MUSHROOMS!

After a fantastic, whirlwind trip back to the US, I am once again in Nueva Esperanza. For 2 weeks I was spoiled with friends, family, spring rolls and frozen yogurt, the vibrant energy of the Mission and the regal beauty of sequoia forests. I was able to reconnect with friends from Vassar, as well as celebrate the oh-so-happy union of my sister and her new husband! US of Awesome, as we say in Peace Corps.

Coming back to Nueva Esperanza, I know my time is limited and there is a lot going on. Back and forth to the school, preparing the library space, closing up bank accounts, spending funds, trying to work with groups to write strategic plans for the follow-though of these projects. But hey, it is also my last opportunity to do what I have always wanted to do here, and haven’t. Or to experience my favorite parts of the community. And that is how I justify blowing off a day at work at the library to go hunting for chaquecas (brilliantly blue edible mushrooms).

Ermenia and Nicolas (my favorite potter family) have been joking with me for months now about how they are going to poison me with mushrooms so I am too sick to return to the US, and I have to stay in Honduras forever. Well, the rainy season, my upcoming departure, and a sense of adventure made the conditions ripe for a mushroom hunt. Nicolas and his 5 year old son and I tromped off at 7am on Saturday morning to look for the fungi. Apparently there are 3 types of edible mushrooms here: a large blue one, a small yellow one, and a red one. I had never been mushroom foraging, but it is a hunt! They don’t grow in groups, instead solitary shrooms pop up out of the leafy forest understory. In 3 hours, we found 6 mushrooms. Nicolas said that it is likely there were more, but other hunters start at 5 or 6am to find the mushrooms, so we may have been a little late. Part of the adventure was finding a cave where Nicolas said a few generations ago, people from Nueva Esperanza had constructed their dwellings. He showed me the ashy cave area, from cooking stoves they used. Then we found water springs in the rocks, and filled up our bottles with the clear, crisp water.

Later on with Ermenia, we grilled the mushrooms with a little bit of salt—add tortillas, rice, and beans, and we had a feast. It was so delicious and I couldn’t stop commenting on how find food and then preparing it is on my list of top 5 favorite personal hobbies. And after eating so many of my meals alone in my house, I really loved the company of eating in family. The conversation made the mushrooms even more tasty.