Postcard No.9 - Guatemala đŹđš
This could be the most boring newsletter youâll read all week.
Hey!
This postcard, I thought I would make it less about the adventures and fun travel content, and instead a realistic day in the life.
Because sometimes people say:
âWhat do you even do all day?â
âDo you just work from the beach?â
âHow do you get any work done when youâre in X country?â
Also, I said I would share what Iâve been cooking whilst travelling.
Disfrutar! / Enjoy!
A typical week day:
5.45am - Wake up
6am - Take Abuelo for a walk.
Abuelo is the dog who lives in our apartment complex. Heâs a rescue after he was hit by a car. Now heâs really old, a little overweight, and an absolute sweetheart.
âAbueloâ means âgrandadâ in English. Which makes me wonder what his name was before he was old enough to be Abuelo.
6.30am - 7am - Get ready for the day.
7am - 9.30am - Work. I start early because Iâm 7 hours behind the UK where all my customers are based.
I mostly work from our apartment, sometimes a coffee shop. I havenât found a cowork in Antigua that I like.
9.30am - Breakfast and coffee.
10am - 2pm - Working and take Abuelo for 2nd walk.
2pm - 3pm - Gym.
3pm - 4.30pm - Make and eat dinner.
Iâm going to interrupt this timeline by explaining our eating habits because youâre probably thinking who eats dinner at 4.30pm?!
I donât feel the need to eat 3 full meals a day.
I eat âmorning foodâ and âafternoon foodâ as my main meals and snacks in between.
People think itâs weird that we eat âdinnerâ so early. For me personally, I sleep much better when thereâs a bigger gap between eating and sleeping.
Itâs not set in stone. If I go out with friends and they want to eat later, thatâs fine.
4.30pm - 7.30pm - More work and practice Spanish.
7.30pm until Bed - Read, watch tv, journal, write my Substack, take Abuelo for 3rd walk.
I wanted to share this because I donât live some crazy life where everyday is an adventure.
And I would never take my laptop on the beach.
Whatâs cooking!?
Fellow travellers will know, if youâre moving around, itâs not that easy to diversify your home-cooked meals.
You donât have a cupboard full of ingredients, nor do you want to spend money on ingredients that you might not finish or take to the next place.
Your accommodation could also be missing things like graters, peelers, can openers, masher (not sure if thatâs the official name). You can only work with what youâve got.
My cupboard staples: Olive oil, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder.
My go-to traveller meals:
Jazzâd up pesto pasta
Lentil, Chickpea or Rice pasta because itâs healthier and has more protein. With a store bought pesto and then roasted veggies and either lentils or chickpeas added.
Stuffed sweet potato
Cook the sweet potato, remove the filling. Cook up some veggies with black beans or tofu, mix in the sweet potato filling and then put it back in the sweet potato shell.
PB & Soy sauce stir fry
Fry up some veggies and tofu. Make the sauce which is just peanut butter and soy sauce, add it to the veg and tofu. Serve with rice. Add an egg on top too.
Roast whatever I can find
Roast some veggies, then about 10 mins before they are done, add in tinned tomatoes and a tin of chickpeas.
Sweet potato fries, veggie burger with an egg on top and veggie sides
It is what it is.
Courgette fritters and veggies
Grate courgette, potato, onion, garlic, add an egg to the mixture. Fry them like burgers and then add various sides.
Vegan Chocolate Mousse
Itâs the only dessert I make as it requires just 3 ingredients and a blender.
Dates, oat milk, 100% chocolate.
For snacks: Things like peanut butter stuffed dates, peanut butter with banana, basically peanut butter with anything.
Iâm obsessed with eating frozen mango and peach at the moment. Itâs way cheaper to buy frozen too.
This makes me sound super healthy, I do also eat cookies, crisps, chocolate etc.
If you have made it this far, I appreciate it! Normal travel content will resume next time.
Have a wonderful week!
Amber x