La Mayonesa

The Guatemalans and I seem to agree on a lot of things: sleeping is good; George Bush is bad; cerveza is an important part of life. Unfortunately, we seem to disagree on one very major topic: Appropriate uses for mayoinaise. I´m of the opinion that mayonaise should be used rarely, if ever. Perhaps the occasional potato salad or club sandwich requires a bit of congealed oil, but most of the time, it´s better to leave the stuff tightly sealed in a refrigerated jar. Down here, the opinion seems to be that most, if not all, foods require the addition of mayonesa--preferably, a lot of mayonesa--in order to be muy rico! Sanwiches. Mayonaise. Fried stuff. Mayonaise. Corn on the cob. Mayonaise. Hot dogs. Lots and lots of mayonaise.

It was after this last one that I had to fess up to my Guatemom* that I, in truth, really don´t like mayonaise. Being the wonderful woman she is, mayonaise has disappeared from my food (replaced, on sanwiches at least, with a healthy layer of butter...). Fortunately, my moderate fear for the slimy white goo hasn´t forced it out of the country. In bottles, jars, and bags, it is here to stay.

Me in the local Paiz grocery store, having fun in the mayonesa aisle. The expresion on the clerk´s face when I asked her to take a picture of me with a bag of mayonaise was priceless. (Yes, bag of mayo... everything you see here is a bag of mayo.)

Advertising Guatemala´s favorite delicacy. Yep. It´s a hot dog. With mayonaise! ¡Que Rico!

*Guatemom: Guatemalan host mom. Muchas gracias to Timoteo--an english professor from Chicago, en route to New York for some more studies, who has quickly become one of my favorite travel friends--for coining such a brilliant phrase!