A world without bananas?

A friend recently blogged about the world's banana predicament, as discussed in this article. The author gives the mass-produced Cavendish banana another decade before it is wiped out by Panama disease, the result of cloning and unsustainable food practices. "What will the world taste like without bananas?", she asked. My immediate response was to say that without bananas, the world will be less sweet. We will lack an important source of potasium and the essential ingredient for banana bread, banana chocolate chip muffins and banana splits. The staple of breakfast, afternoon snacks and late night hunger cravings will be missing from our lives. Yes, significantly less sweet, but for who?


I guess it never seemed odd to me to be chowing down on a seemingly unending supply of bright yellow tropical fruit in the middle of February in Canada. The banana, like chicken or milk, is simply an integral part of my diet. It is rare that I, and many of us I'm sure, pause to consider where they came from. The fact is that most come from here, or quite nearby. Guatemala is among the leading exporters of bananas in the world.


The article points to the Central American political struggles over food production, and cites bananas as the cause of the 1954 American overthrow of the first democratically elected Guatemalan government in history. Agrarian land reform, heavily implicating bananas, was definitly a leading factor causing the begining of the internal armed conflict. I wonder if any other fruit leaves a trail of such intense and widespread political struggle?

Last night I was sitting on my roof thinking about what it would be like to eat in Canada as they do here, that is, to only eat foods that are in season. The arrival of each fruit and vegetable would be eagerly anticipated, making it even more delicious upon its arrival. You would only get the best of the best, each type at its peak of flavour and texture. Sure we wouldn't have bananas, mangos, or pineapple, but each apple the in fall, each June strawberry, July tomato and August peach or concord grape would be so tasty, so worth the wait. Sure winter would be a bit problematic, but the rest of the year I'm sure we could live off the food produced within a couple hundred kilometers of where we live. Food for thought at least, while you go enjoy those bananas while they last.

A brief glimpse at Rabinal

Here are a few prime examples of the beauty of Rabinal. I have fallen in love.

This was my first time entering Rabinal via the windey road through the mountains from Salama. The glowing orange sun was beginning its descent as I arrived in the town. A stunning welcome.

Rabinal's sunsets are incredible. This photo captures maybe a fraction of the actual beauty of that evening during my first week. It was one of the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen.

This was the same night. It had been raining earlier in the day, but not for the past couple hours. I had been watching the sun drop behind the mountains and the constantly changing colours, when I turned around and saw a rainbow stretch across the sky above these palm trees in my backyard.

More from the sunset that night.

The beauty here sometimes masks the horrors that occurred a quarter of a decade ago and the daily hardship of life for many. But the beauty remains, maybe as a beacon of hope, offering a sense of pride, tranquility or escape for those who remain. When its gets difficult here, the mountains and palm trees remind me of the beauty that exists; not just in nature, but in most people, in so much work that people are doing, and especially in the hope and strength that emanates from each person.

More on the delicious Guatemalan food

I feel like its time for another entry about food. I have been reading people's Sunfest entries from a fantastic London Festival and its about time. Also, today in the oppresive heat on the way back from a delicious lunch at La Cobanera, I stopped to buy helados because the sun was just too strong to walk in it for too long. There are places where you can get real ice cream here, but these helados are more like frozen fruit juice (refresco). They are so sweet and fruity and delicious, and though they probably add sugar because it is Guatemala, its all natural. So good!

My thoughts are already approaching my dinner options for this evening. Usually I alternate between four market options.

1.Dobladas. They are these thim tortillas with potato and vegetables inside and fried. The woman puts guacamole and this red sauce on top and its muy rico. Sometimes she has these fried plantains with beans inside of them. Also a delicious desert. A whole meal for 5Q (less than a dollar).

2. Gringa Man. He is so friendly and happy and has a gentle smile. These are wheat tortillas like at home (very different from the corn tortillas I speak of most of the time). He fries it just enough to melt the cheese and then adds the beef which comes in a tasty sauce then adds his mixture of onion and cilantro. I always add the red tomotoey sauce and the green cilantro or avacado sauce and sometimes a bit of lime. The Canadians used to have Gringa Wednesday, but I get them any day of the week.

3. Chef. These is a kind guatemalan man who barbeques in the market and wears a chef uniform. His barbeque is to die for. I usually get chicken which is always so moist and tasty. The meal comes with a tortilla on the botton, barbequed green onions salted and with lemon juice, the meat with his tomoto sauce on it, 2 tortillas and a side of beans or avacado- whatever he has. All for 10Q (just over a dollar), though I just discovered that you can get a 5Q portion.

