Interesting Discoveries in Panajachel, Guatemala

I'm from Canada, eh? And one thing that's cool about Guatemala is they have stuff imported from the States that I haven't seen before. I get all surprised and tell my friends here, and they just go, "Uh, yeah. We have that back home." Whatever! I'm excited to see stuff like this...

OH YEAH Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix!

Of course, the price was that box of mix was ridiculously expensive but it was just interesting to see it here. I have a recipe for homemade Cheddar Bay Biscuits anyway, so I'm good. :)

Bert and I were both excited to find lavender-scented mosquito coils. Why don't we have these in Canada? Or... do we? Perhaps I'm just out of touch!

Lavender Mosquito Coils. Smell pretty and work well! 

Another fun thing to see in the stores here is their liberal use of American trademarks.

Mr. Musculo is actually quite an effective cleaner for stovetops!
If the dude on the bottle didn't have hair, it would be even more of a ripoff.

Even American brands don't let silly trademarked items get in the way of a good promotion.

Um, the pink bunny goes with Energizer, doesn't he?

My favourite chip brand here is Diana. It's weird but they have very few actual potato chips and tons and tons of corn-based chips like tostitos and corn puffs. We've taken to making popcorn and seasoning it with dill and vinegar to get our fix of other flavours besides barbecue and cheese and jalapeno. I would kill for sour cream & onion Ripples chips!! Or plain Ripples chips with dip.... oooooh! *drool*

Tocinito means kinda like bacon-flavoured. Also, Pingüinos means penguins!

There are few packaged foods that actually seem to taste better here! One are the boxes of Coditos con Queso, Kraft Dinner, from Mexico. The box is bigger and the sauce is super awesome cheesy!

Diana brand Quesitos are like Crunch-Its from Canada.... only awesomer! This bag only costs around Q6, or $1.

Here's something that Guatemala doesn't do well: weiners. They are weirdly pureed so they taste really mushy and then you'll bite into a hard piece of something. EWWWWWW. Also, they are covered with a thin plastic wrapping that we assume needs to be removed before eating. 

Thin plastic wrapping on weiners. At least they're enriched with vitamins!

I could bore you with a million pictures of the hilarious stuff I see in the pacas, second-hand stores, but I will just give you this one. :)

Elmo loves Guatemala!

Let's talk about citrus. I thought I knew my limes and lemons, but apparently here in Guatemala there are lemony-limes and limey-lemons and all of them are called limóns!

Limes are our tree. Did you know limes turn yellow? That means they're too ripe.

This ginormous yellow fruit fell down the mountain into our yard. Look how huge!

Cut out --- that's one giant lemon!

When Guatemala gives you lemons, you make lemonade! Damn, it's tart though.  Would go well with some booze, I'm thinking.

Mmm lemony!

Okay, so that's my silly post for today. Stay tuned for upcoming posts about arts & crafts, a trip to Antigua, and Halloween! Adios, mis amigos!