We took another tour with the same guides to Izapa (early Mayan ruins), a waterfall deep in the jungle, and a Mayan chocolate maker. Miguel and Tony are some of the best guides we’ve ever had anywhere. Miguel is a lawyer, currently sitting as a local judge, and does these tours on the side for fun. He speaks at least three languages. Tony has lived in Europe and speaks seven languages and used to work for the UN as a translator. His day job is teaching languages.
The first stop was once a large temple complex from the very early days of the Mayan civilization (from 1250 BC). Everything is oriented toward the nearby Tacana volcano, but the tallest pyramids are only perhaps 30 feet at the tallest. It had an early version of the ball court but this one dates to before they used the stone hoops. Interestingly, there are several carved stones that show people in boats that resemble ancient Phoenician vessels, and the people in them have beards, which did not exist in this hemisphere at that time. This is part of the evidence put forth to indicate people had sailed across the oceans long before Columbus.
Second stop was a beautiful waterfall at 3600’. The road to get there was the real adventure with grades of 20% (I measured) that went on for miles! Narrow and, of course, parts of it under construction. They introduced us to three new fruits that none of us had ever eaten. All were delicious! The small round fruit is called jobo and had a large seed. Eat the skin and the little bit of flesh. The mangoes are Ataulfo mangoes and have no stringiness whatsoever. Sweeter than regular mangoes and can be eaten with a spoon, often used in ice cream and drinks. All agreed they are much tastier than the more traditional mango. Also much easier to eat and they can be found in the United States. See the picture with the orange fruit in the cooler bag. Zapote was the other fruit, comes apart in segments and eat all but the large seeds. Very good and very similar flavor to fig.
Then we stopped in the town of Tuxtla Chico to visit Doña Josefina, whose family has been making chocolate the way the Mayans did 2000 years ago. She is apparently rather famous and has given demonstrations throughout Europe and been featured at many chocolate and candy making competitions around the world. She uses metates that are so heavy they have to be shipped by boat. The process is simple: ferment the beans naturally, toast over an open fire, grind lightly to remove the husks, grind the beans into a paste, then mix in a little bit of cinnamon and sugar. Milk products were unknown to the Mayans and only a little bit of sugar and cinnamon were used but they often added peanuts or almonds. It was usually mixed with boiling water and that is how we were served – 94° air, 90% humidity and 100° hot chocolate! Not nearly as sweet as any chocolate or chocolate milk you’d be familiar with, but neither was it bitter. Very good, and we even bought some to make for ourselves. She makes as much as 500 pounds of chocolate a month, all by hand. And, of course, this is in the back of her home and we found it hysterical that the ladies had to keep chasing chickens out of the kitchen. Such squawking!
The tours always stop at grocery stores or Sam’s Club or Walmart as requested. We stopped at Walmart to try to buy a new vacuum, without success. Got back in the car and another couple asked what we had been looking for and then said they just happen to have a spare Dyson battery! Unbelievable! Brand new and working great.
We also requested to stop at the tamale place where our lunch had come from. Again, just a family operation but they make and sell over 1000 tamales a day! We found the molé tamales to be extraordinarily good. About $.75 apiece. The first pot is cooking the maize. Tamales are steamed in those huge cauldrons for one hour. The black cauldron is molé.
The only work we’ve had done was to remove a padeye and reinstall with proper backing plate. Has been almost a week and still not quite done due to broken bolts…
