Last week, for Día Nacional de Las Pupusas, my women's committee and I organized a pupusa eating competition. For those of you unfamiliar with pupusas, they are this country's gift to the world. Cheese, beans, squash, carrots. So many varieties. Salvos go nuts for them. And you would too, as they cost a quarter. And are delicious.
Word spread quickly and pretty soon we had eight competitors from our community, the pueblo, and even one from across the nearby guatemalan border. Some of these guys were pretty well-known, having competed in other events and eaten upwards of 35 tortillas, 2 pizzas, etc. It goes without saying I was nervous.
As with any competition, be it hot dogs, pizza, dunkin donuts munchkins, you feel like a star quarterback with all the confidence in the world, right up until you take the first bite. And then it hits you... what the eff have I done?
What do they call it? The fog of war? Yeah, it's true. Strategy? Tossed aside? Careful planning? A waste of time.
I took mine down with my favorite hot sauce, Pica Diablo. 66 cents of pure fire in the hole. For some reason I thought this was a good idea, to numb my face to the experience. To shock the mouth as well as the stomach. Bad idea. I ended up chugging milk and water, whatever I could get my hands on, just to kill the pain. Meanwhile my competitors munched away like cows, slowly showing the gringo how it's done.
But in the end, I represented and took down a solid stack of 15. Pretty respectable. The winner, however, by just a bite, polished off 19.
All in all, it was an incredible experience. We set out to throw a fun event that would unite the community and maybe give us something to talk about for a few days. But over 80 people came, and after a few hours, the women's committee raised $56. Combined with a few raffles, we're up to $70. This Tuesday we're meeting to discuss what to do with the cash. Save up and buy an oven? Plan weekly nutrition classes for the community? Who knows...
Here are a few pics from the event, which I'm pretty sure I blacked out during.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention. To all the losers, I handed out rolls of toilet paper and peace corps issued pepto-bismol tabs. They loved it.
Wait, was there a time limit? Or was it just as many as you can swallow before giving up? I need details.
ReplyDelete15 is nothing so scoff at. Still, next time you better take that shit seriously. With proper training, the Gabe I know could have taken down 25 pupusas AND dessert and still made it back to the Foxwoods parking lot on his own. Get serious kid!
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