The Land of Milk & Honey

It’s the strangest thing, but we have discovered a “bake shop” (not a panaderia or pasteleria) here in Xela where everything is made and sold by old order Mennonites! It’s like stepping back in time for Ben, to his days of growing up eating chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins and long-john donuts in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (a place he refers to as The Land of Milk & Honey). Although it is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays, we have been hitting it up as often as possible. Lucky for us, it’s only a few blocks from ICA and we can make it there and back during our 30-minute break. Just the re-charge that we need to finish out the day!

There are so many yummy treats we don’t even know where to start – jelly and pudding filled donuts, banana, apple, and carrot bread, granola, whole-wheat bread, chicken flavored croissants, whoopie-pies, and Ben’s old friend the Long John (know as juanitos-little johns- at our bake shop) to name a few! You see, when he was a little boy his treat for good behavior on shopping trips with mom was a long-john donut at the end of the day. How sweet is that?


If you’re not sure what a Long John is – you’re missing out. We suggest you hop on the nearest Greyhound to Lancaster County and try one out for yourself, or come on down to Xela – but make sure it’s on a Tuesday or Friday! For us, the Bake Shop is our slice of heaven, a refuge from beans and rice! Gracias a Dios!

snacking on a juanito at Laguna Chicabal