​Reading the Book
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The narrator of Under the Ocelot Sun tells of how they make tortillas out of
corn and how they make a warm drink with the milk of grated or pressed corn.
There are a variety of corn based drinks in Mesoamerica. Some have chocolate
or cacao and some do not. Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and
Nicaragua all make a warm, corn based drink called atole de elote. When
chocolate is added to this, it is called a champurrado—which is very popular in
Mexico. Honduras and Nicaragua make another corn and chocolate based drink
called pinolillo. Pozol is another such drink made in Honduras, Guatemala,
Belize, and in Mexico among those from the Yucatan peninsula. The difference
between pozol and pinolillo is that pozol is made with fermented corn dough
and pinolillo is made with toasted and ground corn.
-What are some of the foods that remind you of home?
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The mother talks about animals. Quetzal birds and cotinga, jaguars and howler monkeys. She notes that she and her daughter are from the city of Tegucigalpa, not the mountains or the jungle.
-Do you live in the city or in the country?
-How familiar are you with nature and with wildlife?
-Would you be able to tell the difference between poisonous plants and beneficial ones?
-Do you know the names of plants and animals?
-How comfortable are you sleeping out in the open?
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Near the end the book the mother lists the people that have come with her and her daughter. They are “indios, mestizos, Garifuna, Catrachos, Guanacos, Chapines.” Look in the glossary to see the meaning of these words and look on the map and the list of countries to locate where these people are from.
For the most part, these names are national nicknames or broad references to the ethnic and racial identity of the people, but who are the Garifuna?
