Parece que las lluvias comenzaron temprano este año, porque ya dos veces esta semana el tiempo ha acabado con mis planes.
Tuve varias invitaciones para cenar con amigos esta semana. Primero Don Felipe me invitó. Luego Doña Anastasia. Luego Doña Reyna. Y por último, la familia de Gorgonio (realmente la invitación vino de su hija Eva, con quien hablé por teléfono y me preguntó porque no había subido a visitarles; la dije que si me invitaba, iba). Dije Eva que iba a visitar su familia el miércoles (aunque me dijo "venga el jueves") porque ya había aceptado lo de Felipe para jueves santo. Miércoles comenzó a llover en al tarde y tuve que llamar y decir que no pude venir. Con la excepción de Reyna, todos viven en Tapesquillo 1 y 2 -- son aldeas un poco distante, y solo accesible por una carretera de terraceria, que sube y sube, con muchas curvas. El verdadero "camino largo y sinuoso" (de la canción de los Beatles: "Long and Winding Road"). Realmente sin un carro con doble tracción no se puede subir cuando está lloviendo fuerte. No solamente es problema del agua y lodo, pero también es difícil ver bien; entonces decidí a no correr el riesgo (hubiera sido casi imposible a volver al pueblo en la oscuridad cuando está lloviendo). La carretera no es fácil cuando NO está lloviendo.
El problema era que no había comprado cosas para cocinar para mi cena. Tuve frijoles secos pero estos requiere ser remojados primeros y luego varias horas sobre el fuego para ablandarse. Había hecho una sopa de lentejas para mi almuerzo y aunque PUDE comerla otra vez, prefería una variación. Pero casi todo el pueblo está cerrado para semana santa. Si, algunas tiendas de "artículos de consumo diario" están abiertas, pero no venden muchas cosas frescas; mayormente lo que el escritor Michael Pollan llama "productos que se parecen a comida" (alimentos procesadas, lleno de químicos, sal, grasa). Comí huevos la noche antes y entonces, también sale el asunto de la variedad.
Lo que quería comer, realmente, era pupusas de queso. Es un gusto que desarrollé a través de mis amistades con algunas señoras salvadoreñas en New Bedford y también mi breve viaje de investigación a El Salvador en 2009. Me gustan tanto las pupusas que la gente de la casa donde quedé y yo hicimos como 15 el día de mi salida y los cargó en mi equipaje de mano; los metí en la nevera cuando llegué y los comí poco a poco. Durante los 2 últimos años, se ha convertido en una de mis cenas rápidas preferidas porque con masa instantánea, uno puede tener listo a comer en 5-10 minutos. También para mi son mas fáciles a preparar que tortillas. Porque el queso fundido compensa por muchos errores y entonces no es tan importante si la forma es un poco irregular o si la masa quebra un poco cuando las pupusas se están cocinando.
Salí y recorrí el pueblo. Maseca se puede conseguir en cualquier tienda, pero no todas tienen queso fresco. La tienda mas cercana, a mi izquierda cuando salgo de la casa, solo tuvo queso duro. Muy salada y no funde bien. La tienda de mi terrateniente no tuvo ningún queso. Me desesperé. Pero en la próxima tienda por la misma acera en la calle principal, la señora me dijo que al lado tenía y fue al comedor "Las Flores" donde he notado no solamente sirven comidas preparadas pero también venden unos productos como verduras y frutas. Allí del refri sacó un queso, envuelto en unas hojas de maíz, y contento, volví a la casa y hice mis pupusas con un curtido de repollo.
******************
It seems that the rains began early this year, because twice this week the weather has quashed my plans.
I had several invitations to have dinner with friends this week. First Don Felipe invited me; then Doña Anastasia and Doña Reyna. Finally, Gorgonio's family (actually the invitation came from his daughter Eva, with whom I had talked by phone (she asked me why I hadn't gone up to visit them; I said I would come if invited). I told Eva that I would have to come on Wednesday (she first told me "come on Thursday") because I had already accepted Felipe's invitation for Holy Thursday. Wednesday it began to rain in the afternoon and I had to call to say that I couldn't come. With the exception of Reyna, they all live in Tapesquillo 1 and 2, hamlets that are a little distant, and only reachable by a dirt highway that climbs and climbs, with a lot of curves. A veritable "Long and Winding Road" (as in the Beatles' song). Truly, without a double-traction vehicle, it's not possible to drive up that road when it is raining hard. It's not just the water and mud; it's also hard to see clearly. So I decided not to take the risk (it would have been nearly impossible to have returned to the town at night when it was raining). That road is not easy even when it's not raining.
The problem was that I hadn't bought anything to cook for dinner. I had dried beans but they need to soak first and then require several hours of cooking to soften them. I had made lentil soup for lunch and of course I could eat it again for dinner but I wanted a variation. But nearly the entire town was shut for holy week. There were a few stores that sell "items for daily consumption" but they don't sell a lot of fresh things, mostly what Michael Pollan calls "food-like products" (processed edibles, full of chemicals, salt, fat). I ate eggs the night before and so then again there was the thing about variety.
What I really wanted to eat were cheese pupusas. It's a taste that I have acquired from my friendship with some Salvadoran women in New Bedford and also my one brief research trip to El Salvador in 2009. I liked pupusas so much that the people in the house where I was staying and I cooked about 15 the day I left and I packed them in my hand luggage and put them in the freezer when I got home and ate them little by little. During the last two years it's become one of my favorite fast dinners because with instant masa you can have them ready in 5-10 minutes. Also, for me they are much easier to make than tortillas. The melted cheese compensates for a lot of errors and it's not so important if the shape is a little irregular or if the dough (the outside layer) breaks a little while cooking.
I went out and took a spin around town. You can buy Maseca at any store in town but they don't all have fresh cheese. The store closest to my house, to the left, only had hard cheese. Very salty and doesn't melt well. My landlord's store didn't have any cheese. I started to lose hope. But in the next store down on the same side of the main street, the woman told me that next door they had cheese and we went into the "Las Flores" canteen [there is not really a good translation for "comedor" in this context: it's an eatery that is a little less formal than a restaurant] where I have noticed that they not only serve prepared meals but also sell some products like vegetables and fruits. She took a cheese, wrapped in corn husks, out of the fridge, and I went home and made my pupusas with a spicy cabbage salad.
In many towns people don't get their food from a store but regularly from others in the community. You may want to try asking who regularly bakes, who butchers what and when and who makes/gets the cheese. The best products are going to come from those you may not have realized are producers. You could also look into hiring someone to cook for you...they may then know where to get the products.
ReplyDeleteThanks; sorry I didn't see this before, not sure why. I did eventually find cheese, and now I know that the comedor nearly always has a supply of cheese. I do have friends who are cheese producers but they live pretty far up in the aldeas. Now that I've been around longer I have developed my own sources for stuff I like, I know the vendors in the market, and what products I can get in our town and which ones I have to get at bigger markets in neighboring towns. Also friends who are cultivadores who occasionally give me small quantities of things like onions or hojas. And, most importantly perhaps, learned to adapt to what's available.
ReplyDelete