The firecrackers went on until well after midnight.
Leave the hotel around 8:00 this morning, the streets are deserted, warm on the sunny side but the air is still cool. Retrace our steps from last night looking for a recommended cafe for breakfast but they’re not open until 11:00 today. Make our way back towards the Bagel Barn, fingers crossed. On the way we pass the communal laundry areas, we’ve seen a few of these around Guatemala – even when there is a washing machine at home these are used because they are a place to meet and gossip, no-one has started washing yet today however.
Bagel Barn is open – a grilled cheese bagel, spinach and banana smoothie and a strong coffee are a good antidote to last night’s drinks.
Next stop is the Merced Convent ruins, like most of the ruins here this suffered in the 18th Century earthquakes. It was built to withstand strong tremors but still wasn’t strong enough for those huge quakes. The first floor is still standing but the upper stories are almost all missing.
Buy a few gifts and souvenirs in a big tourist shop, they have their own version of Maximon the Mayan god in a shed in the courtyard; the only worshipper today is a local cat.
Most of the sites in town are closed so we end up gazing at ruins through railings.
Sightseeing isn’t working today so we try a few activities instead. First up is chocolate making. Cacao trees were originally from South America but chocolate itself developed from a drink produced in what is now Guatemala as early as 1900BC, it was a drink of Olmec Kings and Priests. The Aztecs took the idea from the Mayans and had to transport the beans from Guatemala overland manually, the beans were used as a currency; among other things 30 beans would buy you a rabbit. The Aztec word Cacahuatl put off the Spanish who changed the word to Chocolade and started exporting the beans back home. Chocolate was soon popular all over Europe. In 1910, William Cadbury convinced a number of British and American producers to stop using beans from plantations that used slaves.
Our class started with a history lesson and then moved onto more practical demonstrations. The cacao beans have to be roasted, dried and fermented before being used, this was done for us but we then ground up the cacao nibs by hand in a pestle and mortar and used the resulting cacao liquor – it is slightly alcoholic – to make Mayan style chocolate drink, Spanish hot chocolate and chocolate tea from the bean shells. They’re all very tasty, rich and savoury and a long way from the chocolate bars we’re used to. Finally, we used some ready melted dark chocolate to make our own sweets with a number of fillings to choose from: chilli, orange, mint, cardamom among others.
The chocolates will be ready in two hours, in the meantime it’s time for our Salsa lesson. Our teacher is called Victor Hugo. He is very patient and guides us though some basic steps, he finishes with a short demonstration that we video so we can practice later – maybe.
Just time to collect the chocolates before meeting our new guide and group of travelling companions.
Everywhere is quiet in town, we have craft beers from the Antigua Brewing Company to bid farewell to the town and Guatemala. Tomorrow we leave at 4:00am for Honduras.
Hi just catching up with the blog on the very last day of the Christmas hols – yes work tomorrow. Sounds like you had a great New Year – bars sound good – like the sound of a Mescal mule – might be enjoying a final Moscow type one later – Mescal being hard to come by in Hildenborough. Holidays have been good – the regular mix of socialising over indulgence and relaxation although did manage a New Year’s day run in very miserable weather – now January to face – though looking fwd to 2017 and what it may hold, look after yourselves, M
What a happy borracho you are. No dry January?
Dry January? Yes, we haven’t seen any rain since Rio Dulce and that was definitely December 🙂
Vote El Borracho !
🙂