También, soy turista.

April 26 – May 2

     Sunday, most of the Santa Marta volunteers came to my house for a potluck to celebrate a belated Easter. We had a wonderful time visiting, eating way too much food, and coloring eggs like we do in the United States. Two volunteers had actually never colored eggs before, so that was fun, too.

     On Thursday, I went to be a tourist in the Centro. I took pictures of the Catedral and la Iglesia San Francisco. I shopped for artesanías, dodging the paro to buy a mochila from the ladies by the Banco de la República and coffee from Juan Valdéz and Ikaro. Friday, then, was the 1^st of May, which is International Labor Day and probably one of the reasons the paro is happening now.

- I baked banana oatmeal cookies for my former host mom and took them to her house. She wasn’t home, but I was able to leave them with the guard at the gate (and I left him a few, too, of course!). I hope she likes them and I’ll probably take her more in the future – it was nice to see her on Palm Sunday and I hope to have a chance to talk with her again.

- My host mom taught me how to make arroz con coco! I learned a while ago from my host brother, but then I tried to make it myself and it didn’t work, so I really appreciate her taking the time to teach me again. I wrote down the recipe and turned it in for a Cookbook Project assignment on food cultures. I’ll need to try the recipe for my family at home, too, and I hope they’ll like arroz con coco as much as I do.

Arroz con coco

Ingredients:

1 coconut, 3 cups water, 3-4 tablespoons sugar, 1½ cups rice, 1-3 teaspoons salt, and lots of love

Instructions:

1.     Put the coconut meat in a blender with just enough clean water to cover it. Blend on low, then medium, then high for about 10 seconds each. Pour the coconut/water mixture through a sieve into a bowl and use your hand to squeeze as much liquid out of the blended coconut as possible. Put this primera leche on the stove on high heat and return the blended coconut to the blender. Add sugar to the primera leche (start with 3 T and add more if you like).

2.     Add 3 cups of water to your blended coconut and blend on low then medium, then high for 10 seconds each. Drain like before and set this segunda leche aside. Keep the blended coconut for another recipe.

3.     By now, your primera leche should be boiling. Let it continue to boil…and boil…and boil… Once the water has boiled out of the primera leche and only the coconut oil remains, lower the heat and stir frequently until the coconut oil and sugar caramelize (reach a dark gold/brown/just starting to burn color).

4.     Add the segunda leche to your coconut oil and turn up the heat, again. (Be careful – it will steam!) Add salt (start with 1 tsp. and add more if you like). Add your 1.5 cups of rice.

5.     Allow rice to cook until the water level lowers and you can see the grains of rice above the liquid. (Now would be a good time to add more sugar or salt if you like.) Cover the rice and let it continue to cook for 30 minutes over very low heat.

6.     Taste test to see if the rice needs more salt or sugar. Have every member of your family currently in the house try your rice and give their opinions, as well. Finally, serve and enjoy!

- The day after the Inauguration of Sede 1, teachers across the country went on strike. They’re still on strike a week later. Teacher strikes happen frequently, partially because teachers have to renegotiate their contract every year. There was a demonstration in Parque Simón Bolívar while I was shopping for artesanías and, though protests are rarely violent, I was careful to skirt the edge of the crowd and not wear yellow that day, since people wearing yellow supported the protest and Peace Corps volunteers try not to make political statements.

- Don’t forget to whereabouts! Exact policies vary by country, but in general, whenever you sleep somewhere other than your bed, the office will want an email with your full name, your departure and return dates, your destination, and contact information for you and one other person who is with you (or the place you are staying, if you are alone). They may also request a text or call when you return to your site.

- “Nada es imposible con Dios.” “Nothing is impossible with God.”