Caldo de Frutas and Language School

Tait: Today is graduation day. Kath and I have both completed four weeks of school and our ready to get out and about in Guatemala proper. We have both loved the time here in Xela with our newfound friends and family, but at a certain point the brain is saturated and it needs time to absorb all this new found knowledge. Yesterday I was so frustrated that I asked my teacher to play Spanish scrabble which she readily agreed to. My subsequent win had me once again feeling good about my Spanish skills...until I made my next error.


But to celebrate our last day we decided to take a trip out to the town of Salcaja. La iglesia de Conquistadores (The Church of the Conquistadores) is one of the seven wonders of Guatemala, as defined by Banco Industrial, and it is pretty cool. It is the oldest church in Latin America and dates back to 1524. There are three christs, San Joaquin, the Virgen Mary and other various statues. Most of the interior work including the doors and the pillars dates back to the inception. The key the use to lock the doors must be 8 inches long. However, the walls were mostly rebuilt along with some of the dome. Though the innards were suitably grand the best part of the church had to be the fact that on the outside, instead of angels and gragoyles and the like, there was carved fruit - pinapples, bannas cherries - and looking over it all were two sphinxes with round smiling moon faces. There was also a very knowledgeable woman there who allowed us access to the alcove where the choir sings which was interesting. The best part about the woman who worked there is she was not only able to inform us about the church, but point us in the direction of the local Caldo de Frutas lady (Guatemalan moonshine)

Salcaja is not only the home of the oldest church in Larin America but a thriving moonshine industry - the moonshine here being rum soaked with fruit for about six months. The nice woman at the church pointed us to a pink house where we were summarily ushered inside and offered seats in the pink and blue waiting room. This old woman (who seemed to have been doing this forever) proceeded to bring out a plate of rum soaked fruit and a snifter of this incredible rum that was sweet and delicious and cinamony. There were whole plums, pears, apples, cheeries and moras, which are kind of like blackberries. And yes, it does come in old whiskey bottles but what better way to package your illegal hooch? We bought two bottles and then proceeded to the next liquor store which sold rompopo, a legal yet still local liquor which is akin to eggnog.


After knocking on the door of the cevicheria / rompopo store, we were again ushered in and asked to wait while our lady ran across the way and brought us two nice sized bottles of the stuff. Upon being ushered out we caught the bus as it flew down the street and made our way back to Xela. About half way home my right arm started to go numb - it was either the rum soaked peach I devoured like a hungry dog or the weight of the liquor in my backpack cutting off circulation to my arm...I think I need some more caldo be frutas.



I leave you with two pictures. First is lunch we had today: delish. It is dish of pumpkin seeds and chicken served over rice with picante sauce. It takes the morning to cook. The second is of the cemetary...it is in the process of being cleaned for Dios de los Muertos and I thought the pic was very Guatemala.

The best and the worst, so far

Kathleen: We are about to start our fourth week in Xela, our fourth week of language school, and our last week here. I am feeling sad about leaving our family, who really feel like family, and a nittle nervous to leave our comfort zone and take to the open road!! We´ve had a great time here so far... last weekend Tait and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by going to some volcanic hotsprings about an hour away. We stayed overnight in a little bungalow, which was wonderful primarily because we could use the hotsprings after all of the tourists had gone home (there are only so many strangers you want to share a hottub with :-) Here are some pictures from the weekend. Tait built an awesome roaring fire in the room (it was freezing) but it took about 2.5 hours to do it because the wood was so wet.


Heading up to the hotsprings, we took our first "chicken bus". It was surprisingly easy and definitely entertaining. The chicken buses are actually old american schoolbuses, and at times there are three adults to a seat. Evesdropping in a foreign language is always a bit dodgy, but Tait swears that he saw/heard the man next to us proposition the woman next to him for sex by shoving some sweaty money into her hand. It could have happened, because she spent the rest of the ride with a blanket over her head. Brings me back to the NY subway!!

So, since I´ve been getting a bit nostalgic about my time here in Xela, I´ve come up with a short list of the top five best and worst things to date. Just in case you think its all just fun and games... I´ll start with the worst...

1. DEFINITELY the FLEAS. I am now officially a flea-infested, flea-ridden, flea-bitten wench of a woman. I don´t know where they come from, since I can´t see them, but this morning I counted 48 huge hot pink flea bites all over my body... on the bottom of my feet, in my armpits, and primarily centered around my hips and tush. I´d post some pictures, but internet decency standards (and Tait) suggest that I just leave it to your imagination. I am an ichy cranky mess. And its such a stunning reversal of fortune... in Africa, Asia, Alaska, the sweltering swamp of Brooklyn in July.... nowhere have I ever been bitten. Mosquitos and other insects don´t like me. They love Tait, though, and I have spent my fair share of time slathering him in itch-cream. Here though, they don´t want him at all, but they are just having a daily Thanksgiving dinner with me.

