As we hiked back up the hill to the dining lodge, I was anxious for fresh fruit juice and a delightful lunch. Today, we enjoyed fresh juice and salad, and chicken/vegetable curry over rice.  Notice the gorgeous fresh flowers that graced our tables.

Fresh salad for lunch

Chicken curry over rice

Our afternoon activity was right up my alley. We were making corn tortillas with the staff over a wood stove as well as roasting and grinding coffee beans from the farm (coffee grinding to be covered in a future post of my full coffee experience).  I will never take corn tortilla making for granted!

Step one for authentic corn tortillas involves Masa, Spanish for dough. Masa is made from field corn which is dried and treated with a lime water solution.

Dried Corn prepared for Masa

Next, we ground the corn by hand with a grinder.  If we Americans did this every day, there would no more flabby upper arms…this is hard work!

Grinding the corn for Masa

After the corn was ground it was time to make the tortillas.  Our teacher was a pro but this virgin tortilla maker failed miserably.  I’ll spare you a photo of my alien-shaped wonder.

Cooking the tortilla over a wood stove

The final step was the taste test. The packaged corn tortillas from the grocery store don’t stand a chance compared to the real thing.

The women of Nicaragua are amazing.  Many do not enjoy the modern conveniences that we take for granted, yet are full of joy working hard to serve their families and guests wonderful food and hospitality.  I feel so blessed to experience this with our wonderful teacher.  I yearn for more!

Next week…more from Nicaragua!