Coffee, Cats, and Tamales

19 March, 2019

Homework time in the afternoon... Today I found another family owned coffee house that harvests and roasts their own coffee. I ordered the same drink, as good as the other place, but this one has more milk and ice, less mocha, like a milkshake. 

Not only is it close by where I'm staying, it also has a great view of the lake. There is a swimming pool behind the cafe, one of these days I will have a swim.

BONUS: this cafe has a friendly cat! However, one has to be vigilant, as the cat is persistent in attempting to taste your food and drinks.

 I can't remember the name of the flower at the moment, but this one is especially beautiful. It is in front of a neighboring house.

 All of the Spanish schools offer organized activities of some kind. I skipped playing fútbol (soccer) yesterday - all I need is another foot our leg injury - but today's activity was making tamales! I'm in!!!!

 One type of tamale here in Guatemala is called pache, and it is made of mashed potatoes, with a tomato based salsa (sauce) mixed in, and in the middle various things, but always one Tony hot chile. Fortunately for me, the chile is left intact, so it's easy to pick it out.
We started with cleaning the leaves and peeling and mashing the potatoes.

 Salt and oil are afded.top the potatoes, then the salsa, and mixed by hand.

 Estela, the sweetest woman ever, pain roasting the seeds and spices for the salsa.

 After peeling and mashing potatoes, I took a cat worship break.

 

 The it was time to assemble the paches. I'm not sure what plant these leaves are from, but I was told that they are definitely not banana leaves. Wrapping them was a lit easier than I expected and rather fun as we had an assembly line going.

 Then we wait for the giant pots of tamales to steam. We passed the time playing Spanish vocabulary bingo, using dried corn as the markers.

When the tamales finally arrived at the table, I was to hungry to take any more photos. Deeeelicious! Went for a walkabout with the other students afterward to a gelato shop, the test went on to a bar which I skipped. It was a fun evening.