Atol de piña

is my new obsession. We went to my friend's host mom's house yesterday after our "Spanish Rally" (which was really just a lot of games in Spanish) and had some. It's basically pineapple pudding with cinnamon in it. It was good but I am even more obsessed with it because my site is like the pineapple capital of El Salvador and I'm going to learn to make it! I also got a book today called "Cooking in the Campo" written by another Peace Corps volunteer. Considering my nearest supermarket, where I can buy American things like sliced bread, yogurt, spaghetti and granola will be 2 hours away but a store selling typical Salvadoran food is across the street, I have to learn to cook comida típica salvadoreña whether I like it or not.




So expect a lot of strange but awesome food after I get home!



Here is atol de piña courtesy of visitesantarosadecopan.org

Also, last Sunday was apparently National Pupusa Day here. I didn't know that at the time, so it was really weird to me that the DJ on the radio wouldn't stop talking about pupusas (the tortillas filled with beans, cheese etc.) They're so common here it would be like a DJ at home talking about bread for an hour. But apparently they made the world's biggest pupusa somewhere in the country. I can't find a picture of it online so you will just have to imagine it.

Tonight is my last night with the family. I'm giving them a framed photo of me with them and then I have to pack all my bags. I don't know how any of us are going to handle it. I was cleaning my room yesterday and my host mom flipped out because she thought I was packing and apparently that would not have been cool.

Back to the office for coffee (which is always instant because El Salvador exports all of its real coffee, thereby dashing my dreams of consuming great local coffee as in Vietnam.)

Paz y amor.