Guatemalan Food

In case you are curious, here is a little about what I have eaten since being here.

I am in a homestay that provides 3 meals a day Monday-Saturday.

Breakfast:
Every day we would have 3-4 of the following fresh fruits: Watermelon (with seeds), banana, papaya, and pinapple.

Other items included rock hard toast, although the jelly was great.  Pineapple is my favorite.  Scrambled eggs, omelets with ham or hot dog, pancakes, and corn flakes.  Often black beans are served with eggs.  I can't eat them for breakfast.  I have hot tea and water.  No coffee.

Lunch:
Always seemed the biggest meal.  Often we would have soup.  Homemade, not heated up from a can.  Pasta, beef stew, and fish.  The fish is awesome. Always have water to drink.

Dinner:
Fresh veggies in a salad with no salad dressing or veggies stir fried.  One night I had a baked potato with some type of sauce (no butter, sour cream, salt, or pepper) and the other half of the plate was spinach.  At least half the time, we have no meat for dinner.  Have had fish, rice, fried plantains. Water to drink as well.  I'm often hungry after dinner so I get a snack around 4, then dinner is @ 6:30.

Resturants:
I've enjoyed eating out here, for the most part.  Sunday's we are not provided food.  French fries are the same.  I swear the ketchup seems sweeter, as do the coke products. (a can of coke is 3Q which is about $0.39)  Chicken fried wantons at the Chinese restaurant were surprisingly amazing.  It had a mango salsa.  YUMMY!!!  I did treat myself to one FANCY meal here.  I had pineapple juice to drink. My appetizer was eggplant with shrimp, mushrooms, bacon, and melted mozzarella cheese.  My meal was a BLT sandwich with chicken and avocado, along with sweet potato fries. This amazing meal costs 133Q, including tip.  Which is about $17.  This is super expensive here.  I did go to Freda's and was very disappointed in the sausage queso but the guacamole was awesome.  I've had 2 pretty good hamburgers as well.  There are tons of street venders on the weekends but I have not chanced eating any of that. 

I found a bar with a Saturday night "all you can drink single liquor" for 79Q which is like $10.

Most places include a 10% tip on the bill so I've learned to look closely.

There are no free refills and the regular is like a kids size cup

For some reason, they do not bring the check after they clear your dishes.  I always seem to have to ask.

Pink ice cream does not necessarily mean it tastes like strawberry.  Not a bad taste, but not American strawberry ice cream.

You can get ceapes made with nutella, strawberries, and banana's in almost every cafe for like $3.  They are awesome.

I have not eaten at McDonald's, Burger King, or Subway.  I have, however, eaten at Pollo Campero.  Apparently they have a few chain stores in California, but I have never eaten there either.