July 4th

The 4^th obviously isn’t a holiday here but I decided to celebrate. My class on the 4^th was cancelled because they had end of semester tests during my class period, even more of a reason! I took my two host sisters out for ice cream because I don’t know of a place in town to get a hot dog or hamburger and the only thing I could think of that we do on the 4^th is have ice cream. We have a pulperia that sells ice cream with a few chairs so we went there. We took pictures and talked about the significance of an independence day. 

Leña

Most of the cooking here is done using leña instead of gas. My host dad and host uncle went to get the leña the other day and since we use many sticks each day, it gets used rather quickly. Leña is much cheaper than gas. Gas stoves are hooked up to tanks that need to be refilled and the tanks themselves are expensive and it is a hassle to get them filled. Sometimes we use the gas stove, to make quick things like eggs, reheat food and boil water but pretty much all other cooking happens outside with leña. Since gas is expense, we use the oven for storage. Most people never turn on their oven.

Tacos

The day my host mom made nacatamales and I was convinced we would eat them for dinner, we actually ate tacos. My host uncle picked them up from his favorite place in the nearby city. They were delicious!! I have learned here that even if things have a name that I recognize, it’s rarely what I am expecting. It has happened numerous times. With fruits, like melocoton, which I was taught means peach but here it means star fruit. Mantequilla isn’t butter here; it is cream, like sour cream. So it came as no surprise that when I was told that there was a taco in the aluminum foil, it didn’t resemble the NY version of a taco when I opened it. Here it’s a rolled, fried corn tortilla filled with meat topped with cheese, a ketchupy sauce and mantequilla. I had 2 chicken tacos for dinner that night and they were delectable. It reminded me of the Greek gyro. Something relatively simple that is incredibly delicious--ethnic fast food. 

Pin the Tail on the Donkey – June 20th

Felt like a productive day. I had a successful co-planning session in the morning and then went to the high school in my town where the students had organized a teacher appreciation party. There were cookies, ice cream and soda. They also made some games. They drew a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game, which surprisingly was quite a hit. The teacher who placed the tail perfectly won a package of cookies. I was called up during the second activity. There were nine balloons taped to the blackboard.  I picked a balloon to pop and inside was a small piece of paper. It said I had to dance with one of the students. So I danced with this outgoing girl to music that was inaudible so it was like we were dancing to imaginary music. Everyone had a good laugh!

Nacatamales

My host family is super excited to introduce me to the different foods of Nicaragua. During the 3 months of training, I hardly tried anything. I didn’t really have the opportunity to try the various foods but now my host family is making it a priority. They are eager to share their favorite dishes, restaurants, and drinks with me. I have been in site for a little under 2 months and I am quickly checking foods off my list. The next few posts will be all about food. So far, I have liked almost everything I have tried. It helps that my host mom is a great cook!

To make money, my host mom makes nacatamales every other Saturday. A nacatamal is a plantain leaf stuffed with cornmeal masa (dough), potato, pork, rice, tomato, onion & sweet chilis. The filling is packed in the plantain leaf and tightened with a small twine-like vine, that makes it look like a pillow, and then steamed to perfection over the course of many hours. She makes between 100 and 150 and sells to people in town. She takes orders in advance and of course makes a few extra.

I have been here for one of the Saturdays. On Friday, she does whatever she can do the night before. She washes the pork with a lime juice concoction and chops up some vegetables. Saturday morning she starts around 4am and with the help of our empleada they prepare the delicious delicacies. By mid-afternoon they are ready to be delivered. I thought people would eat them for dinner on Saturday, but it actually seems to be more common to eat them Sunday for a late breakfast with coffee. The day I was going to try them for the first time, I had no idea that we would wait so long to eat them. I was ready to eat mine for lunch on Saturday. Then once I saw the size, I thought maybe it would be for snack. I was sure we would eat them for dinner on Saturday, but no. I had mine heated up on Sunday morning with coffee. According to Wikipedia, “The nacatamal is perhaps the largest production within the traditional Nicaraguan kitchen and it is an event often reserved for Sundays at mid-morning, it is usually eaten together with fresh bread and Nicaraguan-style coffee.” I would have to agree.