Pastelitos . . .

I've learned, aren't little cakes. "Pastel" here is cake. In Costa Rica, "queque" means cake. This is the weird thing about language learning. Here, that word, "pastelitos" should mean "little cakes." But it doesn't.

Last week, I received a note from the girls' teacher that I should send 20 pastelitos with them to school on July 20. Well, I thought, that's easy, I already have a cake mix. I thought it must be someone's birthday. Birthdays here are huge.

Fast forward to this week. The cupcakes were in the oven when I got a phonecall from a friend asking if I was going to get someone to make the pastelitos for me. I said, no, no, I can do it. She seemed a little worried--I thought, what is her problem? She told me I could just use potatos or rice or whatever I had on hand. I smiled and was thinking, "Gross," but I said, no, that's okay, I have a mix on hand.

A friend of the mission was with Trey and me when we dropped off the cupcakes later at the school. After they were delivered, we began to see groups of school children parading down the streets all dressed up in Indian costumes. They were so cute! I wished aloud that I had my camera. We stopped to watch them for a minute. Then, our friend asked if we knew what today was. We said, no, and he said it's the day of the Indian,Lempira, for whom the currency is named. He said the children dress up like Indians, learned about Lempira and his battle against the Spaniards, and eat pastelitos. And then he asked, so why did you make little cakes? He said what they eat is pastelitos, made from other things. With a sinking feeling, I asked, other things like rice or potatos? He nodded enthusiastically, yes, exactly! Then I asked him, and why are they called pastelitos? He started laughing because then he realized my mistake, Oh, he said, you thought it was little cakes?! No, no, pastelitos is what the Indians used to eat.

At least I won't make the same mistake next year.