2. FLEA CORROLARY: the stray dogs. They are everywhere. Mangey (literally... they have the mange), with big patches of hair missing, they prowl the streets or just collapse for a nap in the middle of the sidewalk. They aren´t really scary... most of them are too lazy/tired/hungry to even lift their heads as we pass. But I´m putting them on the list because I suspect that they are somewhat responsible for my flea problem. I can just feel the little suckers jumping on me as we walk past.

3. STRAY DOG CORROLARY: Roosters ringing in the morning light is, I´ve decided, an urban myth. Here, they cock-a-doodle-doo ALL NIGHT LONG. Then the dogs start barking at them, and at each other (many dogs live on roofs, for some reason), and it is a symphony and cacaphony of sound, let me repeat ALL NIGHT LONG.

4. The shower in our house. On the first day we were here, our host mom, Monica, explained the shower catch-22... we could either shower with a somewhat steady flow of cold/lukewarm water, or we could shower with a trickle of hot water. Since its effing freezing here in the morning and evening, and the bathroom is the coldest room of the house anyway, I usually choose the trickle of hot water option. It´s freezing anyway, because the water only covers about 8% of my body at any given time, and its even more freezing once I turn the trickle off, but its better than a cold shower.

5. Random animal parts strewn about the city. Now, this in no way compares to the first four on this list, but for some reason, there are bones and animal parts randomly strewn about the sidewalk. I´m talking leg bones of cows (enormous), fish skeletons, chicken heads, and, as you can see below, other chicken parts. Its most assuredly gross. Luckily its not hot in Xela (see #4 on the list) so there aren´t flies and maggots and other things, they mainly just amuse the stray dogs (see #s 1, 2, 3). Tait said that he heard that the butcher shops toss out all the bones at the end of the day, and it must just be a free-for all after that.

The Best:

1. Our Family. Monica, Mario, and the kids are amazing. They are funny and warm and generous and silly and really wonderful to be around. The food is great (generally) and we eat together almost every meal. I will miss them so much when we leave. Here are some pics of Javier heading out to a dance, and Daniel and Alejandra being silly (that´s tinfoil on Danny´s teeth).

2. Chocofrutas: In Guatemala (and indeed, right across from our school), you can by frozen fruit dipped in chocolate and covered in nuts. Choco-bananas, choco-piñas (pinapple, my fav), choco-coco (coconut), choco-papaya, choco-frases (strawberry), etc... I´ve been told that you can also get choco-mango in April and May when they are in season. It´s fast becoming an addiction.

3. Enchiladas. In Guatemala, the enchiladas aren´t like the enchiladas I´ve ever had (e.g. casseroley type thing with tortillas, beans, cheese, veggies, covered in sauce and cheese and baked). Here they are more like tostadas ... think crispy fried corn tortilla topped with a variety of wonders.... I´ve had bean enchiladas (refried beans and cheese), tomato enchiladas (tomato salsa-y stuff spooned on, then covered in cheese), soy scramble enchiladas (tomato salsa, sauteed soy and veggies, cheese), and carrot enchiladas (grated carrots, sauteed onions and garlic, salt, pepper, salsa-y stuff, and cheese). There is a lady at school who makes them for the break, and she serves them with spicy pickled jalepeños, carrots, and onions, but Monica doesn´t serve them that way. They are DELICIOUS and expect to have them whenever you visit us (here or in the states) in the future.

4. All the cool stuff we get to do. I don´t want to rub it in, but its really fun not having to work for most of the week. Hiking, traveling, meeting new people from all over the world (guatamaltecos, and all the travelers passing through Xela), hearing their stories, going out dancing (our salsa skills have improved), planning what we´re going to do next... its all so much fun. I definitely am not ready to come home yet.

5. Being in school again. Spanish school has been a lot of fun... I had forgotten how much I enjoy being a student and learning new things, being challenged, making flashcards, etc... It´s also gives a nice structure and routine to the day... I have a lot more to learn, and we´ll most likely do a week of language school here and there as we travel along, but I´m also ready to let loose and start practicing.

Cow stomach or Salsa de Panza

I was talking with my Spanish teacher about a couple of things concerning cow last week (her husband is a butcher and proprietor of three carnecirias so she is my goto when it comes to everything cow). One, Guatemeltecos make ceviche out of raw diced torro testicles, and two, they eat cow stomach two different ways: they make it in a sort of ceviche where they cook the stomach (takes two days on the stove or two hours in a pressure cooker) and then add mint tomato onion garlic and whatvever else they want. Or, they cook it and then stew it in this golden brown mess of potatoes and sauce with tomatos and onions and maybe some garlic. They call it Panza en(de) salsa, though I like Panza de Papas more. While my mouth was still watering I told my host mom about it and being the amazing spectacular person she is, she decided to make it for lunch today. Could I ask for anything more?

