It seems like none of the gringos but me likes frijoles.

The Guatemalans, and all the Central Americans, I think, love them. They generally eat black beans, refried, at every occasion. To my taste, they go particularly well with scrambled eggs. I like to throw a lot of chile sauce on them, too, a habit I picked up after many brunches in New York with the little Mexican, Cecilia. The beans don't look that good when you see them in a brown heap on the plate, but they taste delicious. This morning I had a bean sandwich at the truck stop on our way to Honduras, and it was excellent.

Anyway, in Guatemala it's beans and corn. They grow corn in every available space and the Mayans used to think people were made of corn.

Guatemalan women get up very early and use cornmeal to make the tortillas for the day. They roll the mixture into balls and slap it between their hands then lay the flat little breads out on the top of a half-drum sort of thing, with a fire underneath.

Streetside snacks are often tortillas, folded in half, with something stuffed inside - cheese or meat - which are deep fried on the top of the tin drum barbecue arrangement. They have tomato chillie sauce poured over the top. I have been getting myself accustomed to the street food and now I eat it all the time and I haven't been sick. It's usually very delicious and extremely economical.