Types of stoves in Xela

The stove in my host family’s kitchen is a normal box stove where the combustion chamber is filled with wood and air enters through a small opening in the door (la estufa in la cocina de mi familia en Guatemala es un pollo y las leñas llenan la caja de combustión y la aire entra la caja por un hoyo en la puerta).  I’ve eaten lots of delicious rice, beans, eggs, tortillas, tamalitos and meat cooked by this stove (comí muchos arroz y frijoles y huevos y tortillas y tamalitos y carnes deliciosos que mi madre cocinó con esta estufa).  This stove looks like it’s made mostly of concrete and bricks, similar to the stoves my Spanish school installed for many families, and therefore, cannot be moved.  

In addition to these permanently fixed stoves, various different types of portable stoves can be purchased in Xela.  I saw a few different types at several hardware and appliance stores, including a portable enclosed box type stove (se llama un pollo) and portable gas stoves.  The wood stove shown below is about $125 (la estufa de leña es un mil quetzals) and the portable gas stove is about $200 and comes with one free cylinder of propane (la estufa de propano es un mil seiscientos quetzales y incluye un cilindro gratis). 

The portable gas stove costs no more than 10% more than the efficient rocket stove (la estufa de propano cuesta no mas de dies por ciento mas de la estufa se llama rocket).  This may beg the question why would Guatemalan women buy the wood-burning rocket stove over a gas stove.  I’m not sure what the cost of propane is in Guatemala, but I’ve been told that gas cooking is considered a more expensive affair, therefore, it’s likely that an efficient wood-burning stove that costs the same as the gas stove will be much cheaper in the long run.  Furthermore, I’ve also been told that Guatemalans prefer their beans to be cooked over a wood fire, and that beans cooked over a gas flame or beans cooked in a pressure cooker “do not taste as good.”  Therefore, many Guatemalan women who own gas stoves also have a wood burning stove in their kitchen if they can afford it.