If there is one thing I miss from my home country is the food!!!!!


The more I travel, the more often I get this question: "What food do you eat in El Salvador?" My answer is always: PUPUSAS!!!

Pupusas is the number one staple food of my little country! We are so proud of pupusas, we think they are THE BEST food in the world and we can pretty much eat them EVERY SINGLE DAY!

In order to eat pupusas one has to go to a Pupuseria, which are VERY easy to spot and depending on where you are, you can even see 5 or more in a row!

Traditionally you had pupusas made of maize flour and could fill it with cheese, beans, or chicharron (pork) and depending on the season you could add morocco, a little green plant. Then they added a rice flour option. Now I think things have gotten out of hands and you can fill them with mushrooms, chicken, and even shrimp! But if you go to El Salvador do me a favour and just try the traditional flavour, my favorite: Queso con Frijoles y Loroco!

My favorite pupuseria

The toppings

Flipping the pupusas!

What's the best part of a pupusa?!?!?!
THE BURNT CHEESE!!!! Literally people fight for it, and you see people giving an angry look to the one who steals the burnt cheese from somebody else's pupusa.



Cheese is so important, the more stringy, the better!!!! (I'm salivating now!)



Pupusa eating etiquette:
NEVER EVER use a fork! They have to be eaten with your hands!... They do taste better that way!
Also, pupusas are eaten with curtido (picked cabbage and carrots) and salsa (homemade tomato sauce.)

More traditional food:


Another typical food are riguas: corn dough with cheese:

Empanadas:
These are made of mature plantain filled with either a vanilla curd or beans and rolled in sugar! Yum!


Tortitas de Elote:
Small corn patties fried and eaten with a side of sour cream!


Tamales:
We have so many! Tamal de elote, sal, azucar, pisque, chipilin...


Pastelitos:
a thick corn tortilla filled with veggies and meat (sometimes they have it vegetarian) and then fried, eaten with curtido and salsa!



Elote Loco (crazy corn):
A corn on the cob with mayo, mustard, black sauce, ketchup and sprinkled cheese... might sound bad but it's yummy!
Yuca:
steamed, boiled, or fried yuca topped with curtido and salsa! (If you eat meat you can add pork on top, or a little fish called "pepeshca")



Sorbete de Carreton (Ice cream from a cart)
Traditionally this ice cream was simply made with coconut and sugar. Now, they have so many different flavours!

Here Leslie is eating a Platano maduro (ripe plantain) con cream (with sour cream)

Being a country by the coast of course some of our traditional food involves seafood!

At la Hola Beto's

Fried plantain chips with ceviche on top...




Rice with Calamari on its ink


Leslie having fried fish... and a mojito!


Fish Tacos




But my favorite restaurant was a new vegan/ vegetarian restaurant called Soy Greens... OMG! Delish


And one can not leave El Salvador without eating a mango "twiss" from the street!
This guy is actually famous for its mangos.


He first spiralizes it and then puts lime, salt, alguashte (pumpkin seed powder), chili, and black sauce... SO GOOD!



And the new trend: mangoneada!
it's frozen mango topped with mango and all the toppings!


It looks like all I did in my time back home was eat like a pig, but actually I found many projects to keep myself busy and not go crazy!

One of the projects I had while at home was to go talk to a school and share about my experience around the world, volunteering, and being a girl in this world in general. I thought my story ought to be heard by young girls, know that a girl from El Salvador can do whatever she wants, can set goals, follow their heart, and forget about the expectations of society!



Another project was my niece!

I have been working with children all my adult life and I really believe that children need so little to be happy. I find it ridiculous that we buy and buy and buy toys when in reality with just a couple they are just as happy.

Well, I think with my niece I broke the rule of not buying toys! She loves loves loves stuffed animals so every day she came to visit (my mom takes care of her twice a week) I had a new "amiguito" for her. I thought her amiguitos deserved a little house so I made her a teepee!

Cutting the fabric!

Not finished yet but looking good!

Party in the teepee

She absolutely LOVED IT!

her massage center

My friend Leslie brought her a tea set so we had tea parties with all of our friends

Each stuffy has a name!

Then, I went a little crazy! haha
I found an old horse and transformed it into a Unicorn!!!!!



Making the decorations and the hair!


Painting the eyes

ALL DONE!




Another project was Kenya!

I kept busy trying to get donations to buy materials to take to Kenya for my volunteer and literally asked every person I know! I spent my days sending emails, asking friends directly, I even asked people who came to my mom's clinic! In my opinion the worst thing somebody will say is "No!" so I took a chance!

With the donations I was able to get some materials and get creative so I made some song puppets!











I tested them with my niece!!!

Practicing for Kenya!

I still had time in my hands and since my friends are baby factories I decided to make them a little something with my crafty hands!!!






And even made gifts for Mother's day for my mom and Father's day for my brother!




Lastly I used some of my time to meet with old friends and my family

With Grandma and her brother

Baby A and Steph!

Bridal Shower!

With my two grandmas!!!! So much Love!

Mother's day

My stop over in El Salvador was perfect! So much fun, now it's time for more adventure!!!!