It is surprisingly common for visions of Cadbury Eggs, Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs and chocolate rabbits with gnawed ears to dance through the dreams of seasoned expats this time of year.
For decades expats with a yen for chocolate to fill Easter baskets have been left holding the bag – the empty shopping bag that is. It was little consolation for them to realize the nearest store displays of Easter chocolates were 700 miles across the border in Texas.
Marcella Monroy and her newly relocated chocolate shop in central Ajijic has ended the local chocolate famine. While Monroy has not yet located a mold to create chocolate rabbits, the temperature controlled display case at Mostly Chocolate Ajijic is brimming with handmade chocolate temptations.
While locals and tourists strolling up Colón stop in for piece of pecan fudge or Marcella’s best selling Chocolate Bliss with its 58 percent dark chocolate center enrobed in 72 percent dark chocolate. “I think my customers like it because of the simplicity,” said Monroy. It’s just unadulterated real dark chocolate.”
Monroy holds dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship. She was born and raised in California and then ended up in Ajijic when her father decided to be a “reverse expat.” Michoacán native Roman Monroy spent more than 30 years working in California, where he met and married Libby. By the late 1980s he knew that he wanted to retire back in Mexico, and moved his family to Guadalajara so his daughter could attend high school there while he supervised the building of the family home at lakeside.
“That was hard for my mother and me,” said Monroy. “I’d grown up speaking English, and I needed a crash Spanish course in order to go to school. Mom is from California; she learned most of her Spanish here, too.”
When the house was finished the Monroys rented it to lakeside expats, returned to their California home in Huntington Beach to continue working until Monroy’s parents retired in 2000 and moved to lakeside.
“Some people think I’m ‘too young’ to be here,” said Monroy, who is part of a rapidly growing younger set of expat residents. “But I missed my parents too much when they moved here. I decided I’d come too and find something I could do here. I knew I could find something that was missing, and then fill it.”It didn’t take long for Monroy to discover that need she could fill. “Mom was always asking me to bring chocolates from California. When I was here, all she talked about trying to find good chocolate. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize I could learn chocolate and open a shop, right here.”
The original Mostly Chocolate Ajijic set up shop on Constitution in Ajijic and this month moved to the center of town where the shop and the atmosphere are lighter, brighter and full of life. “Already I’m loving it here on Colón,” said Monroy, who had just doled out samples and then purchases of chocolates to a cluster of repeat customers.
“This block is on the tourist track and I’m surrounded with art galleries. There’s such vibrancy on this street and the other shopkeepers are fun and welcoming to me and their customers,” she added. “I know the locals who found my store in the old location will follow me here and I’ll keep on making the things they love. But, eventually I want more. I want this business to grow and the best way to expand is to do chocolate for events – special items for weddings, baptisms, graduations, showers, and birthdays. Truthfully, most of the people planning those big events are Tapatios, and so many of them come to the lake on weekends and holidays. This shop can be the catalyst to getting them to know me and the artisan quality of my work.”
Now that the shop is up and running, Monroy’s mom is a frequent shopper. “She just loves the dark chocolate bark I make with coconut and almonds. She says it’s as good as an Almond Joy bar. I don’t think dad has a favorite, he just loves everything.”
Crystalized ginger dipped in dark chocolate is another of the shop’s best sellers. But tantalizing items in the showcase were the two neat rows of tequila-infused crystallized Michoacán-grown figs, each dipped in dark chocolate. Others are learning that Mostly Chocolate Ajijic is the place to go for exquisite hostess gifts.
This week Monroy is focused on making enough strawberry and chocolate fudge eggs, pastel frosted cake balls and decorated sugar cookies shaped like bunnies, eggs, and chicks to fill beribboned baskets and gift boxes for customers looking for Easter gifts.
Meanwhile she is looking to the launch of the new shop she is hosting from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 26 at the new location, in Gallery Quattro at Colón 9 in Ajijic. She’ll have a good supply of chocolate for tasting and buying. To liven up the event, she has invited local tequileras Sandy y Daniel to set up a tequila tasting of their limited production, private brand of Jalisco’s favorite spirit.
Customers can contact Monroy at Mostly Chocolate Ajijic from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit on Facebook at MCAjijic.