed home. There are quite a few places along the way to stop but I opted to wait for the amazing gelato in Puerto as my treat!
 October is a great time to snorkel so I better make the most of it.