Dog Bites and Bee Stings

I was hot and tired and needed a drink yesterday. I came up to a woman and what did she say?

“Horchata, naranja, tejate,” she was selling.

Tejate was my choice. I had seen signs in town and saw strange liquids in people’s cups while walking around, and thought that must be the mysterious tejate. It seemed like a local delicacy and I asked her

“What is it?”

She told me about maize, and cacao, and the Mayans and I got the gist. She asked if I wanted a straw and I asked her how she drank it. She said no straw was the right way to take it. I went no straw.  I paid fifty pesos for a drink which seemed steep.

“Cincuenta pesos…for the gringo?” I asked, tongue in my cheek.

She smiled and said no, no, para todos, for everyone. Yeah, okay lady. I held the plastic mug by the top and bottom and drank some tejate. The ice cubes floating around in it were much needed. There were chunks of the mixture that hadn’t been mixed in all the way, but that seemed intentional. It was refreshing, chocolatey, and went down easy. Come to try it if you’re in town someday. Whether you do or you don’t, you’ll be okay.