4. Pizza. Its a good fall back and they make a decent slice. It only has pepperoni and ham but the dipping sauce combination of ketchup, mayo and picante make a perfect combo.

Sometimes I will go to Cobaneras for a breakfast for dinner also. Gautemalan breakfast is like no other- its the perfect start to a day of hiking or exploring, but too much for a day at work. It involves beans either whole, in liquid form or refried, crema, which is kind of like sour cream meets creme fraiche that most people mix into their beans, cheese which is kind of dry and salty but not so bad, and eggs any way you like. I have only recently tried eggs again for the first time and I'm back on board as long as they are scrambled with onion and tomato, covered in the bean/cream/cheese mixture and stuffed in a corn tortilla. Overall guatemalan breakfast or dinner is a wonderful thing.

Accompanying dinner, I usually go for a liquado. This is a fruit smoothie made with fresh, local, sweet, delicious fruit. The lady I always go to has three options- strawberry, banana or fruta (a mix of melon, pineapple and strawbery and sometimes blackberry). I alternate between fruta and strawberry with milk so its like a yogurty smoothy, or so I can convince myself I'm getting more vitamins and minerals. Occasionally if the power is out, I have to only have a refresco of either blackberry (mora) or tamarindo, but they are still really good.

I will leave you in suspense for my tales of the other individual ingredients that are used like cilantro and avocados. All guatemalan food adventures have been flavourful and delicious beyond words. There is more than one reason to use foods and ingredients that all come from less than 100 miles away.

Canada Day Guatemala Style

Happy Canada Day everyone at home! I hear the weather is beautiful in Ontario and decent in Victoria. Here it is hot and humid, though it sounds like the rain might arrive any minute to cool things off for a bit.

Though I am now the only remaining Canadian in Rabinal, we are celebrating Canada Day in style. This morning I stopped at Rico Pan and bought a donut (not quite the same as Tim Horton's but an adequate replacement nonetheless) and pan dulce for everyone in the office. There was coffee on when I arrived so it was the perfect Canadian breakfast.

This evening we are having a dinner, and while there will be no barbeque with hamburgers and corn on the cob, we are going to make macaroni and cheese, vegetable stirfry and tostados with beans, guacamole, tomatos mixed with Cilantro and cheese. And though there will be no fireworks across the street or cake served by the mayor, my Canadian playlist is set to go with Tegan and Sara, Feist, Jill Barber, Metric, The Weakerthans, the Hip, Barenaked Ladies, and a dash of Alanis. I'm pretty excited about tonights festivities. Even the guatemalans are excited...or at least they are pretending for my sake.

I'm going to gush just a bit about Canada. When people here ask me about it, I always have good things to say. I speak about its beauty: the mountains, the coasts and oceans with the accompanying beaches, the lakes and the trees. When people ask if there is work, I say yes there is. We have a good economy, though reports of the coming recession are out. We have four seasons, depending on where you live. We are free to live without significant state interference. We get to exercise our rights and freedoms daily. I like Canada, or at least some aspects of it.

If I were in a different region of Guatemala, I might not be so excited about Canada Day. If I were in San Marcos, there would be a lot of poeple who would equate my nationality with the mining companies who have come into the area in the last few years. They might resent me for being associated with "the capitalists" who have entered, taken their ancestral land, and asked them to work in the mines for a pitance. Surely, I would be less eager to celebrate this aspect of consumerist-driven Canadian international "development".


If I were of a different race in Canada, I may not be so eager to be celebrating Canada Day. If I were indigenous, I would be fully aware of Canada's shameful history regarding the treatment of my people. I would know about how my cultural traditions like the potlach were prohibited, then criminalized. I would be familiar with the government's dealings in past and present treaty negotiations. I would know a bit about the Supreme Court´s often oppressive interpretation of Indigenous rights under S. 35 of the Charter. My community would have recently received the governement's apology for residential schools. I would still face racism in many aspects of my daily life. No, I might not be so eager to celebrate Canada Day.

So tonight, when I am sitting at the table amongst my friends from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Scotland and the United States, I realise I don't have a flawless country to be toasting. But of the other nations represented, I'm glad that I was born where I was and that I get to be Canadian.