Año Nuevo Fireworks over Guatemala!
Well
everyone, we’re 13 days into the New Year and our pet pig, Chicharrón, is STILL
ALIVE!!! This is huge and I’m super feliz. I can only hope all y’alls New Years
are going as great as Chicharróns'!
Hola
y Feliz Año Nuevo! To celebrate the New Year, my host mom and I spent hours
making over 100 tamales de carne! These things are the BOMB. I can eat three in
one sitting! Even though every Guatemalan tells me I’m not eating them right
because I always remove my pedazo de carne* (and usually feed it to a chucho*)! I’m basically a tamale de carne PRO at this point (for a Gringa*). Check out the picture below
for evidence!
Mixing the masa! Not pictured: The giant cinderblock I'm standing on
Here
is me, standing over our wood stove, stirring a huge pot of masa with a
wooden spoon that is as tall as me! This was no small task for my little
brazos*! What is not pictured is the cinder block that my host mom dragged into
the kitchen for me to stand on. She laughed and told me that she forgot that I'm “Guatemalan sized” and needed a cinder block like a true Guatemalteca.
For about an hour, I stood, having to constantly stir the thick mixture so it
wouldn’t burn. Once the masa was hot and ready, we stopped to clean GIANT plant
leaves (they’re pretty much identical to banana leaves!), wiping each once
down, and then carefully ripping them into three pieces. Once we had our masa
and leaves ready, the assembly line took form!
We
set out the pot of masa, a pot of cooked chicken, a pot of pepián (a
delicious sauce of seeds, tomatoes, chilis, & cinnamon), a bowl of raisins, prunes, and strips of
red pepper. Then we got to down to tamale de carne making business!
My first tamale de carne!
Here’s
the process:
First,
you take a big leaf and lay a smaller leaf on top of it (they call this leaf
the bikini- you never want to have a naked tamale!). Next, you place a big
helping of masa on the bikini (smaller leaf) and bury a chunk of meat
into it (I tried to imagine it was tofu the whole time). Once the piece of meat has been set
in place, you pour a generous helping of pepián sauce (which I could eat by the
spoonful) on top the masa and meat. My favorite part comes next: Each tamale
gets 2 raisins, 1 prune, and 1 strip of red pepper before wrapping them up. Once the "garnishes" are put in place, the wrapping process begins, which is vital to the cooking/steaming process! Tamale Wrapping 101: First you
take the bikini, which contains all the goodness, and fold it up very carefully.
Then you use the big leaf to secure all the goodness. I thought I was
dominating the wrapping game (just call me Josefina Chapina*) until I realized
that my sweet host momma was unwrapping and rewrapping each one of my tamales…
It was pretty soul crushing. But eventually, I got the hang of it and was
rewarded by getting to lick the pepiàn spoon (so much better than brownie
batter)! Once we had our 100+ tamales wrapped, we put them in a huge pot, and began
steaming them. While they steamed, we chatted, drank ponche, and shared New
Years Eve traditions. Once it hit midnight, we set off our fireworks, shoved 12
grapes in our mouths (the closest I’ve come to being medically separated), and
finally got to unwrap and eat our delicious tamales de carne!
Some of my little cousins + sparklers
With
the new year beginning, it means that the schools are FINALLY beginning to be
back in session. I have been chomping at the bit to get into my schools and
meet my jovenes! These past couple of weeks have been dedicated to meeting
teachers, directors, and planning the year to come. At my first meeting, my
supervisor asked me to get up and introduce myself to the 30 directors! I was
so nervous and think I blacked out but I do remember them laughing (hopefully
with me and not at me). But saaaaaber (who knows)… So far, I absolutely adore
all the teachers I’ve met. I will be working in two schools! Both are Basicos (middle-schools).
One of my schools has 200 students and the other has about 140. Each has about
9 teachers, many teaching double or triple subjects! I was amazed to learn that
in each Basico, 15 different classes are taught! The bulk of my work will be in
teaching “Habilidades de La Vida” (Life-Skills). Throughout my two years, I
will be working with teachers and creating courses in self-esteem, identity,
leadership, values, drug, and sex education, etc… On top of that, I am really looking forward to
starting a women’s empowerment group, cooking classes, working at the Centro de
Salud, and reluctantly giving into the demand for an English club! The beauty
of my work here is that I have the time to really listen to the wants and needs
of my community and cater my work towards what they want to learn, accomplish,
and explore. I couldn’t be more excited for this new year!
My Basico!
Eating lunch with some of my teachers! (they even prepared me a vegetarian plate)
My vegetarian plate! Pollo swapped out for a squash!
Pedazo de carne = piece of meat
Gringa = slang for an American girl
Chucho = Guatemalan slang for street dog
Chapina = slang for someone who is pure Guatemalan
Brazos = arms
Brazos = arms
Are you teaching a cooking class? Lucky you have had training from your ever-lovin mama and your Guatamalan mama who both love to cook! Can't wait to try your tamales !
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