Guatemala

Guatemala 2012

In the summer of 2012 I was fortunate enough to get to travel and study abroad in Guatemala for about 18 days!  It was one of the best experiences of my life and was much more than I had imagined it was going to be!  The food was incredible!  The flavors mixed with the culture and fresh foods were amazing!  I hope to take you on a little journey through Guatemala in hopes that you will get a little taste of what I experienced!

The Fruits of Guatemala

Mango (yellow), Papaya (orange), Dragon Fruit (pink) and Banana

Antigua, Guatemala was the main city that I was able to live in during my stay.  I got to stay with an amazing host family; the host family made some of the best food that I tasted while I was there and I learned a lot about the cuisine from them!  One thing I learned: Nutella is very popular in Guatemala!  

Lychees

Guatemala is so amazing because their climate and demographic setting allows them to have fresh fruits and veggies almost year round!  The fruits tasted AMAZING there because they were so fresh and they were grown in a tropical environment.  You could never imagine just how good a simple Banana tastes when they are fresh!  Next time you buy a Banana at the store, look at the sticker, I bet that about 75% of the time, they will be from Guatemala!  

Another cool thing about the fruit in Guatemala, besides the regular fruits that we have here (bananas, apples, oranges, pineapple...etc.) they had TONS of fruits that I had never even heard of!  Lychees and Dragon fruit were the two main things that I had never had.  Papaya, mango, fresh coconut and melons were also a huge staple.  

The main fruit inside the Lychee: Do NOT eat the seed!

Lychees and Dragon fruit were by far the best fruits that I tried.  After one bite, I was hooked.  In Guatemala, the Lychees are pink and soft on the outside (pictured to the right in my hands) and the Dragon fruit is bright pink on the inside (top picture, dragon fruit is in the bottom left corner).  When I got home, I was able to find some at a local grocery store, but they were not the same.  The outside of the Lychees were almost black and the Dragon fruit's inside was white (Asia version).  I am thinking that they are not able to transport these fruits long distances because they are so delicate and must be eaten as soon as they are picked.  The Lychee almost resembles a grape, but is much softer in texture and sweeter to the taste; and as I found out, you are not supposed to eat the seeds in the center!  Hey, I just thought there was a crunchy inside, how was I supposed to know!? Haha
Dragon fruit is more like a Kiwi.  There are tons of tiny seeds inside, but it is not as acidic as the Kiwi.  Another nice thing about the fruit there, it was extremely cheap!  Because fruit and vegetables are so easy to grow in that climate, anyone can grow them if they have the space.  So buying fruit is much cheaper than going to the grocery store and buying processed foods... Wouldn't that be nice!  And you would never find fruit at the grocery store, it was always bought in the markets from the vendors.  

Drinks

Licuado de Pina - the BEST one the whole trip!

So... I had an addiction when I went to Guatemala: "Licuados" or "Aguas Frescas."  Basically it means fruit water, or blended fruits.  They are amazing!   Basically they take a bunch of fruit and liquify/ blend it with sugar and water.  Sometimes they add vanilla or chocolate for extra.  My favorite licuados were either pineapple (pina), strawberry (fresa) or banana!  I have since tried making them here but they are not exactly the same, I think I need a better blender to be honest.  

I do not know how many of these licuados I tried while I was there... My goal was at least one a day!  They ranged anywhere in price from $1 - $3 (US currency).  In the city they were served in glasses, but on the beach I drank one out of a bag (interesting experience).  

The drink that you see pictured behind the licuado to the right was another very popular drink in Guatemala.  It is called "Jamaica," it is a drink made from a type of Hibiscus flower, almost like a tea type drink.  They basically boil the flower just like we do with tea bags and then add sugar to it.

Guatemala is also known for their "cafe" or coffee.  Unfortunately, I do not like coffee at all... So I didn't try any.  But I was able to visit a coffee plantation and it was beautiful!  They also had some of the best hot chocolate (which I brought home and still have).  The hot chocolate is a dark chocolate powder mixed with cinnamon, YUM!  I save it for especially cold days!  It was crazy to me while I was there to eat soup or drink anything hot because I always assume that you only drink hot chocolate when it's cold and snowy outside!  But I guess if you never get snow, then you would just drink it when you felt like it!  To the right and above is a picture of two different types of coffee beans that they had on display at the store/ coffee plantation.  Even though I do not like coffee, one of the souvenirs that I purchased at a market was a purse made out of a coffee bag; they were popular tourist items!  I have to show you this picture because it was the most beautiful flower in Guatemala and I absolutely loved it!  It was at the coffee place because they also sold flowers there (as you can see in the background something was selling for 55 Quetzals).

Breakfast! 

I always found it interesting how people eat such different foods at breakfast, some people don't even eat breakfast!  The typical "American" breakfast usually consists of eggs, bacon, cereal, poptarts, bagels, oatmeal or cinnamon rolls, and the occasional fruit.  Sugar. Sugar. And more sugar!  But in Guatemala their breakfast may not look as "breakfasty" as ours.  Sometimes you may have beans or rice at breakfast, sometimes we would have cereal, and sometimes eggs.  It differed daily; but it always was accompanied by some kind of fruit, which I loved!  

