Authentic Bean & Cheese Pupusas – Salvadoran pupusas – what a yummy surprise waited for us in San Salvador! Who knew flour could taste so good with just a few added ingredients?
We found this little restaurant off the beaten path in San Salvador & for the short week we were in the town this became our ‘go to’ spot for our evening meal! We loved this Salvadoran fried corn fritter, commonly known as Pupusas! We loved Guillermo Gamez! He was the cutest Chef/owner ever – just downright warm & friendly!
Restaurant sign of our favorite ‘go to’ for authentic Salvadoran pupusas!
The awesome thing about making them – other than minimal number of ingredients needed & how easy to prepare – you can experiment with the one or combination of many fillings including meats. My favorite was pupusa de queso or frijoles refritos…oh so good! For a little pupusa history check this out!
Making Salvadoran Pupusas
Chef Guillermo Gamez of this tasty little restaurant even invited us back to mix up a batch! So much fun! I am pretty sure since I wrote this original post that the restaurant’s proper name is Tipicos Del Comal. My apologies Guillermo if I am incorrect!
Though I cannot begin to tell you how we made the pupusas at Tipicos I did find this ‘authentic’ salvadoran pupusa recipe Bon Appetit! Recipe by Rick Martinez!
Ingredients
¼ cup plus ⅓ cup vegetable oil, divided
½ medium white onion, halved, broken up into individual layers (petals)
1 15-ounce can Central American red beans or red kidney beans
Kosher salt
3 cups instant corn masa flour (such as Maseca Instant Corn Masa Mix)
4 ounces grated queso Oaxaca or salted mozzarella (preferably Polly-o; about 1 cup)
Salvadoran Cabbage Relish (Curtido) and Salvadoran Salsa Roja (for serving)
Recipe Preparation
Heat ¼ cup oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Cook onion, tossing occasionally, until pieces are charred on all sides, 10–12 minutes (oil will smoke and onion will pop, so be careful). Don’t stop cooking at “browned,” they need to go further.
Transfer onion to a blender, reserving oil in pan. Add beans and their liquid to blender and purée, gradually adding ¼ cup warm water if mixture is too thick and blender is struggling, until smooth.
Heat onion oil over medium. Transfer bean mixture to skillet and cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pan occasionally, until mixture is the consistency of thick Greek yogurt, 5–10 minutes; season with salt. Let cool (refried beans will thicken as they sit, and that’s exactly what you want); set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat masa flour, 3 tsp. salt, and 2⅔ cups hot water on medium speed until dough is very thick and sticky (alternatively, mix in a large bowl about 1 minute). Let rest, uncovered, 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix cheese and bean mixture in a medium bowl.
Combine remaining ⅓ cup oil and 1 cup warm water in a medium bowl. Dip both hands in this mixture and rub your hands together to coat. This will prevent dough from sticking to your hands, and will hydrate dough as you assemble.
Divide dough into 12 balls (about ¼ cup each), keeping them covered with a damp towel so they don’t dry out. With 1 ball in the palm of your hand, use your thumb of the opposite hand to create an indentation in the center. Pinch sides to create a well for the filling (it should look like half of a coconut shell). Fill hole with 2 Tbsp. bean mixture. Pinch dough around filling to enclose (it’s okay if some is poking out), then gently flatten to a 4½–5″ disk, dipping your hands in oil-water as needed. Repeat with remaining dough and bean mixture (you may have some filling left over).
Cook pupusa in a large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until center slightly puffs up and pupusa is browned in spots, 3–4 minutes per side. If filling leaks out, simply scrape off pan after pupusa has cooked.
Serve with cabbage relish and salsa roja alongside.
If you go to this site, Rick demonstrates how to make these yummy pupusas!
San Salvador, capital of El Salvador did not fail us. As previously discussed, we love to travel. It had been a year since our previous trip so it was that time. We wanted to take a short one week trip somewhere & we decided it would be in Central America – how to pick a destination?
This literally was pull up a map & ‘close your eyes & point’! El Salvador it is! Let’s just go to the capital & that is how we decided the country for this trip in 2013. It also runs on US currency so we didn’t have to worry about currency exchange.
