Today was another great day at school, and I decided to try a couple of new local delicacies. Almost all the Spanish schools in Antigua take a break at 10:00 am for 30 minutes. At this time, there will most likely be a woman or a couple of women either walking around with a traditional Guatemalan basket selling food she prepared herself or driving around selling her home made goods out of the trunk of her car. I'm not sure if there is an unspoken territory code each lady must follow similar to the one we all learned about from Pretty Woman, but in any case, you will always be able to have a snack at 10:00 am around Antigua. The lady who sells to the students at my school in particular wears semi-modern clothes and sells the food out of the trunk of her car.
On today's menu was tacos, tostadas, and tamalitos. Tamalitos are just small versions of tamales, and they are almost all maiz (corn) combined with either a type of meat, cheese, or herb. Today's tamalitos were made with chipilin. Chipilin is an herb, and it is very difficult to describe the taste. I bought 2 tamalitos de chipilin for only 6 quetzales ($0.75), and I had her put some salsa picante on them. Every time I ask for salsa picante, the person looks at me like...ummmm...you're a gringa...are you SURE??? They are always surprised when I ask for more. You can see a picture of chipilin and read more about it (en espanol, sorry) here: http://www.buenavida.com.mx/2009/06/chepil-o-chipilin/
I really liked the tamalitos, and when I began my class again, I talked about it with my teacher. I told her that I keep hearing about a different kind of local dish called chuchitos, and so we left class and walked to a panaderia where sometimes they sell chuchitos. I like the fact that we can just get up and walk around town because it gives us a chance to talk about real life situations while still learning and practicing Spanish. When we got to the panaderia we found out that they only sell chuchitos on Wednesdays, so I might return tomorrow. Instead though, I bought about 2 or 3 cups of frijoles negros volteados (prepared black beans) and an empanada con pollo (chicken) for Q20 ($2.50). I kept the empanada for lunch and I'm saving the black beans for another day. The black beans here are fabulous, and there is no comparison to the ones you can buy in a can.
I'm still in search of new fruits and vegetables to try, and tomorrow is a market day. Hopefully my teacher and I can walk to the market and do some bargaining! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can find more zapotes!!!
Adios por ahora. Hasta luego.
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