Grn Egz & Ham: Day 1 - banking, Pops, and la Tila

Our first morning, we awoke to find that no one had gone to work. Abuelita was making pancakes and black beans for breakfast. Take note - black beans go with EVERY meal. Okay, so in this case, it was pancakes or black beans with eggs, but still, we haven't sat down to a meal yet without black beans. We hung around the house, and then Pamela, Sergio's niece, took us to a nearby mall to change some money at the bank. Guatemala is a very modern city. The mall had an IMAX theater, a Sears, all sorts of high end stores, and, yay!, a Pops ice cream shop. I had nieve de mandarina.

In the afternoon, we went to visit Abuelita's sister, who they call la Tila (not sure what anyone's real name is - everyone has a nickname.) It was a great visit. We got there around 2pm and stayed until 9pm. We had coffee, tea and champuradas and chatted. Later, I walked with Sergio's cousins around the neighborhood to buy fresh tortillas. I wish I had a picture of that. Three women in traditional Mayan dress patting out the masa over a hot griddle and flipping them with their hands. We took them home and ate them with (what else?) black beans. So, so, so yummy!