When I entered the house there was definitely the humid somehwhat unctous smell of entrails (perfect for Kathleen). I´d call it the smell of a freshly washed dirty meat counter. As near as I could tell from watching the stew gurgle away on the stove, the golden brown color comes from the water the stomach gives off along with some tomatos. They served it with rice and hot salsa and fresh tortillas. The Belgian that is also staying at the house right now gave it one look and begged off. The rest of us dug in. Although I´ll admit, I slathered the first bite in hot salsa...

The stomach was tender enough - there wasn´t much taste to it, just a very delicate cross between tripe and mutton. It was chewy like tripe but instead of coating your mouth with fat like mutton does, it coated the throat and stomach on the way down. The stomach itself was smooth on one side and the other looked a pine cone that had been broken open. There were sort of criss crossed little hairs or veins or something. I did manage seconds but don´t imagine that I´ll be ordering it the next time I see it one the menu. However, we´ll probably have it for breakfast tomorrow as there were leftovers. Yum, reheated panza de vaca.

Spanish study

Tait: I didn´t think that studying Spanish could take so much out of me but it seems like every day I need a nap because my brain is fried from five hours of study. It could also be the fact that we are fed mammoth portions for lunch and much smaller portions for breakfast and dinner. It, the study not the lunch, has really given me some insight into what it is like to be a language learner, something I didn´t really have before when it came to teaching english. Kathleen has made incredible strides with her Spanish in only two weeks also and it has been amazing to watch her move from talking in Span-fran-italio to mostly just the occasional spanglish. The thing we both have going for us is that we have no fear of making mistakes. We´re pretty good at just laughing it off.

I have had some pretty funny mistakes like when I called my cuello my culo (my neck my asshole) or when I tried to say Popul vuh and it came out Popa wuj (mayan bible versus poop bible). I guess defecatory humor translates across the board. Not surprising considering the fact that streets in Xela are covered in dog shit, some of which Kath stepped in today and then spread all over her leg and hand as she tried to wipe it off. I think the soap is antibacterial in the bathroom?

Kath also had a pretty god mistake yesterday. She was talking to the 9 year old in the house we live in and want to ask her if she had any fear concerning her exams for school (of which she had three the following day). Instead of saying Tienes miedo, she came out with tienes mierda - translation - you are shit.

Full Moon Hike

Kathleen: So, we decided to hike another volcano. Rather, Tait decided that he was going to hike it, and I didn´t want to be known as the wuss who stayed home. Once a month, during the full moon, hikers climb the volcano overnight to reach the summit by sunrise. The full moon just happened to happen our first weekend in Xela. So, the van picked us up at midnight, and we started the hike around 12:30. The first hour was really tough, but Tait had told me that someone at school had told him (that he had seen Ferris at 32 flavors) that the first hour was the hardest and then it would get easier. So I figured, after the first hour, piece of cake. And then we found out that we had been gravely misinformed. The first hour was actually the easiest, the mountain part, and then we reached the volcano, and started to climb STRAIGT UP. So for the next four and a half our we scrambled up muddy rock in the dark with our trusty headlamps. And I really need to reiterate that it was STRAIGHT UP. No gradual incline, but an incredibly steep slope. We were stopping about every half hour for ten minutes during the first three hours, and then we needed to stop more frequently (for shorter periods of time) as the altitude started to kick in. For the last hour, Tait kept saying things like "we´re almost there, only 50 minutes to go" and I thought that that sounded like an eternity!! We´d climb three switchbacks and then pause for ten breaths.

And then we were at the top! It was really cold, and I spent the first half hour or so somewhat conscious in a sleeping bag, while Tait frolicked across the incredibly gorgeous summit. We could see the entire of Guatemala, and the chain of volcanos that crisscross the country. It was clear in places, and in others it looked like we were looking at an ocean of clouds. On one side of the mountain was the moon, and the other was the sun coming up. After the sun came up a little, the shadow of the volcano spread across all that we could see, which included a smaller, exploding volcano. A bunch of pictures are below. The guides were lovely enough to make hot coffee, and both the heat and the caffeine were AMAZING!! We were at the top of the mountain for about an hour and a half, and then it hit me that we would have to climb down! At that point, if a helicopter had shown up to pluck me from the summit, I would have paid good money.

So, as we triumphantly began to make our way down the mountain - and I really did feel triumphant - a group of Mayan women were coming over the summit. AND THEY WEREN`T WEARING ANY SHOES. I take that back, they were wearing shoes, but not any type of shoe that would help them climb an incredibly muddy and steep volcano... wedge sandals with a little strap across the toes. Our jaws all dropped. And then a little kid of about 2 and a half came over the edge, and we were entirely humbled!

