Izapa & Chocolate City

On this, our second time in Puerto Chiapas on this trip, we ventured further out by booking a private experience with Nativo Tours (highly, highly recommended). Sonia and Boris joined us for what turned out to be a great tour … with Fabio, an informative and charming young man guiding us.

Our first stop was the ruins of Izapa, a large pre-Columbian archaeological site spread out over a wide area. The various groups of the site are located on the properties of farmers and the like and have not been excavated by the government.

Though it wasn’t on the itinerary, Fabio suggested we see if we could start at Grupo A, where there are numerous stele … including one that is known as the “Tree of Life.” Unfortunately, the site was locked up since no one was expected today.

So, we went back to the original plan and continued onto Grupo F. Here, we visited the three-level pyramids and the pelote court where the Maya played a ball game using parts of their bodies other than the head, hands, or feet to get the ball through a ring. The rings at this court, believed to have been made of wood, are long gone. But Fabio still gave us a chance to play the game. We failed miserably. But in this instance that was a good thing … back in the day, the winners were sacrificed to the gods!!!

From the ruins of Izapa, we continued onto Tuxtla Chico … a town whose name means “little rabbit.” This was definitely the highlight of our tour.

We started off by visiting the Church of La Candelaria, which has an old altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin. I love these white-washed churches that date back to the Colonial Era. Fabio explained that the town is getting ready for the Fiesta de la Candelaria, which is celebrated between 23 January and 2 February. Unfortunately, the preparations extended into the central plaza where normally there would have been a folklore performance. Today, we had to be satisfied with seeing the colorful traditional costumes worn by the women.

The next portion of the tour took us to the Chocolah La Parra house. Here, Doña Josefina, who has won awards for her chocolates in competitions in Italy and France, runs an artisanal shop and demonstrates the process of making chocolate by hand. It’s a small place where large tour groups cannot be accommodated, and today, we had the place to ourselves.

The demo was a participatory experience, which we enjoyed tremendously … from roasting the cacao beans, to shelling them, and using a metate made from lava rock to make the paste that is then formed into cakes of chocolate. Yes, we got to taste (and smell) the fruits of our labor.

To reward us for our hard work, we were then fed a traditional meal that included quesadillas stuffed with queso fresco (fresh cheese) and chicken tamales, which had olives and hardboiled eggs in the filling. Of course, the beverage we were served was freshly made hot chocolate … using just hot water to melt the incredibly rich and tasty chocolate paste.

By the time we left Tuxtla Chico we were all sated to the gills and ready for some downtime. It was 92F by then … a refreshing shower on the ship was looking like a very attractive way of ending our day of touring in Puerto Chiapas.

We have had some wonderful experiences in Mexico. Now, we are moving onto other countries.Read more