Food and I have an interesting relationship. I certainly enjoy eating, and sometimes have a sweet tooth or salty indulgence I sometimes eat when I am bored. But for the most part, as one of my friends once pointed out, between the types of people who "live to eat" and "eat to live," I am definitely more of the latter. A lot of times, for me, food just provides nourishment for my body and fuel for cycling. When we visited Ireland for example, I ate lots of plain bread and was actually pretty content.
Knowing this, I didn't spend much time thinking about what we are doing to eat here in Guatemala. Especially considering we are fairly picky eaters being vegetarian, and me not currently eating cheese, I might have been more concerned. But I figured that I could survive just fine on one or two things repeatedly, if need be. Maybe I'll get bored, but I'll get by.
Boy was I wrong!
The food in San Andres Itzapa has been fantastic. When we were on vacation elsewhere in Guatemala, we had the chance to eat out at restaurants that had pasta, veggie burgers, and some other imported or home-like food that we hadn't had in a while. It was good food, but I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I expected. Maybe it's because I haven't reached that point of home-sickness quite yet. Plus, the produce here is just so, so fresh.
In San Andres Itzapa, us volunteers make quite a few trips per week to the market in the main square. Tuesdays and Sundays are the biggest market days with vendors selling everything from a wide variety of fresh fruits, veggies, and beans to dried grains and spices, to plasticware, slippers, and DVDs.
We probably buy more avocados, beans, peppers, and tomatoes than anything at the market. The cost can't be beat, either. I would say for 4 volunteers an indulgent market shopping spree comes out to about 65 Quetzals, which is about $9. That food lasts all of us about 4 days of lunches and dinners. It's definitely more expensive in bigger and touristy Guatemalan towns, which was a bit hard to swallow during our week of vacation.
We have a fairly nice kitchen at Maya Pedal, and the volunteers generally take turns cooking - though not on any regular schedule. I am grateful that all the volunteers we have had have been really great cooks! We eat filling lunches and dinners with some combination of beans, rice, tortillas, avocados, and veggies. We usually buy some fresh corn tortillas from the tortilleria right before eating. All tortillerias say "dos tiempos" or "tres tiempos" outside, indicating how many times per day they make a fresh batch.
A batch of 20 fresh tortillas costs 4Q, or 50 cents. Again, super cheap!
Unlike the corn tortillas in the states, these are quite thick and are made entirely of corn and corn paste (no wheat or white flour). When we get them from the shop they're always warm and smell amazing.
When we aren't cooking or working, we are obsessing over tostadas. There is a tostada lady who sells tostadas just a few doors up the road. On a fried tortilla she spreads black beans, pickled cabbage and a tomato picante salsa. She comes by every day around 10am asking if we want any. We rarely turn her down. In fact, if she doesn't come to us we usually walk up the road to find her. Not gonna lie - there have been days that lunch has consisted entirely of lots of tostadas. At 10Q for 10 super tasty tostadas (about $1.50 total) they're really hard to turn down.
And then, in the evenings around 7pm we get a visit from another tostada lady! But instead of beans she spreads guacamole - and still pickled cabbage and picante sauce. She comes with her two little sons, who seem to enjoy going around town with her. She brings it all in a basket that she carries on top of her head, comes into our dining room and puts the tostadas together. She makes me smile because she always comes in happy and chatty.
Another volunteer indulgence is the nearby panaderia, or bakery. It's become quite apparent that Guatemalans love their sweets. I have become particularly fond of one particular apple pastry..I'll have to upload a picture of that one later.
As you can see, we've been eating well. It's amazing that it's all so fresh and tasty (and cheap!). India will certainly be different, but I imagine just as good. I'll post about that when we get there, I'm sure :)
Hasta luego y buen provecho!
Knowing this, I didn't spend much time thinking about what we are doing to eat here in Guatemala. Especially considering we are fairly picky eaters being vegetarian, and me not currently eating cheese, I might have been more concerned. But I figured that I could survive just fine on one or two things repeatedly, if need be. Maybe I'll get bored, but I'll get by.
Boy was I wrong!
The food in San Andres Itzapa has been fantastic. When we were on vacation elsewhere in Guatemala, we had the chance to eat out at restaurants that had pasta, veggie burgers, and some other imported or home-like food that we hadn't had in a while. It was good food, but I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I expected. Maybe it's because I haven't reached that point of home-sickness quite yet. Plus, the produce here is just so, so fresh.
In San Andres Itzapa, us volunteers make quite a few trips per week to the market in the main square. Tuesdays and Sundays are the biggest market days with vendors selling everything from a wide variety of fresh fruits, veggies, and beans to dried grains and spices, to plasticware, slippers, and DVDs.
We probably buy more avocados, beans, peppers, and tomatoes than anything at the market. The cost can't be beat, either. I would say for 4 volunteers an indulgent market shopping spree comes out to about 65 Quetzals, which is about $9. That food lasts all of us about 4 days of lunches and dinners. It's definitely more expensive in bigger and touristy Guatemalan towns, which was a bit hard to swallow during our week of vacation.
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| Mangoes! So good! |
We have a fairly nice kitchen at Maya Pedal, and the volunteers generally take turns cooking - though not on any regular schedule. I am grateful that all the volunteers we have had have been really great cooks! We eat filling lunches and dinners with some combination of beans, rice, tortillas, avocados, and veggies. We usually buy some fresh corn tortillas from the tortilleria right before eating. All tortillerias say "dos tiempos" or "tres tiempos" outside, indicating how many times per day they make a fresh batch.
A batch of 20 fresh tortillas costs 4Q, or 50 cents. Again, super cheap!
Unlike the corn tortillas in the states, these are quite thick and are made entirely of corn and corn paste (no wheat or white flour). When we get them from the shop they're always warm and smell amazing.
 |
| A pretty typical home-cooked meal for us! And yes, that's a little beer in my mug. |
When we aren't cooking or working, we are obsessing over tostadas. There is a tostada lady who sells tostadas just a few doors up the road. On a fried tortilla she spreads black beans, pickled cabbage and a tomato picante salsa. She comes by every day around 10am asking if we want any. We rarely turn her down. In fact, if she doesn't come to us we usually walk up the road to find her. Not gonna lie - there have been days that lunch has consisted entirely of lots of tostadas. At 10Q for 10 super tasty tostadas (about $1.50 total) they're really hard to turn down.
And then, in the evenings around 7pm we get a visit from another tostada lady! But instead of beans she spreads guacamole - and still pickled cabbage and picante sauce. She comes with her two little sons, who seem to enjoy going around town with her. She brings it all in a basket that she carries on top of her head, comes into our dining room and puts the tostadas together. She makes me smile because she always comes in happy and chatty.
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| Yum. |
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| After I took this picture, I showed it to her and told her she was very pretty ("Estas muy bonita!"). She smiled and blushed and said thank you, but I don't think she believed me. |
Another volunteer indulgence is the nearby panaderia, or bakery. It's become quite apparent that Guatemalans love their sweets. I have become particularly fond of one particular apple pastry..I'll have to upload a picture of that one later.
As you can see, we've been eating well. It's amazing that it's all so fresh and tasty (and cheap!). India will certainly be different, but I imagine just as good. I'll post about that when we get there, I'm sure :)
Hasta luego y buen provecho!
I always love reading your posts! I've been worried about traveling since being diagnosed with a gluten allergy, but it looks like that wouldn't be much of a problem in Guatemala :) I can't wait to read your next entry.
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