The Hazards of Eating in the Jungle....

Hey All,

I wanted to post one other picture dealing with food. This is some sopa (soup) that some ladies made for us while staying in one of the villages. Although we as a team brought all our own food except tortillas, which we bought at the tortillerias (sp?) in town, the ladies usually gave us food or something to drink while we were there. At this particular village, the family we stayed with decided to make us a real treat, chicken soup. In Mexico, the chicken does not come prepackaged and nicely prepared. First, the women picked a chicken and stuffed her under a basket. Then when they were ready for her, they picked her up and broke her neck then plucked her. (I was not around for any of this because, while I LOVE meat, I do not revel in seeing animals die.) Then they chopped the chicken up and put the pieces in water with veggies from the jungle. The picture below is the end result:


One of my team mates even got the head in their portioin :D A few of us were feeling pretty sick that day and eating this soup did not help. It actually tasted ok but you just had to close your eyes. Portions in Mexico must be huge or something because I could never finish what was put before me! Although I'm not a huge eater anyway.

Ok, I just though you all would enjoy seeing that picture. That was the most interesting food I ate while abroad, hands down!

Food in Chiapas Part 2

Hey All,

For some reason, my computer only lets me post a few pictures at a time so the last post was cut short. Here are a few more pictures of food in Chiapas:



Apparently, being in Mexico was not enough cross-cultural foods for some of my dear team members. That is why we went to a Japanese restaraunt in downtown San Cris one night. We ate SUSHI. Now, it is time to teach you all a new Spanish word that is closely related to the word sushi: Huacala. This means 'yucky'. I was told it is used when referring to someone who vomits but I decided that it is totally appropriate to use that word when referring to sushi because I felt slightly green all night :)Actually it wasn't too bad, there was also rice but that is not my first or second or even tenth choice of a restaraunt.



After the sushi dinner, we went out for gelato. Although I am not sure what that was. It was ice cream and yummy but the Spanish sounded like gelato. It made up for the having to eat huacala comida :)



While in Chiapas, we visited a childrens' home run by a christian family who are from Mexico. These kids are so well behaved and loved by the parents. We spent the day at the home and built a swing set and just played with the kids. For lunch, we had hamburgers, Mexican style. They were good! And the kids were thrilled for this special treat.



This is standard food in the jungle. Meals consist of rice, beans, tortillas of course, and eggs. That's what people eat every day. The eggs are cooked in a big pan of oil so they literally are "fried eggs". More like deep fried :) This particular meal was our breakfast. It was not uncommon to eat beans and rice and tortillas for breakfast at all. No pancakes, bacon, waffles, or quiche in the jungle!



While our team was in the jungle, we cooked alot of our own meals and this is one of them. It was really yummy. It had noodles and corn and something else in it. One night, we opened more cans of corn and just scooped it into our bowls. Apparently there wasn't enough in the soup :)


What most of you probably don't know is that I was sick pretty much the whole time I was in Mexico. I apparently picked up a wiggly friend somewhere between eating a little sketchy food and swimming in Agua Azul. For about 2/3 of my time in Chiapas, I felt very sick whenever I ate. This is not normal and taking vitamins and probiotics didn't help so when I got home, I was sick for about 3 weeks. I would get light headed if I stood up fast, and was SO tired. I also had a fever alot. My missionary doctor friend sat me down and asked me a few questions then told me "Yep, you have giardia" and called in a prescription drug for me to take. I love having friends in high places. No blood tests or stool samples necessary! It's weird because none of my friends got really sick so I guess I was just the "lucky" one :)


The Lord was so gracious and faithful to me while in Chiapas. He always is even when things aren't going my way. He gave me the strength to eat what was set before me and to eat it without puking. It's not that the food was yucky, it's just I was sick all the time I was there but to refuse food is very offensive. So I was able to eat all that was set before me (usually). I hope you enjoy reading a little about the food experiences in Mexico. I'll just say this food is better than the food in Papua New Guinea :)

Food in Chiapas

Hey All,

I thought I'd do a post on the yummy food I ate in Chiapas. There was a wide variety and many different flavors, to be sure!


About half the time, we ate at the Terrells' house. Julie is a champion. She made all good American food and every meal was amazing. This is in the Terrell's kitchen. They have a very beautiful home.



When we were in San Cristobal, we ate out frequently and went to quite a few restaraunts. This one is called the Gardens. It cost 220 pesos for the buffet which is about $20 USD. It was the most expensive meal we ate in Chiapas.


This is a typical taco restaraunt downtown. The meat is pork and the guy making the quesadillas and other dishes would slice it all the way from the top which has cheese on it then serve it. The tortillas were made at the restaraunt to the right. It was good.

Oops...

Ok People,

How could I have not posted since August!?!? That's horrible. Sí, estoy viviendo (yes, I am living). I've been working ALOT at my job as a waitress and am enjoying it. I get to see many people a day and also make money which is always a plus.

Things have been happening since Chiapas. As alot of you will gather from reading my blog, I am very back and forth about mission opportunities. I came home from Chiapas fully expecting to go back for language school this January - March but the Lord had other plans. I was accepted on the team but did not feel a peace about going for 5 weeks. It's like the Lord told me to wait for a more long term opportunity. My family is going to Key West, FL this Christmas break for 2 weeks on an evangelistic outreach trip. It was either this trip or language school and I really felt I should go with my family.

When I got home from Chiapas, I contacted a mission board about the requirements for going with them. They said I need a year of bible training so right now I'm looking into options. I found a really cool school that's in England and me being who I am (a traveler/girl who wants to live her adventure) I thought "Wow! How cool would it be to spend a year in England!?!?" Then doing more research of other schools, I found Moody Bible Institute does online courses and they accept financial aid. So I've started the application process and we'll see where the Lord takes it from there. I committed to a year at my job and while I'm waiting, it'd be cool to get some bible classes out of the way.

This past week I said goodbye to a very dear amigo, Rudy who went home to Mexico. His leaving made me ache for Chiapas and all the friends and my Mexican family that I left there. I contacted the missionary, Nathan, who lives there about coming back for more language training and hopefully working at the children's home. My goal is to learn as much SPanish as possible. We'll see what the Lord does. I'm praying about returning next August. It seems like such a long way off! I hope and pray the Lord will bring me back to Chiapas one day.

Ok, some pictures because I haven't uploaded many...


Me with some kids on the street in one of the villages we did a kid's program in. I LOVE those kids!




My Mexican family. I love those people so much. They welcomed me and accepted me as a daughter.



On our way back to San Cris from the jungle, we took a boat ride through a canyon. Wow! It was breathtakingly gorgeous!



Our team got to do several sight seeing trips. The best one was to Palenque, some Mayan ruins. It was incredibly hot that day and I stupidly did not take any water. So that coupled with climbing rapidly to the top of one very high pyramid made me literally almost pass out. If you look closely in the picture, I look very peaked. I was sitting in that spot for about 20 minutes fighting nausea and dizziness. The team surrounded me for the picture. :D

Ok, there are a few more of the thousands of pictures our team took on our trip. I will try to post more at random intervals :D Thanks so much each of you for praying for me. Please pray that I will wait on the Lord and that I will be open to what He wants me to do, even if it's not what I want. Because His ways are so much higher than our ways. Dios les bendiga! (God bless you all.)