Food update

My diet with my new family is pretty limited. Very traditional and typical Nicaraguan. Always corn tortillas at every meal, and most meals consist of rice, beans, cuajada- a soft, salty cheese, and occasionally eggs and meat. I do have Avena daily, which is awesome. I´m not tired of rice, beans, and tortillas yet, but I have realized how the lack of fruits and veggies affects me.

Realized I haven´t talked about some of the exciting foods I´ve tried in the last few months.

Nacatamal: Corn masa wrapped in a banana/platano husk STUFFED with meat, either chicken or pork, potatoes, and other veggies. It´s kind of like a Mexican tamale, but more filling and it`s made with WAY more lard. Hence, way more delicious.

Tamal: Very similar to Mexican tamales, but smaller and made with less masa and the masa is a lot more moist. The flavors I´ve tried are pollo, frijoles, and dulce, which is made with Dulce, or cane sugar.

Cacao: Pretty much like chocolate milk, but more crudo and bitter. LOVE it. When you buy it in the store, you constantly have to shake it because the cacao always goes to the bottom.

Jocotes: A small fruit that can be eaten maduro or not. Maduros are better(as with everything) and are pink in color. When they are crudo or not matured, they kind of taste like tart apples. Maduro, they are much sweeter and softer.

Mariñon: The Cashew Fruit. It was a really cool seed on the top. They are orange in color and have a similar consistency and taste to mature cocotes. However, they make your tongue feel weird and a lot of volunteers apparently have allergic reactions to them... I fortunately did not.

And obviously everyone knows what mangoes are. They are in season now, or just starting to be in season, and are EVERYWHERE. I´ve already eaten 3 today. There are 2 types of mangoes in Nicaragua. The bigs ones are probably better but you can´t pick them off a tree everywhere(at least not in Yalagüina). The small ones taste just the same, but they you get all the flesh stuck in your teeth. I´m realizing I should probably start carrying around floss. Actually, there is a third type of mango, too. You eat them crudo and they are more like apples.