Breakfast at the restaurant by Lake Atitlan

One weekend we ate out at a restaurant for breakfast, I had the BEST eggs with ham and potatoes!  It was of course, accompanied by fruit, toast, and salsa! Yum! As you may know, breakfast is the MOST important meal of the day!! EAT YOUR BREAKFAST! I can tell you without out a doubt that it was better than Village Inn! Haha.

Main Course, por favor!

It was interesting to me that in Guatemala the food was not very spicy.  I LOVE spicy food and I never encountered anything that was over the top and too much for me (except when the jalapenos took me out, literally.  Another story, different time.)  I realized that they did not use as many peppers as they do in Mexico, or at least the hot ones (Jalapeno and Habanero).  It is so interesting to me that two countries can be right next to each other and connected and they can have such different tastes!  Even within a country you will have different styles and variations on staple dishes!  

Plato Tipico #1

One of the main staples of Guatemala are their famous black beans!  They are cooked so differently in Guatemala that I had never experienced anything like them!  They are also really thick in comparison to our refried beans in the US.  If you tried to eat them with a chip, the chip probably would break.  The black beans were usually served on their "plato tipico," or typical/staple dish.  They were either in the refried, thick form, or in regular cooked form.  Here are two pictures of different variations of the "plato tipico."  The one on the top has the refried version of black beans and the one on the bottom has the cooked version.  As you can see, they both have Guacamole, meat, queso fresco (cheese), rice and plantains (a fruit similar to a banana, but you cannot eat it raw!).  The one on the bottom also has Chorizo, a typical sausage, which is delicious!  

Plato Tipico #2

I always enjoyed this dish because I believed that it encompassed and represented the Guatemalan cuisine so well!  Btw, if you have never tried Queso Fresco, I would recommend trying it out! You can buy it in pretty much any supermarket.  

Fresh Vegetables

 The markets in Guatemala were incredible!  Here are a few pictures from the markets just to show you where they buy most of their food.  I think most of the time we imagine people buying these ingredients in a grocery store, but it is an adventure and sometimes an all day event just to go shopping!  These are some of my favorite pictures from the trip of the markets!
Enjoy!

Peppers and "hard shells/chips"

Market in Antigua (one of the many volcanoes makes for a beautiful backdrop)

Let's Go to the Beach! - Monterrico, Guatemala

The last weekend in Guatemala was spent on the coast at Monterrico beach!  The beach was so beautiful! It was a black sand beach... which made it seem 10 times more hot than it already was, and believe me, it was HOT!  I have never been some place where you instantly sweat when you step outside! This was the first place in Guatemala that I had stayed (that I can remember) that had air conditioning!  Until then, we hadn't needed air conditioning because we were in a valley, but on the coast it was humid, hot and buggy. 

Even with all of these conditions, the food was good!  I have to say, on the coast it was not as good as it was in Antigua, a lot of it was fried fish (which makes sense).  I do like fish, but... I like it when it's already taken apart... I know, I'm spoiled.

The picture to the right was actually a dish that one of the leaders on the trip ordered.  Like I said, if I had ordered this I wouldn't have even known where to begin!  If you're wondering, yes, the eyeballs were eaten... I turned my head.

The coast was where I also had the BEST fresh coconut!  Actually it was kind of funny because when the server came to take our drink order she asked if I wanted a "coca" or "coke".... I didn't really hear the inflection in her voice and decided that I would take a Coke.  She came back with a coconut and I realized my mistake.  It's not that I don't like coconut but I had tried it a couple days earlier in Antigua and wasn't all that impressed with drinking the coconut milk; which was served in a glass.  I took the coconut and decided that I was going to try it out again.  To my surprise, it was actually quite good!  Although it really isn't my ideal drink, it tasted way better than in the city!  I'm guessing because it's fresh and straight from the coconut.  I think by the end of the meal, which was fried fish, lettuce, onions and french fries, I had traded the "coca" for the "coke."  

Drinking it straight up out of the coconut!

 Summing it Up

Well, if you made it all the way through the page, congratulations!  I realized just how long-winded I am!  Guatemala was a great experience!  The cuisine in Guatemala is incredible!  If you ever want to travel to a place where they have unique foods I would highly recommend taking a trip to Antigua!  Here is a list of the restaurants that I ate at in Antigua if you ever take a trip and visit:

1. Cafe Condesa
2. Frida's (This is actually a Mexican restaurant)
3. Las Palmas
4. Fernando's Kaffe
5. Sabe Rico
6. El Cafe Portal

The main thing to remember when traveling is to be adventurous, otherwise you may miss out on something great!  Just make sure not to drink the water!  Here are a few more pictures of some food that I ate while I was there! It may look quite familiar to you! Hope you like them!

The Pizza... This pizza had the Jalapenos I mentioned earlier... There is a story that goes along with this Pizza!...

Roasting a marshmallow on top of a volcano! (Volcano Pacaya)