Jorge and Flor make Chicharron

I'm biking home and see a man with a big pot on a fire.  May I ask what this is?  I say.  Yes, he says. With pride and joy!!

The man is Jorge.  He was making chicharron. Which I thought was "just" rendered pork fat.  But I had so much to learn!  

First.  What is rendering anyway???  I'd heard of it.  Didn't know exactly what it meant.  Google says it's cooking fat to evaporate all the water in it, to make it keep / not rot.  Soooo....basically, put chunks of (pork) fat in a big pot.  Cook.  Until lots of the fat is melted & all the water is evaporated.  To make chicharron, cook until the remaining / not melted chunks of fat are golden brown and crispy.  The crispy bits are the chicharron.  Which means "crackling" in Spanish. 

Jorge offered me a piece of his chicharron to try.  I'd had it before.  It's very keto (lo carb, hi fat diet) And can be really tasty. But Jorge's fresh chicharron was the best ever!!!  I'm not eating keto these days, so I didn't want to eat too much of it.  Sad :(

Jorge was so pleasant, I asked if I could take his picture.  He was so keen!  He posed! With his mixing stick! And smiled so proudly!  

It was such a fun encounter, and such an awesome picture of Jorge, I printed it.  And went back to his house to offer him a print.  

Jorge wasn't home.  But his sister Flor was.  She was super pleasant too!  And offered some tastes of the chicharron she was making. That's when I learned chicharron is NOT always just pork fat.  To my delight, and less delight, I tasted chicharron made from....beef skin/fat - very good!  Beef tripe- pretty good!  And beef lung - ouch!!  A little too real for me :(

 Pictures

1) Jorge posing with his giant pot of pork chicharron.  So delicious!!!

2) Flor posing with her pot of beef chicharron, and a piece of beef tripe chicharron in her hand.  She had a very good laugh, at my expense, when I said beef lung (the dark chunks in the bin that look like dried poop) is not for me.  I thought her laughing at me was very funny! 

3) This is Sebastian. He guards bicycles and scooters that park in "his area" at the Mega grocery store.  The service is pay what you want like  5, 10, 20 pesos (30 cents to $1.20) He's been there since I've been coming to Cozumel.  He's always so cheery.  I gave him a print of this picture.

4) A cute little dog hanging out at Jorge and Flor's house.  Their dog?  Maybe.  I'll ask next time I go there.

5-6) This hippo has a kinda surprised look on its face.  Maybe cause it has that weird thing coming outta his back end???  Ohhhh....it's a slide! :)  The little girl in the picture was cute.  The woman, a grandmother? (Abuela), was patient.  The little girl had a deformed arm.  Not much there after the elbow.  It took her a little time to get up the ladder.  But she seemed to enjoy her slide!   

7) Cupcakes in the bakery section at Mega.  Too cute! About $0.60 each!  Nope.  I didn't buy one.  I'm not eating keto.  But I am trying to be reasonable...