Month 2: El Salvador — living on $10 per day (food, utilities, lodging, transportation)
If there is one food that characterizes typical El Salvadorian food, it is pupusas (a mixture of white cheese, refried beans, pork, and/or beef sandwiched in between ground corn [they look like two tortillas on top of each other]).
We aren’t eating typical El Salvadorian food all the time this month, though because our ministry contact, Victor, buys some American-style food for us. The following is a list of what our monthly diet looks like. As you can see, not high in whole grains, fiber, antioxidants, and minerals. Many of us definitely were constipated on more than one occasion. Sorry, we have all become very open about our bowel status over the course of The Race.
1. Tang juice, fruit punch, or sweet tea
2. Coffee
3. Oatmeal
4. Pancakes + syrup
5. French toast (white bread + syrup)
6. Cereal + 3% milk (Fruit Loops, Corn Flakes, and Frosted Flakes were common)
7. Fruit (pineapple, fried plantains)
8. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on white bread (As our ministry contact says, “I buy it because Americans love peanut butter.”)
9. Kraft macaroni and cheese
10. Beef stew or vegetable soup
11. Corn tortillas or dinner rolls – WITH EVERY MEAL
12. Scrambled eggs + refried beans + cream + hashbrowns
13. Meat: Mini hot dogs, regular hot dogs, chicken, beef
14. Cooked vegetable mix
15. White rice with bits of carrot mixed in
16. Pupusas (good yet so bad for you)
17. Pollo Campero pizza (a chain restaurant in Central America that mainly serves fried chicken and french fries)
18. Ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread
19. Spaghetti with zucchini sauce
20. Tuna sandwiches on white bread
Hosanna Sheeley and Jill Schulenberg A common snack stand in El Salvador
A pupusa dinner (bean and cheese pupusas, cabbage, sauce, and Tang juice)
