Dinners and more in San Marcos

Beside the Bosque Encantado hotel, I found a little place upstairs that had cold beers. When I went up one afternoon to get a couple para llevar, to go, I met Brad, the owner. A gregarious man, from LA. He told me the story of Ganesh, a Cooperative. He rents the building, and has a restaurant/bar upstairs. Each night, he rents the kitchen to local cooks, and he runs the bar. He's dark Monday, but Tues and Wed nights feature different local women cooks. Sunday night is barbeque night. I asked him if barbeque is a verb or a noun, and for that question he gave me a beer! I took my beers back to the hotel, and later Stuart and I went back for dinner. Dirk, a Swede, was cooking, and we had a perfectly awesome dinner, with the best sauces I've tasted! We met a man from Maine, who is farming coffee and chocolate, who shared some chocolates with us, filled with coffee of course. By the time we left Ganesh, we felt like family, and knew we'd be back.

Brad poured a beer drink for me, with hot sauce and lemon juice. I'm hooked.










Does this look pretty?!? The drink is the beer drink Bard made, and the little shooter is mescal, with a lime slice dusted with ground coffee. Sounds like a strange combination, but very tasty.


















Ganesh, guarding the entrance to the restaurant of the same name in San Marcos.






















This is Pablito, from London. A dancer/physical therapist we met one day in San Pedro. After a few days, we decided to see some of the other villages on the lake, and hopped on the lancha. San Pedro is the second most popular village on the lake, and close to San Marcos. We walked to the top of the hill, didn't see anything that appealed to us. It's a 'normal' town, with paved streets and cars and trucks, stores and a mercado. We walked back down to the lake, found a place for lunch, and enjoyed a chicken curry. Chicken, pineapple, carrots, potatoes and curry powder. Pretty tasty! After lunch, as we walked back to the pier, I watched Pablito decline a shoe shine from a flock of small local children. And, he was wearing some very shinable shoes: big and leather. I commented about his will power (the kids are so pitiful), and we had a long conversation about our paths in life and how we can choose. We agreed that guilt is a product pedaled by people who want something from us, and that guilt is self-imposed. He had no guilt over the kids, and said he could shine his own shoes pretty well. Pablito is on a dedicated spiritual quest, which has him in San Marcos for a few months, and he joins us later on the lancha ride back to our quiet village. I took this picture a few nights later, when we ran into him at dinner at the restuarant owned by a Brit. I've loved the travelers we've met, and all their tales.