Where We Stayed in San Salvador
So…with no itinerary & basically no research we were heading to El Salvador with the capital, San Salvador, our landing point. Checked out hotels in San Salvador on Expedia, made our reservations & we were off! Easy peasy.
The hotel set on a beautiful side street with a gated entry! It did feel a little odd for the clerk to come out & reach through gate for our papers before she would open gates for us to enter from the street. More about this later in post. Beautiful hotel but the bed was small & almost as hard as rock. LOL. Basically a piece of wood with about a 2 inch piece of foam on top. Not the best sleeping but hey when in Rome….
This was hotel patio where we ate breakfasts. Looking directly at us above is the view while eating!
But what the hotel lacked in soft cushy beds, it all then made up for it in the patio where we took our breakfast meals! So calm. So beautiful & green! Extremely loud birds of all types chattering away all during our breakfasts on the patio. The walls around the patio were high & covered with greenery & wild birds. It would be a bird watchers paradise I’m sure. We thought we found a little piece of heaven that first morning. Just lovely & the food excellent.
Our Incredibly Wonderful Itinerary for San Salvador trip!
Although we did next to no research for this short one week trip & had no set itinerary for San Salvador trip, we were pleasantly surprised by how smooth the trip went & how much there was to see. And the locals? They were awesome – every person we met had a smile.
With San Salvador’s turbulent history, it continues to struggle with various issues including displacement by volcano eruptions, civil wars, emigration, etc. For an overall view of San Salvador check this out.
Here our some highlights for us.
First Walk About in San Salvador & Armed Guards!!!
As you all should know by now, we love to walk wherever we land. Each morning after we had our yummy breakfast at the Hotel we would set out on a walk – which direction should we go today? We found a huge University [one of many in the city of over 525k]. The neighborhoods were just beautiful for walking, really green & just gorgeous!
A very odd sight we saw was a huge gas station where you stayed in car & the employees would come out to gas your car & check under the hood! Brought back memories of my high school years driving where you didn’t have to pump your own gas. The BIG kicker was there was a lady in the same blue uniform as the employees but she was out on the corner of the street corner of station waving drivers in. I’m pretty sure that would work tremendously here in the states. Ha.
So there was something that caught us off guard – only for a minute. Although we were aware of San Salvador’s turbulent history, this still caught us off guard just for a second. It seemed every shop, restaurant [even McDonald’s] had an armed security at their front doors. What the heck? But after a bit, we realized it was just standard protocol at that time. By the second day of our walkabouts, the guards would wave back when we waved to them. All was good now.
Coffee Shop& Food!
Right across the street from the above gas station was a nice little coffee shop! I think on our second day there we met one of the college students coming in for her coffee. Tall, very pretty Midwest girl of 20 something came into the cafe & sat across the room from us. At some point she came over & asked where we were from as she had heard us talking.
Turns out she had decided she wanted to learn Spanish & she figured the best way to do that would be to immerse herself into the culture. Not sure why she picked San Salvador to do so but she had been there almost a year & was meeting her attorney to get her visa renewed? We asked her what her parents had thought of her move & they were on course with her choice of college. She had friends, her apartment & was quite comfortable walking alone. Importance of this? Just need to be cognizant of your surroundings & your limitations.
The coffee was great but the food!!! We found a little restaurant ‘Lo Tipicos’ on our first evening walk & this place was a goldmine to us. This was our introduction to authentic Salvadoran pupusas! Check out this short post for more info on where to go for real Salvadoran food & hospitality.
Land of Volcanoes – El Salvador
For as small as El Salvador is, the country has a huge number of active volcanoes. In San Salvador alone there are around 20 active volcanoes! We decided a hired driver would be the best way to check out some volcanoes & in general just see some countryside! We took this photo of Lake Coatepeque [a flooded volcano crater] from a look out point & it was just mesmerizing…
View from top of mountain to Lake Coatepeque!
In close proximity of Lake Coatepeque is the Parque Nacional Los Volcanes where took a walking tour of this volcano. Our driver dropped us off & we set a time for him to pick us up at end of day. He was on time! If you go to any tour by taxi please be sure that you make arrangements for him to either wait for you or a pick up time for him to be back to pick you up.
Toured the Parque Nacional Los Volcanes – Land of Volcanoes
The path leading up to volcano at Parque Nacional Los Volcanes.
