Preparing Enchiladas

Traditional Baile

Getting our dance on

Today my girls group in Xesacmalja celebrated the Day of the Child complete with “enchiladas” and dances.  Enchiladas are not a very common food here – I actually don’t think I have eaten them once since being in Guatemala, so my concept (from back home) of what enchiladas should be – rolled up flour tortillas stuffed with chicken and cheese, covered in sauce and baked – was completely off.  They were actually just tostadas with vegetables mixed with mayonnaise and dry shredded cheese on top.  I’m not sure why they just didn’t call them tostadas, which are a traditional, tasty snack made in the same way.  I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and strawberries for the girls to celebrate the day, which they all enjoyed, and a group of eight adorable girls performed a traditional indigenous dance, complete with baby dolls strapped to their backs Guatemalan-style and baskets of vegetables and fruits used as offerings to the gods.  Afterwards they gave me all their corn so I will be eating corn on the cob the next few days.  After the traditional dance, they changed into little skirts and boots and did a “modern” dance and then got me and all the other girls, as well as the three mothers who came to help out, dance with them.  We danced the afternoon away.

We're having fun I swear!

As I was waiting earlier for a microbus to depart the terminal in Toto for Xesacmalja, a group of my sixth grade boys I teach English to were waiting for the same bus.  They were just heading home from planting trees in another community and all were armed with two- and three-foot long machetes.  I love that no one here gives a second thought to children running around with swords and knives.

Boys in the terminal with machetes