A lot has happened in the past couple days. Yesterday we met with Ruben on the property and got him started clearing a road in. While he was getting started we went to Builders Hardware to see what all they had and check on septic tanks. Rotoplas (the same company that makes our water tanks in Cholla) now makes a drop in septic. Builders Hardware has just about as much as a Home Depot, so that will make things real easy. On the way to the hardware store we passed a Mahindra truck dealer so we stopped in and checked out prices, this might be a perfect truck for what we need.

On the way back to check on Ruben we stopped at a road side little restaurant for lunch. Kelley ordered cow foot soup and I ordered the stewed Gibnut. The Gibnut goes by a couple names such as a Paca, or the Royal Rat, anyway both meals were very delicious. Turns out there are quite a few of these roaming our property according to Ruben.

Finally got out to see Ruben and he had already cleared a 30′ wide road back in about 75′ all with just a machete. He is an amazing person and I know he will become our permanent caretaker and life long friend.

Today we headed into San Ignacio to see how the Mayan’s make chocolate. We were the only ones there, which was great. Adrian Choco the owner (yes his sir name is really Choco) got us started making chocolate. He had already roasted the beans and they were still warm when we started. First we peeled the shell off the beans, then we used a grinding stone that had been in his family for generations to grind the beans into a paste. We tried it in a hot beverage  with smoked habanero the same way the Mayans drink it. After that we added some sugar to the paste and made some really good chocolate, all while we learned about how important chocolate was in the Mayan culture.

Back to check on Ruben and at this point he has the road cleared about 250′ in from the main road. This will be the area where we will put our house. All this done without a chainsaw, just a machete. The biggest tree that had to be taken down was only about 8″ in diameter, we tried to weave our way through, taking as few trees as possible. While we were standing on the property a flock of about 20 parrots flew over, Ruben said there are a lot of parrots and toucans in the area. And Ruben also said not a single snake was seen… and he hates snakes.

Now we are relaxing on the porch having a cold Belikin beer and thinking about a little Mexican Moonshine.