challenges

Over the past month or so I have started to challenge myself to experience life in Belize more.  Since I love my routines so much I tend to do the same things over and over, and then I get bored.  Then I get frustrated at myself for being bored, because I live in Belize for goodness sakes.  People pay a lot of money to vacation here.   Anyways, the first challenge is to explore more food at the market.  There is a whole row of food vendors at the market, and I had mostly avoided them because I can’t figure out how you are supposed to know how to eat there.  The vendors don’t have signs advertising what they sell or how much it is.  There are no nice lines to wait in till it’s your turn to order.  People sit or mill about,  and somehow yummy food appears in their hands, at least that is how it seems to me.  So I have started stalking vendors.  First I walk around a bit to see if anything looks or smells particularly good.  Then I hover around the edge of the stand, and spy to see what people are eating and how they order.   Ordering usually involves shoving your way through the crowd and yelling what you want to the cook.  (Don’t worry, the little old ladies do it too).  Since often I don’t know what the food is called I mostly just point, ask the price, and order so-many-dollars worth. 

So far I have sampled:

 Papusas, which are corn tortillas with beans, cheese, and chicken baked inside it

Chicken tacos from several different vendors (hey it’s easily identifiable)

Pork tacos, which I was going to get a picture of but inhaled instead.  Ahem.

And yes I am eating these foods at about 8am in the morning.  Somehow I now find myself craving tacos with spicy onions in the morning instead of a donut.  It’s weird.