The long arm of Bentonville, Arkansas
Fairly sizable and cosmopolitan university town that Xela is, I haven´t run into too much trouble finding things to eat. This had been a major concern of everyone prior to my arrival in Guatemala because of the whole vegan thing–my mother especially was concerned that I would come back in the advanced stages of starvation documented in every National Geographic about Ethiopia since 1981. Vegans of Color has posted before on the intersection between poverty and vegetarianism-out-of-necessity, which is certainly a factor here in the staple diet of corn (tamales, tortillas) and refried black beans. Some families only eat corn tamalitos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and save the occasional piece of chicken for Sunday dinner. Naturally, gringos who choose vegetarianism are seen as a bit of an oddity by many Guatemalans, despite the economic necessity many families face of defaulting to a largely vegetarian diet.
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