FOOD

Lichas. Hairy Fruit.

My host dad preparing a coconut to eat... with a machete... scary.

The word for Pie and foot are the same! We thought it was a festival of feet until we realized it was a bakery!

YUMMY. Estofado is three kinds of meats cooked and stirred until the bones literally just fall out. 

Molletes. I believed I already explained these are MY FAVORITE desert. Traditional for Lent and Day of the Dead. Bread with sweet cream, rolled in egg and fried. 

Green, yet perfectly ripe and sweet orange.

Rapadura. More healthy and unprocessed traditional sweetener.

Gabriel, 6 year old host brother's favorite food! Grilled meat.

Traditional tortilla making station.

My part eaten Mollete.

Banana Tree. Did you know that technically banana trees are a type of grass?

Another traditional desert... Some kind of pumpkin like squash...with a TON of sugar.

Women of the family making tamales for Christmas!

The stuff in a chuchito.

Chuchitos ready to cook.

Mixing up the chuchito batter.

Chuchitos ready to eat!

Boiling platanos. They are NOT bananas.

Learning to make rellenitos with Dona Tina!

RELLENITOS... which are really my FAVORITE. Platano, sweet black beans, and cinnamon...fried. YUM.

I have always been so good with being on time... Theme for the day=Dia de Los Muertos (November 1st)

The yummy part. These are called Molletes--sweet, saturated, bread, sweet cream, sugar, fried.

Decorating, cleaning, and repainting the family tomb.

Decorated Graveyard.

Colorful graveyard

The nasty part. Fiambre.

Up close view. Fiambre-all kinds of canned meats and veggies... not to mention beets. 

Kite flying. Day of the Dead tradition. My host brother (6 years old) and host dad. 

Host brother (14 years old), Alfonso.

Focusing hard. Julio is a pro kite flyer. 

A Few Pictures!

My goal is to add a few... in no particular order each week. I apologize for the lack of visuals so far this year! 

Cerro de la Cruz. Its a park that overlooks Antigua!

This is the view of my town, San Miguel Duenas, from the roof of my house!

Learning to cook Guatemalan style with my host mom Marta and my 6 year old brother, Gabriel. Chuchitos!

Learning the coffee process... its a TON of work, but gosh its good!

The bus stop sign. Really not necessary or accurate. The bus stops wherever people wave it down making for a very long bus ride. 

The four of us Guatemalan superstar YAVs after learning about coffee.... ALL DAY LONG.

COFFEE! 

My classroom for sewing. Its a garage... for cars and open on two sides! Ironic that having classes outside at Vanderbilt was such a privilege.