Tamale time!

this is Carmen and Janet, two of the other trainees in my site....Carmen is the happy one


this is my host mom Esperanza, cuttin' up meat bits to put in the tamales...


and here's how the magic starts...




this is a mix of masa (corn meal) and a spicy tomato sauce)


I think that's pork






After you roll up the mixture inside the first hoja (leaf) you wrap it again in another leaf to make sure it doesn't leak




then you have to tie it off - here's Carmen showing off her skillz








ta-da....the little piece of black plastic marks the type (chicken, pork, or Spicy)


here's my host mom pretending like she's pissed off because I'm taking so many pictures


this is what she looks like 99% of the time (she's awesome)