Anybody for some jungle rodent?

Ever since arriving in Petén we have been told about the best meat in the whole world. Keep in mind that this is coming from either ex-guerrillas or Kekchi people, therefore from people who eat anything they can catch (such as iguana, parrots, monkeys, snakes...etc.) However, there is one animal that is better than chicken or deer or even beef.

Tepezcuintle here in Petén, also known as a Paca in English. Click HERE to go to the Wikipedia article. Basically it is a 25 pound jungle rodent. Sounds delicious right?

So after being here two years I still had managed to avoid eating it. It is pretty rare and just last year a law was passed, banning it from being served in restaurants. Lonely planet cautioned against eating anything in Petén that might jump from the menu to the endangered species list, and it turns out they were right.

However, my friend's mom has a restaurant and just so happens to have pet tepezcuintle, and they serve tepezcuintle to "amigos" which means anybody that won't rat (pun intended) them out to the authorities.

Finally we had the opportunity, on the way back from Belize, to stop by and eat. My wife ordered steak and I ordered the greatly coveted and slightly prohibited rodent. Grilled Please.

Honestly, it had so much spice on it that you would never known what it really was. It was a little too "Game-y" to be chicken, but it was white meat and had that texture.

So after this experience, a Peteneros "right of passage" you might say, of course I'm going to tell all my friends about it, right? I mean, they've been talking about this big rat for a long time, so of course the Gringo that thinks too much of himself has to brag at least a little. At first everybody got that glazed over look with slight drooling (kind of like my Boxer) and I got lots of kudos.

Little did I know that this is one of those times it is better to just keep your mouth shut. Instead of saying, "Hey everybody, I ate tepezcuintle!" I should have waited until somebody talked about it and then I could have said, "Yeah...I tried that once." And really downplayed the situation.

Case in point. Monday night, in between Bible Studies, my Kekchi friend Marcos came and invited my wife and I to his house for "frescos" (drinks). That alone is dangerous to drink here because I've seen the villages well and pipes and cistern, but it should have been obvious that no Kekchi invites you to his house just for some drinks. It always involves food.

So I walked in and was presented with the customary bowl of piping hot liquid with a hunk of meat inside. I sat down and started to eat, because although Kekchi food may not be the safest food to eat, it always tastes good and they probably put enough chili on it to kill any bad stuff...

As I'm eating I asked what it was because the last time I checked chickens didn't have little tiny ribs (the part of the animal I was fortunate to get.) I was told that it was tepezcuintle! Marcos had hunted and caught it with his dog and since he knew I liked it so much, his wife and daughters prepared it just for me that night!

Afterwards some boys that were there with me last night had seen other skins hanging outside Marcos' house, so I guess I'm lucky I got rodent instead of monkey! Nevertheless, I have eaten two tepezcuintles in a month and now I am wondering just how many more of these things I am going to eat now that I opened my big mouth...