One of the best traditions we've started here is our weekly local group dinners where we all get together for a night on the town at one of San Ignacio's fine restaurants. Each week, we select one restaurant that is locally owned and operated and loved by the community. For our first meal we decided to meet our Adele fanatic neighbor who owns The Bowl. Although the restaurant is only open for lunch, the owner Windy was happy to keep The Bowl open just for us. The dinner was fantastic! With the option between chicken and fish, most of us chose fish, treating ourselves to some variety in our diets. Both dishes were served with delicious vegetable fried rice and corn. The portions were huge but with a tall glass of lime slushy, we managed to scarf down the food in front us.
Our second local dinner was just as impressive as the first as we were treated to Erva's famous burritos. Ranked in the top three of best restaurants in San Ignacio on Trip Advisor, our expectations for Erva's were high and certainly exceeded. The burritos and handmade flour tortillas are known all around town and luckily for us we were able to get a behind the scenes peek at Erva's technique. Not only were we being treated to a great meal, we even made it ourselves! - for the most part. After arriving at the restaurant, Erva welcomed us into the kitchen for torilla making. She gave each of us a hand sized ball of dough and with rolling pins we flattened out the dough, unaware of the difficult task that lay ahead of us. Next we had to pick up the dough and toss it back and forth between our hands, carefully stretching out the tortillas. This may sound easy but it proved to be quite difficult as we tried to keep the tortillas from ripping. Next Erva placed our not-so-circular tortillas on the stove top until they gradually puffed up and formed tortillas.
Jordan and Hayley rollin' out the dough!
Smiles all around!
Next we were welcomed into the kitchen to assemble the burritos. Four of us stood shoulder to shoulder at the table with each our freshly made tortillas in front of us. First came the refried beans.
"Paint the whole face"
said Erva, explaining to us that the tortillas needed to first be covered in an evenly-coated bean base. Next came the lettuce, the tomatoes, the onions, the chicken (or chaya for those who preferred it) and finally grated cheese. The daring also slapped on some fresh jalapenos to add a little kick. Then we rolled up the burritos and tossed them in the microwave in order to perfectly melt the cheese and warm the tortillas. Next came the feast! The labor was definitely worth the reward. Yet again our huge meal seemed impossible to conquer but with the help of the delicious unique dragonfruit juice we did the unthinkable. Another incredible meal!
We were also invited to dinner at our Indigenous professor, Filiberto Penados' house one evening. Dr. Filiberto lives in the Mopan Mayan village of Succotz. Located in Cayo, Succotz was just a quick bus ride away from San Ignacio. Upon arriving in Succotz, we were greeted by Dr. Filiberto who gave us a quick tour of the beautiful village on the way to his home.
When we arrived at his house after walking up and down the hills of Succotz we were greeted by Dr. Filiberto's wife, Bertha and his two children. Some of us relaxed on the porch and spoke with Bertha on the porch about life in Succotz and her jobs as a nutrition teacher. Others took to the yard and played games with Dr. Filiberto's sons. We were later joined by Dr. Filiberto's parents who joined us for a delicious meal of chicken tamales, salad and freshly squeezed orange juice. A few of us were even treated to a slate carving demo given by Dr. Filiberto's neighbor. Overall it was a wonderful evening full of good food and good people!
Hedgehog volleyball!
Succotz is well known for its slate carving Someone had a little boo-boo!
Looking forward to more delicious meals! Next stop - Serendib for Sri Lankan food. Mmmmmm.....
--Submitted by Diana del Solar
--Submitted by Diana del Solar
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