Juice in the United States is a sad affair. It’s one I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog in various capacities. But I think it’s particularly embarrassing to discuss and confront it when in the company of those who grew up in cultures and countries where, if one chooses to consume juice, one can get it fresh squeezed. If you grew up in that type of culture, you’d be disgusted and aghast to find out that in the U.S., while the label on your orange juice carton from the grocery store may say “100% juice,” what it really means is… an orange that has been completely deconstructed, pasteurized, squeezed, and broken down into so many different forms that it no longer has any flavor that resembles the original fruit. To recreate the taste of “fresh orange juice,” juice companies add “flavor packs,” which are essentially chemical flavorings that are derived from orange essence and oil. Somehow, these do not need to be labeled as separate ingredients since they are derived from oranges, and hence, your juice can be called 100% juice with only “orange juice” as the ingredient. Sick, right?

I’ve never been a big juice drinker as an adult, as I prefer to eat my fruit. But, I do enjoy the occasional fruit smoothie. I’ve gone through phases when I’ve regularly made smoothies at home. Sometimes while on work trips, I’ll get cold-pressed juice (usually green) as a treat. But, when in countries where the fresh squeezed juice culture is strong, like Brazil, Colombia, or in Southeast Asia, I am happy to enjoy them… because they’re freshly squeezed, not heavily processed. They actually taste like what the fruit should taste like.

When we arrived at the Santiago Marriott Hotel this morning, where we’ll be spending the next five nights, we were invited to breakfast. And Chris was excited to see that the “default juices” in the beverage section were passion fruit (maracuya) and cherimoya (custard apple). Both were delicious and tasted like the real fruit, even if they weren’t actually fresh squeezed. Because we are in South America during the Southern Hemisphere winter, we’re not here during peak cherimoya season unfortunately, which is during November-December. So I was a bit bummed about that given how much I love cherimoya, though I rarely eat it because it’s such an expensive fruit almost everywhere we’ve been. Cherimoya’s home is actually in the Andes Mountains, somewhere between Peru and Ecuador. It’s thought to be just a regular summer fruit here in Chile, so when you come here during their spring/summer, you can find it for cheap at any local market. It’s okay, though: I’m still happy to enjoy the juice!

Ruta de las Flores, or route of the flowers, is a road in El Salvador that runs through multiple picturesque, colonial towns and is semi hidden along the Apaneca hills. El Salvador is home to a number of different ethnic groups, such as the Nahaus and Aztecs, and many of these ethnic groups represent towns along this route. We traveled on this route on our last full day in El Salvador today.

We stopped in two towns along the way: Nahuizalco, where there was a very vibrant fresh produce market. In Nahuatl, Nahuizalco means “The 4 Izalcos,” as the town was originally founded by four families from the town of Izalco. The buildings were quite colorful here, and we stopped to have a mini lunch of rice, marinated beef in a tomato sauce, and some freshly made pupusas; we also stopped in Juaya, whose name in Nahuatl means “River of Purple Orchids.” There was a big food festival happening here when we came today, so we ate a big plate of carne asada, veggies, and pupusas (of course) on the street and had some freshly blended pineapple juice here. We also managed to escape a torrential downpour that lasted for a good portion of our meal since we were eating under a tent!

Our last stop before headed back to San Salvador was at a coffee farm and cafe that our hotel manager had recommended to us called Entre Nubes. The hotel manager said he hadn’t been there yet, but a friend had told him about it. It’s a huge restaurant cafe with a coffee farm/garden attached to it where they serve full breakfast and lunch meals, as well as endless coffee drinks. They also do coffee tours upon request, which we did. While the coffee tour walk was a bit underwhelming since the coffee beans were just sprouting, it was interesting to hear the process of coffee beans from plant to bean in El Salvador and how different it is vs. other parts of the world. Back in the 1970s, El Salvador was once the largest global exporter of coffee. Today, it stands as number 19 for coffee exporters, but it definitely does not make the coffee less tasty. There are three major varietals of arabica beans that they produce: bourbon (the majority), pacas, and pacamaras, the last of which is a hybrid of the pacas and maragogipe beans. Bourbon is the fruitiest and most acidic of the three; pacamaras has a fruity aroma and a rich, complex coffee-like flavor. we tried three different types of coffees at the end of the tour, and we liked the Pacamaras black honey one the best.

We also visited Cafe La Casona in the San Benito neighborhood of San Salvador the day before, which also had a full food menu and a pretty extensive list of coffee drinks as well as all the possible coffee brewing preparations. Coffee is definitely very serious here in El Salvador, and it was a delicious experience to be able to taste multiple times during our trip.

The Biblioteca Nacional de El Salvador, or the National Library of El Salvador, abbreviated as BINAES, is the national library of El Salvador that was opened in November 2023. It is conveniently located in the heart of the city, just steps away from the Metropolitan Cathedral. Given that the current president Nayib Bukele had announced the construction of the library back in late 2019 in partnership with the Chinese government, this library is also seen as a symbol of El Salvador’s rebirth to many. The library is also meant to be seen as a way to “buy” El Salvador’s support of China and ultimately not to recognize Taiwan as its own country, but that’s another story for another day.

