If you think North American kids eat a lot of sugar, think again.
Guatemala, at least around downtown Xela where most people have a relatively decent amount of money, is sugar-coated.
Literally.
Go to the cereal aisle at the Despensa Familiar and you’ll see it’s a seven-year-old’s dream. That’s right: none of that “ew, healthy” cereal. It’s all the “junky” cereal that your mom refused to buy when you were a kid.
Choco crispies!
Frosted flakes!
Fruit loops!
Corn Pops!
Fruit loops and choco crispies shaped like corn pops!
Right now there’s a great oferta on at the Despensa: three boxes of junky cereal, all for the low, low price of Q22.95, or three dollars. Mmm!
Karla, Kevin and Wilson (don’t get me started on Guatemalan names) are the three children that hang around Trama Textiles where I work. They are the children of Oralia, the vice-president of the cooperative. These three kids must eat their weight in candy every day.
Seriously – little Karlita is hardly ever seen without something sweet in her hands. Her favourites are these coloured marshmallow candy that are nothing more than… coloured marshmallows. She walks around Trama, climbing onto volunteers’ backs, smiling happily and licking her sticky, corn-syrup coated fingers.
Around Xela there’s more sugar on display. For instance, there must be a Xelapan on practically every corner. It’s a bakery specializing in “pan,” which literally means “bread” but here means sweet, sugar-coated cookies, perfect for dipping in chocolate.
Then there’s the vendors selling chocolate-covered fruit, candy, cakes, and these sweet, tubular fried-dough things that are just perfect covered with more sugar.
Even the ketchup here (salsa dulce, or “sweet sauce”) is sweeter than back home.
Good thing I have a sweet tooth. All this sugar is sort of like heaven.
Now taking bets on how many cavities I will accummulate.
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