Malena loves candy. And travel. And both together. And thus, this site was born.
by 
I stayed in Utila for quite a while learning to dive, as I’ve mentioned earlier. Needless to say, I also did my best to explore the local sweet options available on the tiny Caribbean island. There were suprisingly many! Popular candies included chewy, brightly-colored ovals of fruit and chocolate bars of peanuts and caramels (often kept deliciously cool in freezers.) Of course, these “locally available sweets” were actually just Skittles and Snickers shipped in from the States - locally produced candy was impossible to find.
Because Utila was a big traveler’s destination, there was a huge variety in American candy available for purchase. I was able to eat Airheads for the first time in 3 months (hooray!) and there were Mentos and Nerds as well. Unfortunately, the Nerds tasted as though they’d been sitting on a humid tropical island for the past 6 months, so perhaps I should have stuck with Skittles.
Snickers!
Interestingly, Mexican candy is far more rare than I imagined it would be. Once I left Mexico, I found almost none of the ubiquitious sugared chili powder that seemed to cover all of the factory produced Mexican treats. Instead, Central America seems to import a sizeable amount of candy from China! This candy, the cheapest of the cheap, is then sold for a nickel or two individually in tiendas, or little corner stores.
Local Candy (made in China)
Another favorite candy of mine were Fruta Pastillas. These were little disks of fruit flavored sugar. They were somewhere between Smarties and Sweet Tarts in their crumbliness, and had a slightly chalky taste. The different fruit flavors were very pronounced - pineapple was my favorite! I also found Mango lollipops and sweetened gum.
Sadly, there was almost no widely available mass-produced Central American candy. A few times I found gum from Guatemala or lollipops and cajeta from El Salvador, but in general the vast majority of candy available to the average Central American was made in China. I’m curious as to how common this is in other parts of the world.
posting from United StatesJuly 30th, 2008 2:53 pm
Glad to see you are posting to your blog. I had missed a few updates, what with being snowed under after taking a new job. (Job? oh well.) It was fun to catch up with your travels. I continue to enjoy seeing your pix too.
posting from United StatesJuly 31st, 2008 8:04 am
The jelly cups are still totally available - you just need to find a market/ area that caters to Asian or Hispanic/ Latino customers. I’ve got a couple markets near me that sell them… and there’s always Chinatowns for buying in bulk!
posting from United StatesAugust 3rd, 2008 5:20 pm
Lissa - Yeah, at my house candy was pretty tightly regimented, which might have something to do with my overwhelming sweet tooth today. I was just up in Greensburg and saw the whole family - it was nice!
Bruce - Uh oh, new job! I have lots more pictures to upload…
eris - Hmm, I’ll have to look for the jelly cups. I checked in the Boston chinatown a few years ago and couldn’t find them, but I may just need to enlist some help 
posting from United StatesAugust 4th, 2008 5:10 am
That photo makes me want to eat grape mini fruit gels so badly.
As an aside, I went back home a couple of weeks back. The first thing we did when we got there was go shopping for sweets. And when we came home we filled our cases with sweets and crisps. And they lasted about a week.
Walnut Whips never last as long as you want them to.
posting from United StatesAugust 4th, 2008 4:52 pm
Oh I am so jealous!! We may be getting back east in the Fall. I am hoping to pop in to see the Aunt Jean and Uncle Steve while there. I’ll be in NC but it has been way too long since I was in PA. It is so good to hear everyone was doing OK. I hope the rest of your trip is just as yummy! I have always wanted to go to Austria and tour the chocolate factories there. If you end up there eat chocolate and think of me : )
posting from Great Britain (UK)August 11th, 2008 5:22 pm
how much longer are you in central america? you have been there for ages!
posting from United StatesAugust 19th, 2008 9:39 am
Andy - Walnut Whips?? I’ll have to try them in England (my next stop in approximately… 1 week!)
Lissa - It was a fun trip, especially because I’ll be gone for so long. Very nice to have a mini-break from backpacking also.
Matt - Oops, I forgot to update the webpage. I left Central America July 12th to visit family, take a little break before my rtw kicks in, apply to law schools, etc. I’ll be back on the road shortly though!
posting from United StatesAugust 25th, 2008 7:00 pm
hey Malena! big hello from Rohit. Logged into your website for the first time. Looks like your trip is going awesome and as per plan.
Just wanted to say hi. I was in India twice for business in last 4 months. I guess the new job is going really well for me. When are you going to be there?
More later,
have fun,
Rohit
posting from Great Britain (UK)September 1st, 2008 6:55 am
Hey Rohit,
Glad to see you here! I’ll be in India approximately Dec 15-Feb 15. Good that the new job is going well, and that’s nice that you get to travel for business.
posting from United StatesSeptember 1st, 2008 11:50 pm
The “Mini Fruit Gels” are also banned by the European Union since 2001.
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2002/apr/gelsweetban
http://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/alerts/2002/mar/gelsweets3
July 30th, 2008 2:03 pm
I used to buy big buckets of the little gelatin cups with the cube in the middle at Costco. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find them lately. I think the rumor is true. I believe they pulled these off the market in the U.S. because a child choked on one. My daughter used to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. I am a sweet a holic myself. Must have been the early years of macrobiotic eating my mom used to practice (and made us eat). Carob….YUCK!