The library appears very impressive from the outside and the inside. But probably what astounded me the most was the first floor and exactly how child-friendly it was. There are multiple zones on the enormous first floor, all separated by target age group, where babies, toddlers, and young children can play and explore. Everything is bright and multi-colored. There are sensory bins, areas for building puzzles and different block structures. There are sensory books for feeling and smelling, as well as books in not just Spanish but English and other romance languages. There are climbing play structures; ball pits, endless cars and trucks; nature-like play areas that resemble forests and the outdoors, and comfy cushioned and pillowed reading areas for littles. When I walked around the first floor, I wasn’t quite sure if this was meant to be a library or a children’s fun/play center.

Kaia flipped through a number of the books. She loved climbing on the play structures, pushing the toy trucks and cars around, and of course, giggled with glee while in the ball pit. The toys and books selection was really large, and all were in excellent condition. The condition of almost all the books we touched seemed nearly brand new. Pookster could have easily spent the whole day in this play and reading area. The touches were extremely thoughtful. There’s even a lactation room for nursing and pumping, and every bathroom has a clean changing station.

And of course, my child decided to poop while running around the library.

Before exploring a local independent bookshop and heading off to Gettysburg for the battleground tour, we spent the morning today at Broad Street Market in the heart of Harrisburg. The Broad Street Market has been around since 1860. During the Civil War, the farmers at the Broad Street Market helped feed the 300,000 Union soldiers who were staying at a nearby camp. Today, it has many vendors that serve meals all day long, as well as fresh produce and flowers.

Every time we have visited cities and towns less traveled to across the U.S., we have always been pleasantly surprised by the food. Broad Street Market was no different. Across the different vendors, I ended up choosing Porters House Jamaican Cuisine and Antojitos Mexicanos Yum Yum! At the Market. At the Jamaican stall, I chose a small plate of curry goat, rice and peas, sautéed cabbage, and sweet fried plantains, with a side of coco bread, a chicken patty, and a beef patty. At the Mexican stall, I ordered huevos rancheros, which came with not just the standard red salsa on top of the fried tortillas and eggs, but even a side of freshly made salsa verde. I couldn’t decide which dish I was more impressed by because both were so good. The huevos rancheros were better than some of the ones I’ve had in New York City: the tortillas managed to stay crunchy until the very last bite. The salsas were both bright and very spicy. The side of rice and beans they came with were addictive, clearly cooked in animal-based broth and/or fat. The Jamaican patties were both well spiced with some good heat, with a really flaky crust. And the curry goat was delicious, cooked the usual way with meat on the bone and chopped through the bone, making it a little unsafe for Kaia to eat, but enjoyable for me with the opportunity to suck bone marrow. Even the cabbage was delicious, well seasoned, and crunchy.

When I asked a friend who grew up in Pennsylvania what he recommended we do in Harrisburg, he said, “Nothing. Choose another destination.” But I would beg to differ: these are some of the most delicious Jamaican and Mexican dishes I’ve had. These meals themselves were worth a visit to Harrisburg.

For our long weekend trip while Chris’s parents are in town, he chose Harrisburg, PA. Harrisburg is the state capital of Pennsylvania, but it’s also close to two major tourist sites — Hersey’s Chocolate World and Gettysburg, which is where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous speech called the Gettysburg address during the Civil War. In addition, given it’s an area in the middle of Pennsylvania, I knew there would be a lot of farms and markets to potentially visit, which would be a good opportunity get Kaia out of her usual concrete jungle and be “one” with nature and the animals.

We spent some time this afternoon at Paulus Farm Market, which is part produce/flowers/fresh food market, and part animal farm. There’s a small admission fee to enter the animal and play area, so we paid an extra $2 to get a bag of vegetables to help Kaia feed the animals. There were a good number of animals at the farm, including different species of goats, chickens, cows, ducks, and pigs. Kaia was a little scared initially to feed the chickens, but when we got to the smaller pygmy goats, she finally warmed up to them, likely because they were smaller, and was happy to feed them lettuce. The farm also had this huge tractor that was converted into a tractor/tunnel slide that Kaia was very fascinated with. She loved sitting on the tractor seat and turning the steering wheel over and over.

I love watching Kaia with the animals. Her little sweet giggles after a goat snatches her offered piece of lettuce or her little jumps and squeals while feeding really warmed my heart. I especially loved it when the goat would take her food, and she’d immediately turn to me and ask, “More? More?!” Of course, a big reason we want to take her to places like Paulus Farm Market is so that she will have different experiences that are outdoors, but another reason is that I want her to be comfortable with animals and know where food really comes from. When you grow up in a city like San Francisco or New York where people mostly buy their food from the local grocery store, you are so far removed from the food production process that you don’t realize that real people actually have to work the land and feed the animals that ultimately contribute to what’s on your plate. I still remember when my cousin got mad once (as an adult) when he bought some green vegetable and found a dead bug in it. He was extremely angry and talked about how “dirty” the food was; he ended up throwing this produce away! I told him he was being insane: it should actually be a good sign when you see dead insects in your fresh produce because it probably means the produce was worth eating (for them), and perhaps even had less or no pesticides!

Kaia is already a relatively good little eater, but the more she understands about food, the more she will hopefully appreciate the world’s variety of food and be open to trying and eating even more things.