#Nacatamal

[sp00kypumpkaboo]

I miss the thanksgivings we used to have where we’d go to my Abuelita’s and cook/eat a bunch of nicaragüense food. I miss eating indio viejo, nacatamals, vaho, vigorón, yuca, etc. I’d rather have than than a turkey dinner :/

[elmercalata]

Nacatamal 19 x 16 in | 48 x 41 cm Ink on paper

[latinotiktok]

En nicaragua tenemos el nacatamal no se si se pone manteca en la hoja pero si se le pone a la masa para que no se pegue :-) también les ponen una comida entera adentro como papa, arroz, tomate, vegetales, carne (mi abuelita les pone una pierna de pollo entera jajaja)

JAJAJAJA tu abuela es una visionaria

[thundercaya]

Baby was too little to eat solid foods last Christmas, so this year he gets to try his first nacatamal.

[the-stray-liger]

I just ate a nacatamal that fixed my entire mental health. Im no longer bipolar

[ivanavana]

In this project I brought together plantain leaves, maseca, achiote, and water; the key ingredients in a nacatamal. Essentially, turning myself into a nacatamal as means to further identify with the culture in which I am disconnected from. I was inspired by Tania Bruguera's "El Peso de la culpa," in which she eats the soil of cuba. Though, rather than consuming ingredients made to be eaten, I wore them.

[grinleysspa]

discovered that i'm allergic to banana leaves today while eating a nacatamal for the first time, frankly devastating news

[remy45]

TYSM FOR THE TAG!!!

favourite colour: Blue or Pink <3

last song played: Loop by Yves

currently reading: Currently reading a thousand splendid suns by khaled hossani (great author btw)

currently craving: A cacao with nacatamal idk Im craving for food of my native country

coffee or tea: coffee, mostly cold, I cant tolerate hot things sorry.

The aim of the game is to answer and then tag some mutuals you wanna know better or catch up with. Tagged by: @angelicgurl98

Favorite colors: baby pink, black, red, baby blue

Last song played: отпускаю cream soda

Currently reading: russian literature

Currently craving: pasta

Coffee or tea: coffee especially iced

Tagging: @innocence341 @yayobabydoll @dollyswan and anyone that would like it to do it <3

[kimixiii]

Recent batch of food drawings I made :p

[cmdgsblog]

Comida Nicaragüense, Nacatamal. 😘🤗

[soychef]

[acoraxia]

I'm so curious though.

My mom gave me a cookbook filled with nicaraguan recipes. has anyone ever heard of indio viejo? nacatamal? churrasco? arroz a la valenciana?

how many people do i have to feed this upcoming christmas?

I’m HUNGRY.. craving vaho 😔

[chapin68]

#nacatamal + #coffee #café for this #coldday para este #díafrío ! (at Gardena, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHV4k3lhUCR/?igshid=1royy5sspaakc

[our-great-escapes-blog]

Who says we can't have #Nicaraguan #breakfast #food for lunch? 😁 . #Nacatamal (corn and butter dough, stuffed with meat, potatoes, onions and rice, slow-cooked in a #bananaleaf) washed down with traditional 'pinolillo' (cornmeal, cocoa, milk and cinnamon). Happy times.👍 . @DiscoverNicaragua #DiscoverNicaragua #Nicaragua #León @visitcentroamerica #visitcentroamerica #eatinglocal #longtermtravel (at Comedor y Restaurante Imabite)

[6-weeks-in-nicaragua]

11 Febrero

It’s been a minute–a lot has happened since las iglesias! I’m alive and well. Knock on wood but so far no explosive diarrhea, no homesickness, no lost passport, no funky encounters... todo bien!

A quick update and then I’m going to just throw a bunch of random experiences, thoughts, and pictures I’ve accumulated over the past 4 or so days cause I have no way of keeping track of it all–so many things happen every day...

UPDATE: Estoy solo en Nicaragua y estoy manejando.

Both Noel and Lorena have gone stateside temporarily. Everybody is okay - no se preocupen. This leaves me alone, but not entirely. A friend of Lorena’s, Noelia, is going to help take care of Toto and may, in fact, even stay in the house part-time or full-time. So we’re all good! Noel left a few days ago and I took Lorena to the airport today. If I remember, I’ll tell you about my first driving adventure later! Anyhow, things were a bit crazy as these plans were all being made–hence the lack of posting. So here we go...

LAS HORMIGAS

These ants live at the Choco Museum and I like them. What I don’t like are the zancudos (mosquitos). They seem to be getting worse with the drier/hotter weather. I’m not sure why but they’re lovin’ my ankles and shoulders. 

IT’S THE 1ST OF THE MONTH

On the first Monday of the month, there was an incredible line outside of the bank–the longest line I’ve seen in Nicaragua by far. It turns out that it’s all the retired people collecting their pension. 

EL PEREZOSO TUVO EXITO

En fin, yo aprendí que significa la phrase–Tener exito–to succeed. That’s my ‘word’ of the week along with Perezoso–both the adjective lazy and the word for a sloth. 

I stumbled upon this beautiful block. On the left is La Fortaleza, an old fort that may have future plans but, for the time being, is closed to the public although apparently some private/government soirees are thrown there too. I was mostly, however, drawn to those 4 casitas. Que linda, verdad?!

MASA

I had my first Nacatamal of the trip. This is a Nicaraguan tamale, but truly a league beyond a tamale. They’re typically made and consumed on weekends only. There’s a panadería nearby called Doña Haydee (?), y hace nacatamals de pollo y de cerdo. They are only available Fri-Sun until they run out. 