End of the story... the way down was just as steep and muddy, and took about 3 hours. It took about four days until we were able to sit down-stand up-walk down stairs without cringing, it was absolutely worth it, and Mayan women are some tough broads. There is a so-so picture of one of them below (no one had the wherewithal at that point to snap a good pic). I think that we´re going to hike the highest volcano in Central America next... but its apparently much easier than this one.

Food at the Festival of the Virgen

The pig we subsequently ate

Pollo adobado, Regular Chicken, Beef, green onions - all roasted and for platters with tortillas

Coconut Balls (Cocadores?)

General observations on the second week

Kathleen: Through our Spanish school, we are living with a family here in Xela. We couldn´t have gotten more lucky with our placement ... Carlos, the dad, used to be a Spanish teacher, so he is very patient with our garbled efforts at communication (mine are more garbled than Tait´s). The mom, Monica, is kind and sweet and funny, and the kids are AWESOME. Javier is 17, Daniel is 13, and Alehandra is 9. Alex, their 14 year old cousin, is around quite a bit, and they are just silly and mischevious and sweet to each other and fun to be around. They also consistently kick Tait´s butt at Mario cart, which is always entertaining.

As a vegetarian, its been quite easy in Guatemala. Beans, eggs, and fresh toasted tortillas are a staple at at least one meal a day (portions are quite small... because we´re Americans they serve us about twice as much as they eat themselves, and I still feel like I´m eating much less than usual). I have a date with Monica to learn how to make tortillas, as I don´t think that I can now live without hot fresh tortillas at every meal ;-) Breakfasts and lunches are relatively big, and dinner is quite small. Meat is probably served at one meal each day... although they teased me today by handing me a plate of ¨pork for you¨or ¨puerco por tuya¨(I think that´s what they said) which was really some steamed broccoli. Maybe its the altitude, or my body trying to make up for the smaller portions, because I have developed (or indulged) quite the sweet tooth.... luckily there is a Menonite bakery that is open twice a week that sells the most amazing goodies... cakes, pies, homemade donuts stuffed with jam and cream and covered in glazed goodness, bread, fresh yogurt, etc.... Tait took a trip with his Spanish teacher and brought us back some banana bread for our overnight volcano hike tomorrow...

...which brings me to another topic: volcanos. We´re about to hike our second volcano in two weeks. I was not expecting this to be the "year of volcano hikes", particularly as I am generally a lazy person when it comes to strenuous physical exercise, but it seems like this is the thing that you do when you travel central america. So... when in Rome, I guess. We´ll post more on that later (If I make it back).

Two things happened this week that have me absolutely out of my comfort zone: we started Spanish classes and tried to salsa dance. The former includes five hours a day of one on one instruction. Every morning we head off for our 8am class, bright-eyed and bushy tailed. By one o clock, as we head home for lunch, we can barely speak comprehensible ENGLISH, as our heads are full and spinning with prepositions and verb conjugations and the frustration of not being able to understand or be understood. Then more studying in the afternoon and evening. THEN, on Wednesday the school sponsored salsa classes at a nightclub before all the people showed up. Now, I´ve never been much of a dancer.... but IT WAS SO EMBARRASING!! As the teacher was teaching spins and turns and fancy steps, he suggested that we just focus on the basic back and forth step (we could save the posture, rhythm, and style for later, he kindly suggested). We immediately signed up for private lessons the next day, as much of the nighlife revolves around salsa and there is only so much humiliation a girl can take. But, if Tom Delay can salsa, I´m determined to learn too.

Tacos and hotdogs

Tait: Around the corner from my host family´s abode is the local cemetery. We are up on a hill and the cemetery runs the length of Avenida 20 down to the church at the bottom of the hill that guards the cemetery´s entrance. Next to the church are probably 10 food stalls selling dobladas, tacos, chicarrons, elotes, sweets, chocobanaos and other things. Seeing that the tacos were made from deep fried pork tenderloin, they were the first thing that I had a chance to try.
My only experience with street tacos before this was up in Mexico. There I found that there were usually three or four types of meats and salsas to choose from. Here, there was only the one type of meat, the aforementioned deep fried pork tenderloin. The vendedor scraped the meat with a fork, almost the way that you would pull apart carnitas but this meat was dried out from the frying. I´d call it pulled pork jerky. He then fried four tortillas in the leftover pork juice / oil and sandwiched the pork between two tortillas on the bottom and two on top. He also piled on some cabbage salad that had lime and cilantro, some fried onions, and then covered the whole mess in chirmol, the local hot salsa and salsa roja, the local not hot salsa. Guatamaltecos are also fond of their mayonnaise, but luckily I stopped him before he could cover the taco in the stuff. I squeezed some lime on the top and enjoyed.


I´ll leave you with this picture: 140 hotdogs boiling for trip to an orphanage where they are to be sheethed in mayonnaise and sweet ketchup. Also, they come individually wrapped.