Salsa...the salsa (Spanish word for sauce).

Living in San Diego the past 6 years, you might say I have a slight addiction to Mexican food. I eat it on a regular basis and I'm sure you know how much spice Mexicans throw on everything from fruit to tacos. The majority of Colombians I know, on the other hand, can hardly stand spice. All my meals at Casa Sweety, the B&B i'm working at, are prepared without spice. Fish (usually fried), potatoes, a WHOLE lot of rice, platanos (fried, boiled, or sweetened), beef, chicken (usually fried), sancocho (fish soup), arepas (fried food made of primarily corn, egg, and cheese), chicken, beef, or egg soup, and lots of exotic fruits make up my diet here. It's definitely not the healthiest- notice I didn't mention any vegetables, and it definitely lacks a lot of spice. My co-workers (feel weird calling them that since they're more like family now) are always making fun of me because they think it's so strange to put so much aji (spice) on my food. They always have a worried look on their face when they watch me pour aji all over my food! haha
This is interesting to me because restaurants out here serve Caribbean food, which is a fusion of a lot of different cuisines and has so much flavor and tang (the lime and coconut together = YUM). I thought the Creole influence would make for a spicier cuisine, but the majority of people here steer away from it. They tend to stick to what they know, so you won't find too many ethnic foods out here. This is especially true of the non-elite, who must bulk up on rice in order to get enough food in their stomachs and don't have the $ to try these "fancy," ethnic foods or restaurants. 
Last week, my friend Sarah (who's from San Francisco) and I decided to make home-made salsa, guacamole, and chicken tacos for the three that were working that day. I had no idea how hard it would be to find tortillas, jalapenos, and tortilla chips in Colombia (we never did find black beans...). We ended up having to settle for individual-bag servings of tortilla chips (which were butter and cheese flavored, mind u) and pinto beans. Needless to say, my friends at the B&B were terrified to try it. All of them, except one, loved the salsa (which we dulled down quite a bit) and guacamole, but the chicken had "too many peppers in it." I'm talking about bell peppers, which you probably know have no more spice than a regular tomato! One girl didn't like the guacamole because of the spice, which i finally figured out was the garlic we had added.

Don't even get me started on how they feel about sushi here! I was lucky enough to have found a very good sushi place here called Tabetai. It's owned by a Venezuelan guy who is super friendly and ended up making me a mojito on the house last night (Cartagena is known for their delicious mojitos). If you're ever in the San Diego area, i highly recommend Tabetai. They have an awesome fusion of foods- next to try is their Temaki (cone-shaped sushi) filled with ceviche! The Colombians I know won't go near sushi though since it's relatively new around here and they prefer their fish fried.
Anyway, Sarah and I devoured our portion of the Mexican food we had prepared. It was a nice treat, which I doubt i'll be having more of in the near future. It did make me happy that my parents raised me to like all types of foods, or at least give them a try! I wonder if I would've ventured out to try ethnic food if i was raised by my Colombian family...
Viva Salsa (the sauce)!