Do you think you would like to eat tortillas three times a day? Here in Guatemala, you can find some ladies tortear-ing (to tortear means to make tortillas) in basically every community or town. If a tortilla shop or stand says Tres Tiempos (Three Times), that means you can buy tortillas at that place at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I felt awesome when I tried my first tortillas at my first lunch in Guatemala. I’ve always really liked tortillas, but here I can get four tortillas for less than a dollar, fresh off the comal. A comal is a traditional stove used to make tortillas in Guatemala. Traditional comales are made of baked clay, but there are also modern ones made of cast iron and metal. I’d also mostly had flour tortillas in my house growing up, but I have learned that I really love corn tortillas, too. There are different colors of corn here, which means you can also get corn tortillas that are different colors! In Guatemala, you can find white, yellow, black/blue, red, brown or pinto (mixed-color) tortillas. I have seen white, black/blue and yellow the most frequently. Me gustan mucho las tortillas de maíz negro o azul (I really like black or blue tortillas).
Making tortillas has its own verb, tortear (to make tortillas). During our pre-service training, we learned how to tortear with my host aunt, Doña (a term of respect used for middle-aged and older women) Raquel. Doña Raquel prepared the harina (flour) and masa (dough) ahead of time and then showed us how to shape the dough into perfect circles. To make the masa, you need to wash and cook the corn and then grind it in a mill, which turns the corn into masa.
