I Like to Eat, Eat, Eat...

...Eepples and Beneenees...

Today I went to the market to replenish my food stores after my week away.  I usually avoid going to town on Sundays since it is the big market day and I just get overwhelmed with the crush of the crowd.  I didn't have much choice with bare shelves, so I waited for the afternoon since things would clear out a bit and headed over around 1:00.  By 2:00 I had purchased fruits and veggies from half a dozen stalls was headed back home with a full tote bag and a wallet about 16Q lighter (about $2).

The apple wasn't bought today, just cleaned today.

The haul:
Onions (2 lbs)
Carrots (a bag of 5)
Avocados (4)
Bell pepper (1)
Chile peppers (5)
Bananas (12 mini-sized)
Tomatoes (1 lb)
Potatoes (1 lb)

Other than price differences, eating produce here requires a few extra steps than those I took back home.  Things like bananas and avocados are easy; just peel, prep (if you care to), and eat.  Pretty much everything else goes through the three containers method.  One bucket to scrub off visible dirt (using chorro water from the tap), ten minutes in the second bucket of chorro water with either bleach or a produce-specific cleaner added in, the third bucket for a quick rinse in bottle water.  

My veggie cleaner of choice

All this purification and hygiene work may seem a bit paranoid of me, and I know many volunteers who don't bother to go through the steps.  I also know some who have fallen sick with horrible digestive stuff from ignoring the precautions.

After all, in the US we just rinse off our produce and eat... not always bothering to rinse it.  However, there is the Clean Water Act in the US.  It's safe to drink tap water in the US (although many choose to filter it even so).  Produce is generally purchased in grocery stores or carefully beautified farmers market stalls.  Human waste goes through wastewater treatment plants in the US.  There are FDA inspectors that check over our food supply.  And yet, there are food recalls and food poisoning problems in the US, too.

Here, the water may be fine, but it may not be.  Sometimes water comes from a spring, but it may come from the river, and who knows what is happening upstream.  Since livestock are found throughout the town between houses and latrines are the human waste disposal system of choice, there are plenty of accessible sources of the dreaded FOC (fecal-oral contamination) to be spread around by flies.  Stalls in the market may store food in baskets or tarps on the ground, close to litter and feces and bugs.  Naturally, it's a buyer beware environment and I watch how people set up their stalls when I choose where to buy.  Still, for me, I don't mind an extra ten or twenty minutes of extra precaution.

The rub is, most of the Guatemalans in my community don't go through these steps.  One more factor contributing to chronic malnutrition.  It's hard for your body to absorb nutrients when your GI is doing its best to evacuate whatever nastiness hitchhiked its way in with your food.  One thing I'm hoping/planning to do is work with the local health post to see if we can raise awareness of the issue, and improve access to the means to remedy it.  Here's hoping!

Too Many Lentils

A few weeks ago I tried a new recipe for lentil burgers with a friend.  In the prep, I measured out two cups of uncooked lentils into the pan, while the recipe called for two cups of already cooked lentils.  Turns out lentils about triple in size.  Whoops.

As I prepared to get out of town last week I realized I had an odd assortment of things left in my fridge.  So, I made an experimental Lentil Soup that turned out pretty darn well.  Among other things, Peace Corps is teaching me to let go of absolute recipes (my sister ought to be so proud, she's never followed a recipe straight through in her life).  Turns out things can taste pretty good when just thrown together, so long as you have that always helpful sauce of Hunger.

I honestly don't remember exactly what all went in or what proportions, so I'm going to try to let you know more or less what I had on hand.  Feel free to do what I did -- improvise.

Ingredients:
Garlic (3 cloves)
Onions (one?  two?  don't remember)
Vegetable Oil (a good splash)
Carrots (two)
Lentils (a few cups... not sure how much I had)
Ham (in my case, left over lunch meat)
Tomato (one last lonely tomato in my basket)
Potato (ditto)
(I didn't have any celery, but I bet it would be a good addition)

Season to taste with:
Salt
Pepper
Ginger
Oregano
....anything else that sounds good.  I just went with what was available.

I threw the oil, garlic, and onions in first, shortly followed by the carrots and potatoes.  Since my lentils were already cooked, they got to head in later... if you're starting with dried lentils I'd guess they'd have to be right up there with onions and would take a fair bit of time on their own.

I got so busy throwing things in that I didn't take photos of the intermediate steps.  Suffice it to say that the tomatoes and ham went in toward the end, and the spices were thrown in throughout to taste.

It didn't turn out all that beautiful to look at, but it was tasty, filling, and emptied out the cupboard!  I highly suggest it next time you're just too lazy to go grocery shopping, or if you need to get out of town like I did.  Crusty bread in place of the club crackers would have been divine, but I'll have to wait for that addition another 21 months or so.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cultural note:  Lentils are definitely not a Guatemalan staple.  I found these in a store in Xela, and haven't seen them in any of the local markets.  At the same time, the concept isn't so far away from beans, so it seems like if they were more widely available it would be an easy thing for Guatemalans to embrace.  

Whirlwind.

I've been travelling.  Here's what happened:

Friday 11th:  6 month anniversary in Guatemala!  Rode to Antigua in a chicken bus seated uncomfortably close to a man with an impressive curly mullet.  No pictures, sorry.

Saturday 12th:  Climbed my second volcano in country (Pacaya!) with about half the PCVs who swore in with me.  We roasted marshmallows at the top (from heat escaping from a crack in the earth) and hiked down in the dark with headlamps.  

Sunday 13th:  Got my first hair cut in country... I figure I ought to do it at least once every six months right?  Also, we went out on the town in the most ugly PACA (second hand clothes exported from the US) finds perhaps ever worn out in public.

Monday 14th:  Day one of Reconnect.  Ended up being a mixture of processing and venting in our tech groups.  Got a calidad Valentine's gift in our PCV Valentine exchange... the Wrinkle In Time books!  

Tuesday 15th:  Day two of Reconnect.  Focus group on how training had gone in the morning, and a pizza lunch and Q&A session with the US Ambassador to Guatemala.  

Wednesday 16th:  Woke in what felt like the Twilight Zone.  Since I was participating in a workshop looking at redesigning the PC Sustainable Agriculture program in Guatemala, I was staying in a hotel with hot water coming out of the tap!  Total reality shift.

Thursday 17th: Finished up the workshop, feeling like I shouldn't eat for the rest of the month after not having turned down a single morsel for the previous 48 hours.  I feel I was victim of the "now or never" mentality.  I don't know when I've eaten that well.

Friday 18th:  Worked on some planning for the internal Ag Magazine for PC Guatemala with some other PCVs, then headed back to site.  It's good to be home!