Comida Chapina

I realized that besides mayo, I haven't really talked about food here in Guatemala. Here is my take on the normal diet, at least in Cantel.

Breakfast-- Eggs or beans. Sometimes soup instead. Always tortillas or tamalitos which are hunks of ground up corn mixed with water and steamed.

Lunch-- The biggest meal of the day. Usually includes rice with some form of meat and sauce. For example, chicken with tomato sauce. Alternatively, it could be some type of soup with meat and veggies. More tortillas and/or tamalitos.

Dinner--Coffee made of toasted corn and some combination of eggs, rice, beans, and even more tortillas/tamalitos. Served with sweet bread.

People of corn is not an exaggeration for Guatemala. In my K'iche' class, I have a whole section of vocab words just related to corn-- from the seeds to the plant to the cob at all different stages of growth. It's interesting.

I've tried a lot of new foods here and also found some favorites.

Some of the wierdest (to me):
-avocado ice cream
-white bread soaked in jello and layered so that it forms a cake-like substance-- it's odd.
-tongue
-raw eggs in fresh squeezed orange juice. I actually couldn't try this one, it seemed too bizarre to me. People here say its good though.


Some of my new favorite foods:
-papaya, mango, or banana licuados, which are like smoothies that either have milk or water, fruit and sugar. Yum!
-enchiladas. Here enchiladas are tostadas topped with ground chicken, beef, beans, or vegetables, sometimes with onions and a little bit of hot sauce. One of my favorite ladies who sells them at night (and gives them to me for free!) lived in St. Louis for a year so we talk about that a lot. She likes toasted ravioli too!
-fresh squeezed orange juice WITHOUT raw eggs.
-coconut ice cream dipped in chocolate and peanuts.

I'm also still enjoying cooking new things too. I made a ¨Peace Corps Oven¨ which consists of a giant pot with an empty tuna can inside. Then you put your baking pan on top of the can and put a lid on the pot. I made Guicoy Bread (basically just like zucchini) to share with my host family the other day and they liked it a lot.

In more general news, I was sick with amoebas last week so I guess the amoebas are still sharing my food too. I'm taking medicine though and feeling much, much better now.

I got invited to a wedding today that's happening in two weeks and am very excited for that! I'm also looking forward to Peace Corps' All Volunteer Conference and Fourth of July Party, a week-long reunion with my training class for more info sessions and Spanish classes at the end of July, and for my family to come visit during Cantel's fair in August.

Congrats to everyone who knew that Guatemala's national instrument is the marimba-- which is sort of a xylophone type thing. They are big fans here. Does anyone know if we have a national instrument in the States? Or does each state have their own? These are the things I wonder about when I have too much time here.