Las cosas ricas de Guatemala

Why not have the first real entry be about food right?  After all, it is an essential part of being and a great source of pleasure. For me, its my favorite thing to learn about in a new country.

After a very long day of training, my host mom greeted me at the door with a choco-banano.  In the states we have chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels, but chocolate covered bananas are not so easy to come by.  We are definitely missing out.  This was my first choco-banano experience.  It is a frozen banana dipped in chocolate and covered in nuts.  Once you get to the banana part, you have to lick it as it if was ice cream because its way to cold to just bite (yes I did try to bite it…I was so hungry). 

My host mom then followed that up with a rellenito.  Another bite of deliciousness.  It is basically mixed up plantain batter with frijoles (like refried black beans) in the center.  Then it is deep fried and rolled in sugar.  This is all just the appetizer before dinner.  Granted, these treats don’t happen very often, but I’m not complaining…I just may not be eating much for dinner.

I will give a run down of what the typical meals are like.  There are two staple foods in every Guatemalan household:

1)      TORTILLAS.  There is no meal in Guatemala that is not accompanied by a large stack of hand made tortillas.  Up until about 5 years ago, all the households made their own tortillas. Then somebody came up with the brilliant idea to sell tortillas.  Now there are “ventas de tortillas” on every corner with 4 or 5 young girls clapping balls of dough between their hands, making their living.  Some households still make their own, but it is much more convenient and efficient to buy them.

2)      FRIJOLES.  Frijoles are cooked black beans that are “liquefied” in a blender.  In my household, this process is done once a week and the beans are kept in a covered pan and eaten throughout the week.

Typical breakfast foods:

• Tortilla with frijoles and queso (you crumple up the cheese over the tortilla that is naturally covered in frijoles.)
• Fried plantains and frijoles (with tortilla)
• Hard boiled egg (with frijoles and tortilla)
• Tamale. This sort of tastes like a savory cream of wheat (except its corn) with a light tomato sauce over it and a piece of meat in the center.  The tamale is wrapped in a plant leaf (not to be eaten).  This is to be eaten with tortilla or bread.
• There is always the fall back bowl of corn flakes.  Here in my Guatemalan house the girls like the cereal “soft” aka soggy, and with hot milk.  The first day I ate it, all I could think of was how my mom used to make me finish my soggy cereal, and if I did, I could pick out any kind of cereal I wanted…I don’t think I ever got to choose. I politely told my host mom that I prefer the cereal “hard” and the milk not hot.

At 10:00am and at 4:00pm in Guatemala, they have a snack that’s called “ refacción”

Typical refacción foods:

Tostada (flat hard taco shell) covered in avocado, frijoles, and hot sauce

Any type of bread or a small sandwich

Any fruit

Rellenito (descriped earlier)

Choco-banano

Typical lunch food:

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day.  There is a large variety of foods they eat.  Most of the typical dishes include some type of squash vegetable (they have many different varieties), potatoes, carrots, beef or chicken all stewed in a sauce.

They also make different soups with myriad vegetables and meat or with leafy greens. 

Typical dinner food:

The dinner food is basically the same as the breakfast food.  It’s usually something small and quick like the fundamental tortillas and frijoles.  This may be accompanied by an egg, plantains, or cheese (a crumbly kind).  In my house they also make pancakes and French toast (this was taught to them by a former volunteer). 

The thing that I have been loving the most about the food here is the amazing fruits they have.  I have been eating the most delicious mangos of my life.  They are so sweet and ripe, you can tell they are freshly picked. Also, the papaya is amazing.  My host mom has caught on that I love fruit, and lucky for me, they do too.  She buys this small fruit that looks like a green tomato called a hokote…its sweet and a bit sour, put a dash of salt on it and enjoy.

On that note, I’m still full from the choco-banano and the rellenito, but its time for dinner.  Adios for now.

Bienvenidos

I have officially been in Guatemala for two and a half weeks.  It always amazes me how in such a short time, you can feel right at home in a brand new place.  Or how little time it takes for a host family to take you in and make you a new member of the family.

2 weeks ago when I arrived with my new host family, my host mom said to the Peace Corps van driver, “thank you for bringing me my new daughter”.  I knew from those words that I would feel right at home.  Since then, Dona Olympia, Don Francisco, and their 3 daughters have delighted me with good conversation and good food, but most importantly every day they show me the meaning of humility and humbleness and that you don’t need a lot to be happy.

I am going to use this blog as a window into a different world that many of you have never seen; a world that doesn’t necessarily include washing machines, hot running water, or wifi.  I will incorporate some of my daily activities, but my main goal will be to paint a good picture about what life in Guatemala is like and what my job, as a “Healthy Schools” facilitator and Peace Corps Volunteer entails.  I hope you enjoy.