Top Five Ways to Spend Time in my Site:
1. Visit the Church and adjacent park:
There's a big Catholic church in the center of town (in addition to the Mormon and Jehovah's Witness houses of worship). It's simple and elegant. I can hear the church bells from my house, which is not terribly pleasant when they wake me up at 6am on Sunday, but also makes me nostalgic for the song of church bells floating through the air in my hometown. The park is beautifully green with lots of trees (perfect for playing hide and seek) and has a lovely gazebo in the center of it (perfect for escaping sudden rainstorms and holding impromptu English lessons).
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| Park! |
2. Play with (or teach) the neighborhood kids:
The majority of the kids in my site go to school in town and we're slowly becoming friends. Sometimes they show up at my house and we play games like chess, hide and seek, or frisbee. Chess and frisbee are new activities for them, but rapidly becoming highly requested. Sometimes I "play cards" with my neighbors, but she and her brother are 5 and 4 years old, so our card games are usually based on shifting rules that she makes up and changes at will. I never know what's going on, but it's always a good time. New goals include teaching her and her brother "Go Fish" to give our card games some more structure. Story time is also a hit.
3. Pasear to Prima's:
Going next door to hang out with Prima's family is one of my favorite things to do. Prima is willing to answer all of my questions about cooking and my site and I answer her questions about my life in the US and Peace Corps. Her two youngest daughters are still in school (university and high school) and they're really fun to hang out with. The visit will be full of laughter and probably food.
4. Cook Patacones (or "Peace Corps French Fries"):
Fry: Start with some Platanos Verdes. Draw a large kitchen knife down one of the ridges on the platano to break through cascara (shell/peel). Peel the platanos and then cut them into roughly half inch wide sections with 2 flat sides. Put all of those pieces onto a plate. Take a frying pan and pour about a half inch of vegetable oil (or whatever kind of cooking oil is in the local tienda). Set a empty second plate next to the frying pan. Turn the stove on and put as many platano pieces as will comfortably fit (usually no more than 8 at a time, depending on the size of the pan). Fry them on both sides until they're golden brown. When they're done take them out of the pan and put them on the second plate. Repeat until all the pieces are fried
Smush: Take your handy dandy patacon maker (or the flat side of your kitchen knife) and aplastar (smush flat) all of your fried pieces are flattened.
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| Patacon maker |
Fry: After all the pieces are aplastado (flattened), fry them again for a few minutes.
To be enjoyed with ketchup or salt (or both).
5. Eat some mimbre in a hammock:
Mimbre (or fruta china) is delicious. We tend to call it "star fruit", which always makes me think of "star leaves" from The Land Before TIme.
You could also eat some mamon, mamon chino, or an orange Panamanian style (cut a top section off and suck all the juice out).
Hammocks are a perfect way to pass a windy (hot) summer afternoon (reading, writing, studying, sewing, or napping with a purring kitten).
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| Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015 |
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