Sunday 24th Jan
The weather has been brilliantly sunny here lately, so I did some washing. My hair got a much-needed scrubbing too!
We had lunch (actually, I think they called it breakfast! I am a bit confused about the meal names and times here!) with the Baptist pastor and his family. They are very lovely. They had a big green parrot which I managed to coax into sitting on my hand and letting me stroke it. I only got pecked once!
We had chicken soup (with tortillas, of course!).
I went and farewelled a few friends that arvo. One lady was weaving me some little beaded bracelets, so I went to see how she was going with them. She & her husband were there, beading away.. I heard all about their family, and was shown about 100 photos of various members at various ages by her daughter Anna! It was nice.
Quesadillas for supper! Yum. And some fast & furious games of Take Two later on..
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thurs 21st - Tortilla Time!
Today I started learning to make tortillas, with the lovely lady Goy nextdoor! She'd soaked her maize kernels overnight in water with lime in it. Then we rinsed them and took them to a lady who has a molino (grinder). Out came the dough, just like that. We added nothing more.
Started a little fire under Goy's komal (cooking hotplate thing).
They used to do the tortillas by hand, which I tried (hard cos the dough is very soft and sticky), but now the people all have little metal tortilla presses (basically there's a flate metal plat, and you press another plate over it). They put the pastry inbetween bits of plastic (like the plastic of a plastic bag) so it won't stick. You carefully peel off the plastic, attempt to place it smoothly on the komal (without it ending up as a crumpled mess, which is harder than it looks!). It rests there for a couple of moments, then you flip it, then you flip it again, then you flip it a third time, and if you're lucky it'll have separated into 2 layers & will puff right up, leaving you with a lovely, light-textured tortilla. Mine turned out ok, but I've got a way to go yet..
Goy shared some coffee and frijoles (beans) with us, which we ate with some fresh tortillas.
Started a little fire under Goy's komal (cooking hotplate thing).
They used to do the tortillas by hand, which I tried (hard cos the dough is very soft and sticky), but now the people all have little metal tortilla presses (basically there's a flate metal plat, and you press another plate over it). They put the pastry inbetween bits of plastic (like the plastic of a plastic bag) so it won't stick. You carefully peel off the plastic, attempt to place it smoothly on the komal (without it ending up as a crumpled mess, which is harder than it looks!). It rests there for a couple of moments, then you flip it, then you flip it again, then you flip it a third time, and if you're lucky it'll have separated into 2 layers & will puff right up, leaving you with a lovely, light-textured tortilla. Mine turned out ok, but I've got a way to go yet..
Goy shared some coffee and frijoles (beans) with us, which we ate with some fresh tortillas.
San Cristobal Amatlan
I spent a week in a bustling indigenous village by the name of San Cristobal Amatlan. The skirt got a bit more of an airing, which was nice for it as I think it had been feeling sorely ignored, if not entirely abandoned!
On Wed 20th we spent a bit of time in the kitchen, making fresh mandarin juice and coffee and slicing fruit (yummy red mamey!) for morning tea. Then we helped make mole negro (really rich, spicy, chocolatey sauce) for lunch. We served it with rice, fresh tortillas made by the lady nextdoor, and sticks of a sweet, crunchy white vegetable called 'jicaya' (I think).
Visited the Baptist church that night. Although they speak Zapotec, their traditional language here, the songs and bible readings are all in Spanish. And a bit of the preaching too.. Partly it's cos they don't have many resources in Zapotec, but partly because they seem to think doing things in spanish is the 'right' way (even though pretty much only the school kids speak it well!)
On Wed 20th we spent a bit of time in the kitchen, making fresh mandarin juice and coffee and slicing fruit (yummy red mamey!) for morning tea. Then we helped make mole negro (really rich, spicy, chocolatey sauce) for lunch. We served it with rice, fresh tortillas made by the lady nextdoor, and sticks of a sweet, crunchy white vegetable called 'jicaya' (I think).
Visited the Baptist church that night. Although they speak Zapotec, their traditional language here, the songs and bible readings are all in Spanish. And a bit of the preaching too.. Partly it's cos they don't have many resources in Zapotec, but partly because they seem to think doing things in spanish is the 'right' way (even though pretty much only the school kids speak it well!)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
First wear outside Oz!
After about 10 days away, the skirt finally got to strut its stuff (on Friday, 8th Jan). They´re not the most practical attire for travelling, as I don´t like to carry money in a bag (maybe I should sew a little pocket inside it?). But it was a lovely breezy afternoon in Belize, so after arriving in sleepy little Corozal, just near the Mexican border, I decided to get it out.
I strolled down the streets, wandered along the edge of the bay, got chatted up by a guy - politely refused his offers to act as my guide, watched a bunch of other guys pulling in nets of lots of little white fish on a jetty, and just enjoyed soaking it all in.
I ate dinner - freshly made empanandas - at a little stall just outside the ´guesthouse´where I was staying. The couple who own the place were having dinner as well, so the mother got her oldest daughter to make them. They had a TV set up there, so I sat on a stool outside with them and caught up on the latest events of Belize.
I strolled down the streets, wandered along the edge of the bay, got chatted up by a guy - politely refused his offers to act as my guide, watched a bunch of other guys pulling in nets of lots of little white fish on a jetty, and just enjoyed soaking it all in.
I ate dinner - freshly made empanandas - at a little stall just outside the ´guesthouse´where I was staying. The couple who own the place were having dinner as well, so the mother got her oldest daughter to make them. They had a TV set up there, so I sat on a stool outside with them and caught up on the latest events of Belize.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)