A three month vacation in Chile turned into years exploring Latin America, its cocoa producers, and a job with The Nature Conservancy for American Mark Gerrits, who has been living in Chile for over two decades: from 1993-1999 and from 2003 onwards. Little by little, the hobby of making chocolate from cocoa beans at home took shape - and flavor - and in 2015 Mark resigned from his job at TNC to dedicate himself 100% to developing his dream, Óbolo Chocolate. Meaning gift, a synonym of "regalo" in Spanish, its origins can be traced back to ancient Greece where it also was the word for a coin.