I won’t lie. Even with the two of us loving to walk & with its high altitude [7,800 ft] it did give us reason to stop & take a breather every now & then. When we did this only the tour guide accompanied us though now they recommend security as well? Well worth the trip! The last eruption of Santa Ana Volcano was in 2005!
Our takeaway about El Salvador…
The Land of Volcanoes did not disappoint! We are happy that we decided on El Salvador for this last minute trip. It did not fail in scenery, food, coffee or locals! If it ever comes up on your wish list, just go!
Yes, our international travel to beautiful Yucatan, Mexico will be our first stop! Merida will be the first stop for international travel on our grand adventure! Tickets bought -Check! Initial housing set up – Check! We are so psyched right now. We have been patiently waiting all through 2020 for the world to get back to normal & finally decided what will ‘normal’ be? What the heck, lets buy tickets & get a flight. So we made the decision to jump out on our grand international travel in May of this year! Coming from south central Texas, we are ready for whatever type weather greets us!
How Did Mexico Make The First Top for International Travel?
Mexico has been on our Bucket List since day one for our first stay. Not any city in particular had priority over another at first. But after research, watching videos & hearing from expats who made the jump, Merida seems to fit all our wants for our first jump. Of course, other cities we had considered were Mexico City, Lake Chapala, Ajijic & more but in the end Merida seemed to be calling our names in regards to what we are looking for in a longer stay. I’m not saying we will not but we may well visit these cities at another time.
Pueblo, for instance. The photo below is calling us. How lovely are the colors! We’ll see if they get a visit from us?
Once we leave Yucatan we would love to check out these Pueblo colorful houses
We love the warmness of the Mexican culture & that was our main draw along, of course, with all the gorgeous sights to see. Really, just because it was our first stay our of country we decided to stay closer to US for the first jaunt. Other countries that were top contenders are still on our Bucket List – Portugal & Thailand are definitely up for an extended stay as well. Back to Mexico….
Why Did Mexico Rate at Top of Our List?
Quite simply, economically it is a no brainer when you compare Mexico to the U.S. for so many reasons. If you are a homeowner as we were until January of this year, you know the forever costs to maintain a house & the bills that go along with it. Real estate taxes, personal taxes, insurance for health – auto – property, utilities, groceries alone are absolute necessities for day to day life. If you are in the lucky percent who have great employment that allows you health & the monies to support your family then you can count yourself lucky.
Don’t get me started on the “keeping up with the Jone’s mentality” of folks who have to have the next best material item on the market but continuously complain of debt, etc. Phones, electronics, gadgets, please my brain goes numb just thinking of the dollars blown by folks everyday just trying to keep up with the next. What does this get you? More bills, higher credit cards, having to work longer to pay off those cards, etc. Just doesn’t make sense to us.
We were one of those families who maintained a somewhat low key lifestyle. We have at times splurged on ‘things’ like the Suburban or iPhones but were able to pay down quickly or in full vs making monthly payments foreverrrrrrrr. As I have mentioned plenty of times before it was all about setting goals & a budget to allow The Big Guy & I to not have to work in order to travel internationally albeit on a budget. We set our goals to pay off what we owe, sell everything & move [or at least do some extensive international travel] instead of just living our years out. We want to LIVE our years enjoying every moment making memories & not really have a care in the world other than to worry about which country to visit next. After having traveled & seeing how others live in foreign countries for much less our eyes were opened.
Flag of Mexico
Mexico is just one of the countries that checked off everything we have been looking for us. Basically Mexico was a YES for almost everyone of our Top 20 Concerns we put together prior to our selecting a country for a stay. We have an initial 3 week place when we land in May but plan to be out & about looking/comparing if we want an apartment or small house to rent for balance of our stay. We are also going to look at hotel rentals as that may well be an option as well. Follow us on YouTube as we check out the housing options once we have landed!
Merida – How we decided on our initial Mexico city!
It sometimes feels like we just did closed our eyes & point at the map! There are so many cities we want to visit in Mexico that honestly I see us spending as much time as possible in that country. You saw the photo above of Pueblo! What’s not to love about that photo?
San Miguel de Allende was initially going to be our first stop. The big pull was the Monarch Butterfly migration but that is basically from November to March – outside of our time-frame on this first visit so that will be another trip.
