In case you hadn’t heard, Nikki and I are planning to head to South america for about “a while” starting around September 2007. It should be fun. Nikki lived in Buenos Aires for 6 months during a study abroad program and I visited her so we know a little about the country.

One thing we are really dreading is the coffee. Your choices are typically just instant folgers crystals or…well that’s it. The standard north american drip isn’t available in most places and it’s quite a sad thing for two drip fans like ourselves.

Coffee advice from Current Travelers and Expats

The Lonely Planet recommended Dona Luisa Xicotencatl in Antigua, Guatemala as a great bakery/breakfast spot.  We went there both for breakfast (twice) and for fresh out of the oven banana bread at 2:00pm, all of which were amazing.  I had to elbow my way into the bakery line since abuelitas kept stepping in front of me (which was another sign that I was at the right spot since it was jam packed with locals), but it was well worth it for some delicious, warm, and hearty banana bread.
Dona Luisa is located at 4a Calle Oriente No. 12 in Antigua, Guatemala. 

Este sitio tiene una receta para pupusas. This recipe claims to be pura Salvadorena though they classify them as “Cheese, Chicharron, or Mixta” while on my trip everyone called them either “Cheese, Chicharron, or Revuelta”. It’s basically the same thing, but slightly different.

Anyway - it looks like a very good recipe to me. Now I just need to try it out.

Preparing the dough

There are different brands of tortilla flour to make the dough. MASECA, which can be found in most large supermarkets in the international section, is one of them but there are others. Follow the instructions on the bag and make as much dough as needed. Once the dough has been prepared set it aside while you prepare the filling.

Today in class we were discussing different types of families: extended families, bicultural families, nuclear families, single parent households, and so on. We were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of different types of families. When we were talking about bicultural families, one of my students said that food was a disadvantage of being in a bicultural family. I asked him what he meant by this and he told me that if someone from Peru and someone from the United States married, it would he hard for the person from Peru since food in the United States is so bad.

Peruvians, like people from every country that I have been to, are stubbornly proud of their food. When my two friends from home were here visiting not a day went by when my host mom did not remind them of the variety of food from Peru and how delicious Peruvian food really was. I did not tell my host mom that my friends did not really like food in Peru; they thought there was too much rice.