A little background for you - Aparthotel Guijarros is a modest 10-room hotel in one of the nicer parts of Tegucigalpa. There are lots of embassies and a big private school nearby. Alejandra's team consists of a front desk/administration gal, a maintenance fellow, three housekeepers/cooks, and a couple of guards. (more on guards, pistols, rifles and shotguns later - it's a fairly big part of life in Tegus)
Most guests only eat breakfast at the hotel. When they show up in the dining room, one of the delightful three housekeepers pops into the kitchen to quickly and expertly prepare a different Honduran dish each day. And the food is great. My only real task is to play with the presentations and make a few other esthetic suggestions.
Early on I impressed upon Alejandra that her specific demographic of traveller is usually looking for authentic, local experiences. They also like to learn something and have stories to tell when they get home. She and her staff were quietly ..... too quietly ..... doing great things along these lines already. Each time I ask about an ingredient I get a great story. Things like;
"This hot sauce is fantastic! Can I see the bottle?"
"Oh ... the girls make it from the chillies that grow by the pool"
and ...
"Great coffee Alejandra. Is it Honduran?"
"Of course. A friend of mine grows it and roasts it just outside of the city."
How fast do things happen at this little hotel, in a culture perhaps not known for making things happen fast? One evening over dinner I suggested to Alejandra that they make their own tortillas instead of buying them. The next morning at 7am she told me, all matter-of-fact-like, that housekeeper Melissa's mothers grinds corn each day at home and that Melissa will bring some each day to make the tortillas. Right then and there Marta called me in to the kitchen to give me a lesson in true tortilla making ..... then proceeded to laugh at me when I couldn't get them perfectly round like her. (She's been making tortillas for most of her 33 years .... I might have some catching-up to do on the whole tortilla thing)
The food part's easy. They are already authentically Honduran. They just need to brag about it a bit more to their unsuspecting guests.
Done and done.
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| Marta shows Canadian-boy how it's done. |
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| A Chilliquitos lunch. |
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| Honduran breakfast w/ rice, beans, queso and fried plantains. |
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| Some local sweets. Looks like marzipan - actually made from dulce de leche. |
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| Mamoncillos. Bought these through the passenger window from a guy who approached the car at a stop light. Kinda like lychees, but not so sweet. |