Monarch Butterfly
Mexico City was given some serious thought but again maybe a shorter stay would be warranted for this city in the future. From what I’ve read it looks like we probably should do a week to ten day stay here but even in a short few days I think we would be able to see a lot with
All three cities addressed MOST of all our desires along with many other cities but Merida was the over the top choice for our initial international travel on a budget!
Here is what we know…
We do not want to be close to the US & Mexico border, Baja peninsula or in a heavily touristy area.
We knew we wanted to be close to a major airport for our initial flight. We did want to have access to travel options for walkabouts & to be able to educate ourselves within the locals, culture & language. We have specific sights we want to see in the Yucatan – ruins, anything nature, water, etc.
Bottom line, we liked everything we have been hearing & reading about Merida & thought why not? Here we come! 45 days & counting!
This trip to Istanbul made a lot of memories for these two senior travelers!
Istanbul, Turkey – 9 must see sights in this beautiful city! Truly, this trip to Istanbul made a lot of memories for us! It was truly a challenge to narrow down our list of top favorite sights! Neither of us had visited Turkey but were thrilled in 2009 when we took the opportunity for a three week visit! As I’ve shared before, The Big Guy worked internationally for quite a few years enabling us to meet in various countries for his R&R time & for me to catch him up on what was happening on the home front.
Although, again, we heard naysayers commenting on why we would go to Turkey? In our three week stay in Heaven – -I mean Istanbul – we never once had that ‘what have we got ourselves into’ moment. There truly were so many sites to see but we have painstakingly narrowed our list down to what we consider our Must see Sights this amazing city. Let’s get going…
Our 9 Must See Sights in Istanbul!
1]The Stone Hotel
The Stone Hotel sits in the Binbirdirek District within walking distance to both the Blue Mosque as well as the Hagia Sophia Mosque & the Sulthanahmet shopping/neighborhood. It sits on a quiet little street & has the most amazing view from the small rooftop terrace. Truly a little piece of heaven at the end of a long day sight seeing! This was our home for three weeks.
From the upstairs room our view was amazing.
Our view from The Stone Hotel room. Beautiful!
The tall minaret from the Mosque peeking out above houses outside our hotel window straight out to the water was just beautiful.
The unexpectedness of what was around the next corner was the best part of our walkabouts! Carts full of fruit & vegetables were on – it seemed – every other street.
Turkish street vendor!
Prior to our visit, I was not aware that prayer time in Istanbul was five times a day. Every day would start with the call to prayer over loud speakers all over the city – one which was located pretty much right outside our hotel window but we really did get use to it pretty quickly. It really was kind of cool. The call to prayers never phased the Big Guy, he was used to hearing it having been working in the Middle East. When in Rome, right?
One day we were out on a walkabout when we heard the call to prayer. As we turned the next corner on our walk the entire side street was covered with prayer rugs & what seemed like hundreds of people kneeling in prayer. Quite the sight…
Back to The Stone Hotel, below are a couple of photos from the hotel patio up the steps to the breakfast room. It was a cave & breath catching at first sight.
Walkway to restaurant at hotel.
Interior of hotel restaurant
2] The Grand Bazaar
The Grand Market, one of the oldest markets of the city does not disappoint! It was breathtaking to the senses with all the colors & aromas. My eyes were so happy! Aisles of teas, spices, ceramics, rugs, art, etc.
Entrance to Grand Bazaar
Aisles of tables of spices & teas
Ceramics galore
3]Coffee, Chai & Chocolate
The Big Guy loved the Turkish coffee. I fell in love with the Turkish Chocolate so we made our way to a multi level glass mall & found a chocolate shop that combined the best of both worlds – coffee & chocolate. The coffee spoons were even made from chocolate! (Do I need to say more!!). I have searched for the name of the humongous glass multi-floored mall but at this point will have to update you all once I find it.
Coffee w/chocolate spoons!
Chocolate fountains!
4]Bosphorus Strait
There are a couple ways to check out the Bosphorus Strait which separates Istanbul between Europe & Asia – connecting The Black Sea & Sea of Marmara. There is always a cruise for tourist or you could buy a transportation token & just ride on the same boat as the locals [which we chose]. Here are a couple pics of the views!