Arleen told me that they use fake masa here in Granada for their tortillas. No usan maza reál en Granada. Solo puede comprar en Masaya. En general, por allá la gente son más trabajadores, más creativo, y más educado. I think somebody might have a grudge against Granada folks... But I have now heard from multiple people that Masaya is indeed a culinary mecca for Nicaragua. We’d gone once but only to see the market, which is well known for its plethora of quality goods. Pues, vamos a comer en Masaya! 

LA EDUCACION

Arleen and I continue to discuss various issues. As we sat in the Cathedral and interpreted the new paintings on the ceiling (Noah’s Ark, Abraham and Isaac(?), Exodus, etc.), we shifted back to education. As she was talking about public and private schools, it sounded like she was arguing that there was little to no value in public school education–textbooks that are 20+ years old, lack of textbooks and other materials, etc. So I asked her if she’d rather not send her boy to school than to a public school. She laughed but agreed that for her, it was no choice. She and her husband (an engineer) do, and would, sacrifice what they would need to, in order to send him through private school. And even a private school is limited. She described the amount of work that parents (moms) have to do to supplement the school education. Ultimately, we agreed that she had a nearly full-time job of being a teacher to her son. She studies with him, draws up her own exercises for him and even her own exams. 

4:30pm is a really cool time to be out and about. All of the students are getting out of school and, with their uniforms, seemingly take over the streets. I wish I had a picture to share. 

WILLIAM WALKER

We also talked about William Walker. This is the umpteenth time I’ve heard William Walker but was never quite sure why. His name came up one night the guys were arguing about the political crisis. Now I have a vague understanding of why. Essentially, with his own army he marched down Central America, pillaging, pirating, and claiming ownership over land. He would take natural resources (e.g. stones, minerals) and sell them in Europe. This was in or around the 1850′s. And thus began the American involvement in Nicaragua. 

XALTEVA

The name of one of the local tribes was Xalteva. As we watched a couple groups of musicians and dancers performing traditional songs and dances (who are contracted by the Tourism office to perform when buses of tourists are scheduled to arrive via Costa Rica or Panama for the day), I asked if this was rooted in Xalteva culture. No. She said the folkart comes from colonial times and is a result of the mix of Inios, Españoles, y Afro-Carribeans. I am excited to read El Gueguense because I think I’ll have a better understanding of all this after. But in a nut shell, much of the traditional arts are rooted in the dissent of Colonialism–’secret’ songs and dances of empowerment that snuck through the eyes and ears of the Spanish imperialists. I think that’s incredible!

COST COMPARISON

As I prepare to be alone, I stopped by the Maxx Pali (a grocery outlet, more or less) and picked up some bare essentials. The Protex is a bar of oatmeal soap. The cereal was the healthiest I could find. And the silver plastic bag is known as chile. It’s spicy pickled chopped onions - by far the best condiment in the world! $15 total. Somehow they only charged me 1 córdoba (1/32.6 of a dollar) for the floss, I’m guessing that means it’s not a very popular product... 

DRIVING IN MANAGUA

That was the name of the first book I read about Nicaragua ahead of my first trip in 2015. It’s amazing and I highly recommend it, although the caveat is that it’s about a white guy living/traveling in Nicaragua written by the white guy himself. But his observations are quite acute and I easily relate to some of them. 

So my sense of direction proved helpful. I was able to navigate around town, to Managua, to the airport, back to Tia Karla’s house, back to Granada. BUT I NEARLY GOT CRUSHED BY A BUS! So Nicaragua prefers roundabouts to traffic signals. I have no problem with that. But there aren’t really any lanes so it’s a bit of a free-for-all. And it’s legal for one on the inside line to leave the roundabout, thus cutting off anyone on the outside. I was nervous about these and during our drive to Managua today, asked Lorena a million hypothetical questions. We went through a few to practice, and all was good. But I still imaged these hypothetical situations and didn’t understand how to avoid them.

So after giving myself a pat on the back for navigating from the airport, to Karla’s, and back to Calleterra Masaya (the hwy) - I was going through the roundabout to enter the highway. I was in the circle, thus establishing the right of way from cars not yet in the circle. I passed the first turn. I passed the second turn. And as I was nearing the third, a bus was approaching the circle at a high speed. Now, so far, I’ve learned to the key to a safe ride is to drive defensively in an aggressive manner. So I dared not stop in the middle of the circle. I held my breath and continued past the 3rd street as the bus entered the circle. It was now my turn to bear right out of the circle and I needed to cut off the bus (but it’s not cutting off, I have the right of way). So I kept on holding my breath and zoomed by with the bus zooming lord knows many millimeters behind me. Had he hit me, I think he would have pushed me into the guardrail and I probably would have gone over the guardrail and down a couple stories onto the highway below...

Driving feels like a video game. A lot of veering one way and the next. Dodging people, bicycles, motorcycles, horses, buses, taxis, etc. It’s like Frogger but reversed. There are a million frogs crossing and you’re the car trying to make it from pt. a to pt. b without hitting or getting hit by one. It’s fun and exhilarating but it’s also real life. 

END ON A GOOD NOTE

This is part of Noelia’s patio. I absolutely love it! Nadessa arrives tomorrow for a week so I gotta get some rest. 

Estoy apreciado de tú y tú y todos. Buenas Noches!

[the-stray-liger]

I just ate a nacatamal that blew my balls clean off