bringin Guate back...

It's been almost 2 months since we left Guatemala and I'm going through withdrawal. So we've made a few attempts at bringing some of it back...

First we tried to make pupusas. I know, I know, they are really from El Salvador, but we ate them every Friday night in Guate and grew to crave them in no time. There are several women on the street who sell them, and at about 25 cents each you can't go wrong!

Pupusas are corn flour (the same ground corn that is used to make tortillas and tamales) stuffed with yummy fillings (beans, cheese, meat in different combinations) and then made into a stuffed tortilla and grilled or fried. They are delicious and usually served with tomato salsa and a pickled cabbage side. Mmmm

this is what they're supposed to look like

 

please see above the ginormous pupusa my dad made, he had to biggie size it

Chris doesn't look thrilled, but he really does like pupusas

So they definitely weren't quite like the pupusas back home in Guate, but they were a good first attempt and we can only get better (right?)!

A few weeks ago we had a Guate reunion with the lovely ladies (minus my cousin, Jessi, who is in Canada) who came to visit end of May. We began our reunion with some incredible tamales. Everyone in Indy should seriously go to The Tamale Place. Delicious!

Mmmm tamales

Then we spent about 3 hours (no joke) sipping tea and looking at Guate pics and videos. It brought back so many wonderful memories and stories. If we could have, we probably would have bought return flights then and there.

We definitely dressed up for the occasion! While in Pana, I grew to really respect the indigenous communities, their lifestyle, and their way of dress. They back-strap weave their traditional blouses, called guipils, and you can purchase them second-hand to support the communities...and wear beautiful, one of a kind blouses! In this picture we're wearing 4 different guipils from 4 different villages (each village around Lake Atitlan has its own history and it's own traditional clothing).

our beautiful guipils!

And we wore our Guatemalan shoes! Linda bought her little flats at the market in Santiago. I bought my moccasins from a leather man we got to know in San Juan (David has a pair too). And Patsy and Megan bought their cowboy boots in a little town called Pastores (we definitely took a chicken bus in the rain to find them in a village I had never gone to, quite the adventure!).

our Guate shoes

It's always fun to reminisce about Guate and attempt to bring some of it back here. We will always try to keep Guate close to our heart while living in the US, something we are really enjoying doing through our Fair Trade venture, Las Casas. (helpless plug, sorry...but check it out!)