One Family's Return Trip: Participating in the Informal Economy

By -

A few weeks ago, I posted about the informal economy of Colombia. You can read more here:


Little did I know that I would get a chance to participate in it when I wrote the post. I have a niece that recently lost her job and is struggling to support her 2 children. So, she decided to sell Arepas del Horno on the street. This kind of job is called the "rebusque". It roughly means doing anything to earn money.

The arepas she sells are traditional in Tolima where she grew up, but have never been seen in Sogamoso, Boyaca. The arepa dough is cooked in a clay oven in little metal tins called a "paila". The cooked arepa is then removed, cut in half and a slice of cheese is added which melts from the heat of the recently cooked arepa. They are truly delicious!!

Since we were in Ferias y Fiestas, there were a lot of people looking for food on the street, so she needed help taking the grains off of the cob of 100 pounds of corn. We all got involved. The process is as follows:

1. Shuck the corn.

2. Take each grain off the cob by hand.
Whoa Nellie!, before your gringo(a) nature gets the better of you -- I suggested that cutting them off would be faster and less painful on the thumbs, but according to EVERYONE in the family, this leaves too much of the corn on the cob itself and is wasteful of the raw material needed to make the arepa.

Everyone got involved, even my rarely seen in the kitchen Father-in-Law brought in two huge bowlfuls of corn grains.

3. Mill the corn in a hand mill.

4. Make the arepa dough -- no pictures available as the recipe is a closely guarded secret.

5. Move everything to the street.

6. Help cook and sell the arepas.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Popular Colombian Names

By -
Recently, I was asked to write a post on Colombian names, and popular Colombian names. I had a hard time finding a list, but eventually I did find one. According to I.N.E. - Instituto Nacional de Estadística, -- unfortunately, when I found this it doesn't say the year -- the most common Colombian boys names across all ages are: 1 JUAN CARLOS 2 CARLOS ALBERTO 3 ALEXANDER 4 ANDRES FELIPE 5 LUIS FERNANDO 6 DIEGO FERNANDO 7 JHON JAIRO 8 CARLOS ANDRES 9 ALEJANDRO 10 JUAN DAVID The girls are: 1 SANDRA MILENA 2 LUZ MARINA 3 CAROLINA 4 PAULA ANDREA 5 CLAUDIA PATRICIA 6 MARIA EUGENIA 7 PAOLA ANDREA 8 DANIELA 9 LILIANA 10 MARTHA CECILIA Just as here, names go through ebb and flow. Fourteen years ago when we were married, I attended several baby baptisms and met numerous friends of my husband. At the time, it seemed like everyone was naming their kid Juan CAMILO (boy) or Maria CAMILA (girl). I met dozens of them. Then, about 7 years later, I heard tons of SANTIAGO, JULIAN, SEBASTIAN and FE
Read more

Muisca Indigenous Names, from Hunza (Tunja)

By -
In response to this week’s posts on names, I have received several e-mails asking about the names of famous Colombians and their stories and about Indigenous names. I plan to spend the next three days sharing some of them. Also, I will continue to post more in the future and you will be able to find them all by clicking on the NAMES link the LABELS section to the right of the blog. Name: AQUIMÍN ( pronounced: ah key MEAN) or AQUIMINZAQUE (pronounced: ah key mean ZAH kay) When the Spanish arrived on the plains of Bogotá, 1536, they found a great nation. In fact, it was the third largest group of indigenous inhabitants in America. They called themselves the Muiscas , which meant ‘the people’. Their language was called Chibcha . The Muiscas were not a united group, but rather a collection of city states. The majority of the power was held by two main cities – what today are called Bogotá and Tunja (in Boyacá). These two cities were mortal enemies and each enlisted the loy
Read more

La Madremonte

By -
Image
The myth of the Madremonte (Mother Mountain), and I do say myth though many campesinos in Colombia believe in her today, has it's roots in the indigenous cultures of Colombia and is known throughout much of Colombia including Antioquia, Caldas, Arauca, Caqueta, Amazonas, Guainia, and perhaps more departments. The Madremonte looks like a large woman. She has large, bony hands, large teeth and Betty Davis Eyes -- which on closer examination glow. Her body is covered in leaves and moss. Her hair is a tangled mess of plants and moss which often covers her face. She lives in the mountains and jungles, (in Antioquia and Caldas she lives in swamps where streams are born. People who claim to have seen her, usually report to have done so near thickets and bushes in jungle like areas. Others report having heard her bloodcurdling screams and groans on stormy nights. She rules the winds, the rains, and all the vegetation, and her role is to protect nature. She punishes those who invad
Read more