Every hour can be happy hour when it's hot.

It’s hot. Very hot. Oh so extremely hot. The United States is under a “heat dome” as I read in an article yesterday. Every corner, it seems, is being hit by high temperatures and humidity. In this blog, I have often referred to the heat one encounters in the tropical areas of Latin America, but now most of you in the U.S. can just step outside and sample it for yourself. If you are reading this from another country, maybe you are also in sweltering heat. Maybe it’s normal for where you live, or maybe you, too, are suffering from an unprecedented heat wave that is making everyone droopy, drippy, and grumpy. I just know that right now, as I am writing this, a lot of people are feeling the heat.

I am presently in Central Texas where temperatures over 100 in July and August are pretty normal (although even here, it is a hotter summer than usual). But I’m not necessarily used to it. All this talk about heat, heat index readings, power shortages, frying eggs on the sidewalk, etc. has me yearning for one wonderful way to beat the heat: a nice cold drink. Last week’s post mentioned a wonderful watermelon drink (liquado) in Guatemala, and a few weeks ago I wrote about a similar drink made from pitaya in Nicaragua (see here). But now I want to tell you about another type of drink that should also be tried and enjoyed during your travels. A drink with a kick: a local beer, mixed drink, cocktail, or as they say in Spanish, un trago.

Even though Xela, Guatemala didn’t have such hot temperatures, I did enjoy the local beer there. The best bottle I had was a liter of Gallo I shared with my homestay host and his 90-something father, during my last meal at their house before leaving. None of the other women in the house drank beer, so it was just the guys and me. They toasted me, I toasted them back, we had our beer, we ate our meal, and we said “adios.” It was awesome.

Here is Don Rafa, and his granddaughter Luci pouring
us some Gallo beer in Xela, Guatemala.

In Nicaragua, I had a delicious local drink that was perfect in the heat and humidity of Granada. Macua is a drink make from orange, guava and lime juices with rum, served over ice made from purified water (lest you worry about stomach issues such as these). Holy yumminess! I don’t know if I have ever enjoyed a fruit drink so much. It looked great, it felt great, it tasted great. Of course, I had tried the local beer too. But even Cerveza Toña could not compare to the deliciousness of the Macua.

My travel friend Abate Sebsibe and I are in Granada, Nicaragua, enjoying the delicious Macua.

I do find that when I am in a hot, tropical place, I enjoy those fruity drinks more than I might usually. At home, I typically only drink them at Chinese restaurants that have a good selection of drinks like Mai Tais, Singapore Slings, and whatever that flaming drink is they put in a volcano glass that is big enough for two people. When I was in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands several years back, I stayed in a great place (mentioned in a post here) that was built on a hill, overlooking a gorgeous beach, and the amazing Caribbean Sea. It was a little like camping, only I did not cook for myself. The restaurant on the property served meals three times a day, so why cook? But the restaurant was only open at certain times, and those were the only times you could get wine or beer. You could bring in your own booze, but I was by myself and I honestly don’t drink more than one usually. Maybe two. So it wasn’t worth the effort.

One afternoon, I was down on the beach, lounging in the sand, and reading a book. There was a concession stand there, and a place to rent snorkel equipment, umbrellas, chairs, etc. The food stand sold frozen non-alcoholic drinks, with a variety of flavors, including piña colada. So I decided I would get myself one of those. It seemed like a beachy thing to do. After I ordered, I jokingly asked the kid working if he had any rum back there he could slip into my colada. He said, “Yeah, you want some?” Surprised and delighted, I said, “Sure!” So he poured some in there, and I had my cocktail after all. The virgin drink would have been fine, but somehow having rum on a Caribbean island makes it even better. It inspired me to drink the islands’ fabulous rum punch whenever the opportunity presented itself. I was so inspired, that I had to get “just one more” in St. Thomas as I was wheeling my suitcase around town before heading to the airport.

When at home, I often crave the drinks I’ve had in other countries (there have been too many good ones to mention all of them in this post), especially when roasting under a “heat dome.” I would love to be sipping any one of them right now. But drinking them here, in my own country, is not quite the same. There is something special about drinking a local drink that makes the refreshing aspect of it even more enjoyable. And it's great to share something local, something that was brewed or distilled in the place you are visiting. 

That is not to say there aren’t refreshing drinks here at home. Those Chinese restaurants with liquor licenses are a sure bet. There are dozens of different types of “martinis” out there, at pretty much any bar, that will rock your world. And here in Texas, the margarita’s got it going on (not to mention Shiner Bock)! I cannot complain about that. I can complain about how the heat makes me look like a longhaired chihuahua just coming out of the pool after a few laps. But I will never complain about a nice, cool, refreshing, local drink that makes me go “Ahhhh!”