Departures, nostaligia, y chocolate!

Today my Dad and I departed from Santiago Atitlan towards our respective urban destinations: me Antigua, him the Guate airport to head home to California.  Rather than taking the usual pothole express through Chimaltenango, our motorista headed due south into the coastal lands.  Ahhhhh, warmth!   I removed my sweater, and waxed nostalgic for the humid bliss of El Salvador, especially as we passed through that crossroads town with dozens of invidual vendors selling freshly macheted coconuts.  Lucky for me I won't have to pine for too long for the pulgarcito since I"m heading there tomorrow morning!

Our motorista dropped me off at the Villa Estela which is on 2a avenida sur, past all the calles, way the hell away from the center of town.  Lucky for all of you reading this blog, the remote location forced me to return home early rather than wandering around town for another few hours, since the probability of me getting robbed on these backrounds after 10pm is way higher than our orange "president"'s approval rating.  

This afternoon, I wandered through the cobblestone streets of Antigua again.  I stopped once again at the Museo de Chocolate where I was greeted with a "Bienvenida de nuevo."  I had hoped to go incognito so I could sample the varieties to my heart's delight.  But apparently my eager rostro was all too recognizable.  

This time I sat at one of the tables and ordered banana bread, before I was strongly encouraged to switch to a brownie.  It came on a little white dish drizzled in Passion Fruit coulis, warm, with a deep aroma of cardamon and chili.  Yum!  Since my first time at the museo, I've become quite addicted to Cacao tea, which is nothing more than cacao husks, but gives the faint taste of chocolate when you boil them with enough love.  

This evening I was delighted to find that the hotel where my Dad and I had stayed last weeked had found my bombilla.  Hooray!  I can drink mate again!  Para manana.  Can't wait :)  With that in mind, es tiempo para dormir.  If you've gotten this far, hope you enjoyed my  boring post today and much love :)  

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Ode to Cacao Tea

Dark in the water, 
husks, shadows, dust, 
where to find
our emptiness here? 
My heartbox is stuffed
with letters ancestors.  
If only I had a match!
Who else will scatter ashes
tonight to marry the rains?
So many ways to detox, 
or die.  Solstice nights, 
when all 10 hearts
crack open 
and scatter 
tears
across---
thank you sun, 
thank you moon, 
thank you solitude
for stitching memories
to your wings.