Guatemala Unit

As I was saving one of the pictures for our Guatemala Unit I accidentally saved it as Guatemala South America, why? Because I totally slipped and instead it should be Guatemala, North America or if you want to be specific, Central America. That mistake aside, Guatemala is a really cool country with an amazing culture, and it made for a fun geography lesson.

(there are affiliate links in here)

Guatemala Unit Resources

I have books! But first, the quick websites I found to help me find more books:

• 12 Guatemala Facts
• 64 Guatemala Facts

Guatemala Unit books

Sigh, my library STILL won’t let you sort by call number and it continues to irk me. Sigh again, the book list can be found on my subscriber page (join my newsletter).

• Guatemala: all around the world– a nice generic learn about the country book
• Mama and Papa have a store– this book emphasizes the multi-ethnic aspect of Guatemala, the narrators parents are from China, and she talks about her life in Guatemala City
• My Pig Amarillo– This has a bitter-sweet ending, Pablito has a pet pig, and loves it and plays with it until one day his pig is gone. His Grandfather helps him say goodbye to his lost pet.
• Abuela’s Weave– Esperanza works with her grandmother to weave fabric to sell at the market, a sweet story about a slowly dying aspect of Guatemalan culture, and a glimpse into prejudice against someone different
• Elena’s Story– Elena struggles to keep up in school as she works to help her mom with her younger siblings, and all her daily chores
• The race of toad and deer– The Mayan version of tortoise and the hare is a fun take on the story with its own creative twist
• The Boy who Wouldn’t Obey: a Mayan Legend– This was one of those books that revealed how differently another culture can think, because we read the story and were confused by it all
• The Chocolate Tree: a Mayan folktale– This story amused me because Kukulkan is a character in the Dresden Files where vampires have co-opted Mayan mythology, so I recognized the name and that gave me more enjoyment for the story
• The Maya– This is out of print now, but it’s a great glimpse into the Mayan culture

And then, the Flag Friday episode.

Guatemala Black Bean Tostada Recipe

I searched around and found a recipe I thought people would like (that wasn’t tamales, which I do not feel capable of making), Guatemala Black Bean Tostada Recipe. Then the day of, I went to get out a few of the ingredients, and they were not good for use or were gone. I bought the avocados, pulled them out and discovered they were hard as rocks, and according to my grocery store I had bought “avocados ready to eat in 2-3 days,” they LIED! LIED I tell you. I also couldn’t find my red onion. I know I bought it. Sigh…

Black Bean Tostada recipe ingredients

• tostadas (I bought premade ones)
• 1 red onion thin sliced (pretend I had this)
• 2 cups queso fresco shredded
• 1/3 white onion chopped
• 3 tomatoes
• 1/2 jalapeno
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic minced (in the original recipe it was left whole and removed)
• 2 cups black beans rinsed
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/3 onion minced
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced

Ingredients I didn’t use since I couldn’t make the guacamole

• avacado diced
• 1/2 tomato minced
• 1/3 onion minced
• 3-5 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 garlic clove minced

Let’s make our black bean tostada recipe

We’re going to make all of the different parts together at the same time.

1. Boil the chopped 1/3 onion, tomatoes, and jalapeno with salt in water, just enough to cover the food for 10 minutes.
2. While that is cooking, in a saucepan on the stove make the sofrito by sauteing 2 tablespoons of chopped onion, 2 cloves minced agrlic, and salt until it caramelizes about 3-4 minutes. When it is done cooking pour it into your food processor and wait for the onion/tomato/jalapeno to finish cooking.
3. Take the pan you cooked the sofrito in, add olive oil and heat it, once it’s hot add the 1/3 minced onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic and caramelize the onion/garlic mixture. Once that is done add in the black beans and cook for the next 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Now that the onion/tomato/jalapeno mix has cooked for 10 minutes, drain out the water and add it also to your food processer where the sofrito is. Puree that, and then put it back in the pan where you’ll cook it down for 1-2 minutes. Rinse out your food processor, so you can use it for the black beans mixture.
5. Once the black beans have cooked for 20 minutes, pour it into the food processor and pulse it briefly to mostly puree it, but leave a few chunks (in the original recipe they mashed it with a potato masher).
6. Spread the black bean mixture on the tostada and then add some of the red salsa, and finally top it all with queso fresco.

Guatemala Notebooking Pages

First pick up the North America notebooking pages, and then come back here. Here are my fun facts that particularly amused me for Guatemala.

• Guatemala means land of trees
• so many Mayan ruins
• claims Belize is part of Guatemala (??!!!!?????)

More great fun learning

• Finland Unit
• High School Chemistry
• Maze Runner book club
• 10th Grade books made into movies
• Edvard Munch art history lesson

“Mayan Woman, Guatemala” by United Nations Photo is licensed under