Views from the boat.
Looking back at old city walls of Istanbul from water. It was an awesome view!
5] Blue & Sophia Mosques
The Blue Mosque with its cascading domes was erected in early 1600s. Although it is The Blue Mosque, the name comes from the blue tiles used in the interior of mosque. It is also the only mosque in Istanbul with six minarets!
The Hagia Sophia known in part for its red walls has the honor of being an UNESCO World Heritage Site with a rich history having been erected 532 A.D.
Both Mosques are sights to see with fascinating histories! They sit with the landscaped park separating them.
The boys under The Big Guy’s arms followed us a few steps & we noticed their intent interest in us. At one point, The Big Guy introduced himself to them which made their day. They rubbed their fingers on his arms, then looked to see if the brown came off on their fingers! Evidently, The Big Guy was their first person of color. Anyway, after a short happy chat with them they asked The Big Guy to take his pic with them. LOL.
Standing in front of Hagia Sophia Mosque.
Blue Mosque in background.
6]Carpet Makers
We were invited into several sidewalk shops busy with making rugs. We were able to get up close to see the Turkish carpet makers busy at work! Beautiful handiwork & craftsmanship was undeniable.
Turkish carpet maker.
7]Walls of Constantinople
The Walls of Constantinople were built in the 4th & 5th centuries to protect the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) from opposing threats, Arabs, etc. by land & sea but the city ultimately fell to the Ottomans in late 1400s.
As a side note, we watched a movie on the History Channel a couple years back that focused on the time period of the Ottomans take over of Constantinople – check it out!
Despite years of erosion the walls remain a site to see. Walls & towers are seen easily from streets, boat or by guided tours.
Doubledecker bus tour.
8] The People
Full disclosure! Neither one of us could speak or understand any of the Turkish language. So what I’m about to say may surprise you. The people in Istanbul were extremely friendly and treated us like we belonged. I know what you are asking, How can I say people are friendly when we didn’t even speak the same language?
One thing that we did was to look at our map and write down the name of the street or location we were going. i.e. how would you say ‘ibni Kemal Caddesi’ properly in the Turkish language? The hotel staff tried unsuccessfully to help us pronounce it correctly & finally said to show it to the driver & they would know exactly where to go. We saw the street name on the public bus that we were taking & showed the street name to the bus driver who promptly stopped & let us know when we arrived at our stop. It worked for us!
Below is a photo of two forever friends we made on our second day of trip. Anna from Georgia & Faisal from Iraq. Such a friendly & sweet couple that we were able to really get to know over our three week trip! I have to mention that I was very impressed listening to our friends speak Russian, Iraqi & Turkish amongst the people. I was impressed.
On our final night in Istanbul we had dinner with our new friends, Anna & Faisal – awesome memories made with these two wonderful people!
The Stone Hotel staff could not have been friendlier sharing their stories with us or more helpful in helping us get to where we wanted to go each day. They were from Kazakhstan & shared stories with us of their homeland!
9] Asia Side of Istanbul & Olive Groves
Once we made it across the Bosphorus Strait to the Asian side of Istanbul we enjoyed this horse & wagon ride! This side was very residential with beautiful homes sitting on the water. The groves we rode thru were beautiful with the water visual through the trees. Our new friends were able to enjoy this with us which really made it special for us. The driver was nice enough to put us on the wagon for a quick photo.
Wrapping Up….
Istanbul was amazing in every aspect that we could have dreamed of. It was truly tough picking out just a few photos for this post so I will have to put my thinking hat on to see what the best way would be to share more photos with you. Check out our Pinterest site for more photos as well!
Bottom line, it was a very easy country to navigate for any senior couple traveling. It met so many requirements for us – Safe & definitely budget friendly with beautiful sights to see & wonderful friendly people! It was everything that we/you could dream of in visiting a foreign country. Would we make another trip to Turkey? Absolutely! Only time will tell if that is in the cards or not.
Enjoy & start making those plans for your adventure abroad even if it is for a vacation only….do it!! Continue following us on “Travels with the Big Guys” to see where our next adventure will take you.
Have you been to beautiful Istanbul, Turkey? We would love to hear about your trip. Maybe you went to a different part of the country? Do you have any favorite sights? Share!! We would love to hear from you!
