A Little Taste of Home

Enjoying Tapado

Guatemala is rich in culture, mainly indigenous and ladino. My site is a small Ladino community and everyone speaks spanish, many people have been or have family in the United States. There are more Indigenous populations in the surrounding villages, many speak Quiche and Spanish. For the first five months I have been in site, I have gotten adjusted to working in the middle schools and with teenagers and I really feel like I have become a part of my community.  With school being out and feria over, there is a lot of free time. That calls for some adventure and that is exactly what me and some friends did. I hadn't heard much about the Garifuna culture in Guatemala, but what I have heard intrigued me. Could there really be a little piece of Africa tucked away on the coast of Guatemala? I took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to visit Livingston with a group of friends.

Luckily for us that same weekend was the celebration of Garifuna Day, celebrating their Garifuna heritage. It was great to not stand out so much, because everyone looked like us. We got to know some locals, get some history and participate in many of the Gariuna day activities. We also ate really great seafood, fried fish and johnny cakes for breakfast and  'tapado'  their typical dish of the daily catch, fish, shrimp, lobster, conch, you name it,  in a coconut milk stew with plantains served with coconut rice. I felt really welcomed and would love to go back.

Local Garifuna Music

To add to all this culture, our hostel offered a real Thanksgiving dinner. Being away from home for Turkey Day was a first and it definitely wasn't my family's cooking but who could pass up turkey and all the fixings whipped up by Europeans and Guatemalans, shared with other volunteers and travelers from around the world. We said grace and went around the table to say what we were thankful for, I was thankful for great friends and family. All in all, it was a great trip and its always refreshing to get out of site and get some 'me time'.

- hasta la proxima