Rough Rides, Chocolate and BBQ

A Day in San Juan la Laguna in Lake Atitlan

Although we were staying in San Pedro la Laguna, a very laid back backpacker hippie town built right off the lake much like most of the other villages in Lake Atitlan; exploring the other towns is a great experience. Taking a tuk-tuk, it was a short fifteen minute ride through San Pedro followed by a very dusty road that had amazing views of the lake. We arrived at the main church and went straight to Licor Marron, the chocolate workshop/factory/store. Since we heard they do free tutorials on how they make the chocolate we could not resist.

The instructor told us about how they pick the pods and peel them to release the cocoa beans, they then ferment them for up to a week, then wash and dry them. He then took the beans and actually ground some by crushing them by rolling a rock rolling pin over the dried beans on a stone - much like a flat mortar and pestle, making a powder. They then add molasses and orange juice, which the latter I didn’t realize was a key ingredient in dark chocolate; and milk and then if they wanted to add flavorings. Their flavors consisted of ginger, macadamia, chile, cardamom, coffee, different types of liquor cinnamon and orange. It was a great, short tutorial and after looking around their little store we purchased a cardamom milk chocolate bar and an orange chocolate 70% dark chocolate bar. They also sold as tea from cocoa bean shells, so there is no waste!

We bought a bag of the tea, due to the fact that it has soo many good properties to it including improving blood circulation, digestive issues, it is an anti-inflammatory, and gives you energy. The tea tastes really good with honey. We ended up using the cardamom chocolate in a mocha with rum and steamed milk the next morning! It was delicious.

Later that day, as we’d been informed earlier in the week, there was a Sunday BBQ at Smokin’ Joes. There is a guy that moved to San Pedro la Laguna who is a butcher and realized that there was a market for classic American BBQ with the expat community around the lake. He buys local meats of all kinds and serves steaks, ribs and roasts with all the sides every Sunday afternoon at really affordable prices! It was great, Mark got the pork riblets and I got the brisket, it was too much food so as the frugal backpacker I am, I packed a Tupperware container in my purse and we took the leftover meat home. We then ate that meat for the next three days! We made: Brisket scrambled eggs, Ribs with salad, Brisket and rib soup with rice; and it was all amazing! Unfortunately I only have the one picture of the bbq, our plates. We were too excited to eat due to the lavish smells and left to take a nap afterwords, so pictures were not on our minds.