Next up we have drinks – yes we must try out the drinks as well as the food, and first up is soft drinks of which there is always a good selection of new ones to try…
Squirt – not the name that I would choose to call a drink… From Panama.These two cans of ‘colita’ look like they are from Venezuela, but actually it turned out they were made in the USA and imported to Panama. They were also a root beer type drink and not a cola – much to CC’s disappointment!Refreshing lemon drink. Purchased in Nicaragua, made in Panama.Kola Shaler – cheap cola purchased in Nicaragua. Advertised as a ‘cola flavor soft drink’ with ‘more than one century of quality’… hmmm…Salva cola from El Salvador. Comes with a small map of El Salvador printed on the front!Kolashanpan – Cola Champagne. This tasted a bit rough, even worse than actual champagne… 🙂 This is also from El Salvador.Super Cola – not that super. Purchased in Guatemala.Generic lemonade. Purchased in Guatemala.
Other drinks There were also some drinks which while technically ‘soft’ drinks (non-alcoholic) I think belong a different category (yes and my decision is final)
This drink is a Nicaraguan speciality – Cacao juice – yes, it’s made from the cacao seed, the same thing that is used to make chocolate – so it’s kind of like a very natural chocolate milk. Nicaraguans love it, and so did we!Yes, you can buy cacao milk in the supermarket too! Wasn’t quite as a good as the homemade version, but still very nice!This may look like a couple of mugs of greasy liquid, but this is actually hot chocolate from El Salvador. Hot chocolate is a very popular traditional drink there, and I have to say that in our view El Salvador makes the BEST hot chocolate in the entire world. Really, I truly believe that – I have never tasted hot chocolate so good in my life. They must have a special secret recipe…Source material to make delicious hot chocolate. Yes, we liked it so much we had buy some hot chocolate to take away with us from El Salvador…
Alcoholic Drinks There’s always plenty of beer around, but pictures of beer bottles go on a special page, so what we have left is one speciality of the region which is a tamarind based liquor from Guatemala.
Quetzalteca – traditional drink from Guatemala. It is distilled from sugarcane and contains 25% alcohol. It was fairly pleasant (the tamarind flavoured version)
Coffee Since Ecuador we have been carrying our coffee-making ‘sock’ meaning that we can try out all the local coffee brands. Unfortunately most of the Central American coffee didn’t quite live up to the Colombian standard, but there were a few pretty good ones…
Lila from Costa Rica.Cafe 1820 with slogan ‘With you always’. From Costa Rica.Cafe Hermosa (Beautiful Coffee). ‘Gourmet Quality’ it says… From Costa Rica.La Chelita. ‘Family Coffee’ from Costa Rica.Volio. Also from Costa Rica. Yes, we drank a lot of coffee in Costa Rica…Gourmet coffee blend from Nicaragua.Gourmet coffee ‘roasted for you’. From El Salvador.Santa Isabel from Honduras.This one was actually the best of them all! Guate Java from Guatemala.
So that brings us to the end of the Food and Drink of Central America… Mexico here we come!
