A Cabin in the Jungle

A Cabin in the Jungle

Sometimes I have to piece stories together, using hand motions, facial expressions, hand drawings and of course the words and language.   So when my host father invited me to his farm Sunday, I thought I was going on a farm tour, we talk about farms all the time at the table, so that was my thought going in.  It was a little different than what I thought, but it was great!  We left at 11am, and by we I mean my host sisters, their kids and my host parents and returned around 5.  We headed about 10 minutes out of town, down a gravel road and into a little cabin.  It was surrounded by jungle and agriculture.  The little cabin doesn’t have electricity, and is in it’s simplest form, but a perfect little cabin!   We cooked our lunch and dinner over the fire and looked out all day on the porch.  They bought the place when my host father retired and go out there on weekends.  It is surrounded by avocado, guava, cas, banana and plantain trees, along with Yucca and other herbs. We had a light lunch of sausages, much like the brats I am missing from back home with tortillas, beans and salad.  Then we took on the task of the day, making tamales!    

 

Tamales here are a typical Christmas food, so today we had Christmas in June!  Now I love tamales, but the ones I have had are a little different.  The leaves of the banana tree were set over the fire to make them a little more pliable then wiped down to prepare.  Atop each leaf we put maza, (the corn flour base) topped with carrots, peas, red pepper, rice and shredded pork.  These tamales were rapped, tied and boiled for a few hours.   We made over 100 tamales.  The result: DELICIOUS!  Muy Rico!  Don’t worry my host mother said she will give me the recipe: get excited!!

 As we were cleaning up to leave the excitement escalated when my host sister started shouting “perezoso, perezoso”.  Perezoso: Sloth. (also the same word is used for lazy....) There was a sloth in the tree, officially the coolest animal I have seen on this trip.  I also realize now why Spanish uses the same word for sloth and lazy, those things are slow!  The day at a cabin in the jungle was much needed. I may get lost in the language and confused quite often, today was special to spend with a family.  They have taken me in, fed me, cared for me and today brought me to a place that is special to their family, not simply a Cabin in the Jungle.