Monday: cooking class

Monday July 18

After lunch today we had cooking class. First, we made corn tortillas. It was interesting to see people’s characters come out in their tortilla-making. Mine were a little thin and ragged; Zoe’s were maybe a trifle thick but perfectly rounded. Jeremy promised his tortilla to Alice, then made another for himself. Melba, the head housekeeper, made beautiful tortillas, even without a flat surface to shape them on: she just turned the masa in her hand and kept it moving, pinching the edges as she went. She looked at Jeremy, then said to me, “He’s my boyfriend.” I translated for Jeremy, who preened in response, and all the women in the kitchen laughed. He’s been wanting to do more cooking ever since. Later in the afternoon, we went back to see how to make “índio viejo,” a kind of polenta: sautéed garlic, onions, celery, tomatoes, with a liquid of corn flour, milk or water, plus grated cheese, added and stirred slowly so that it thickens. At dinner, it was partly soupy and partly solid, but very tasty. Jeremy, however, was deeply disappointed that there was not more for us to do.

Manuel took us birdwatching for the elusive toleo again, but still no luck. I think Jeremy’s best efforts to remain quiet may not be quite enough. We did, however, see an iguana high in one of the trees—then a little later, Manuel came by with an iguana that someone had brought to La Mariposa to be released. He left everyone stroke it, then made sure the dogs were elsewhere, and found a pile of timbers/bamboo stalks for it to hide in. Only instead of hiding in this handy shelter, it took off like greased lightning, through the lumber stack, through the underbrush, along a path, through an open classroom, two inches from the instructor’s feet, and who knows where from there?

At 5, Paulette led a discussion about development. “Development 101,” said James, who will have to summarize, since he was the one who got to attend. I drew a picture of one of the hojas de colores (colored leaves, a generic name for a colorful kind of plant) while Jeremy and Guilliermina drew, colored, and played with action figures.