So this has been a pretty eventful week. We got out site assignments (I am going to be about 20 min from the Guatemalan border in the department of Santa Ana), the sugar cane was burnt next to my house (aids in cutting it down), and I purchased my first machete. But I am dedicating this blog post to interesting food discoveries I have made here in El Salvador. Oh also I would like to add that Charlie Scheen is an asshole, and the shoe venders here in El Salvador lead respectable, happy lives. What a jerk…

So one of the interesting things about El Salvador is the diversity of fruit that is grown down here and I have never heard of in the states. For example there is a type of fruit that grows on a tree and looks like a green bean the size of your arm, called a Paterna. When you open it the seeds that are in it are covered in a fuzzy white coating. That is the part you eat, the fuzzy white part. It is pretty weird, but really sweet and then the seeds inside are cooked in the ashes of a fire.

Volcano I hiked as seen from my house

 Another interesting discovery I have made is a fruit called a maranon. Now if you enjoy getting cotton mouth, this is the fruit for you. Personally I think it is pretty gross and try to stay away from it as much as possible. There is another part of this fruit that you may have heard of though, semillas de maranon. No? How about a cashew? Ever wonder where cashews are from and why they are so ridiculously expensive? This is how it goes down. The seed for the maranon fruit grows on top of the plant in a casing that connects the fruit to the tree. One cashew for one fruit. You have to break off the casing and then roast it in order to get the cashew out. Here in El Salvador people grow this fruit for the fruit. Cashews are just a side thing that, if you happen to like them, you can collect them or buy a baggy of them for 25 cents on the bus. Literally cashews litter the streets here, because people do not care about them. As I wrote that I realized how odd that sounds, but it true.

Some other interesting food facts here-

-You can have a whole meal of chicken, rice, and salad for less than 2 bucks

-Salad is rare haha

-Yesterday for dinner I ate a potato and chicken tamale (which consists of a corn mush like substance) and my host dad encouraged me to eat it with a corn tortilla (which I did because it was not really a suggestion as it was expected that I would). Would you like some corn with your potato and corn? The answer is always yes.

-Pupusas (which are basically a food group here) can be purchased for 25 cents each

- You can buy an entire meal while sitting on a bus. Meat and tortillas, French fries, drinks, fruit and vegetables, chips, candy, etc are all sold by independent vendors (aka random people who sell food on the bus to make their living) on the 45 min bus ride from my town to the capital.

- You can make fruit juice out of any kind of fruit, water and sugar. Coconuts? Check. Pineapple? Check. Cantaloupe? Check. Watermelon? Check. Gross maranon? Double check.

- I believe a person could live off of frozen choco-bananas

- We take breaks in our training when the bread lady comes

- Salvadorians love salt and sugar and use it abundantly on about everything

- Cereal here is not a common breakfast food here, but when consumed it is done so with hot milk, which has the effect of making the cereal soggy in about .5 seconds

- Eating the scales, fins, and head of a fish is normal and expected (Which I have learned and done)

- When hiking an enormous volcano, people will bring a full meal of pupusas and salsa and whip out plates half way up to have a little sit down snack

- When tomatoes are in season, you can buy about 30 for a buck

- Beans go with everything

- Guacamole here consists of avocado, onion and egg

- Un-ripe green mangos covered in salt are wildly popular (yuck)

- It is common for people to eat the peel of mangos

- Plantains are put in soup, peel and all

- Pineapples grow on top of what looks like a large aloe plant

- I can now climb a coconut tree with a rope, still figuring out how to get down

Also I have decided to bring back the Spanish word of the day (or week or month) haha to my blog. You all need to learn a little something out there as well.

Today’s word: Sandia =  Watermellon