The traditional Guatemalan cuisine is rich in flavors and textures, colorful and inherited from long time ago; and you can find it in the old area of the urban center.

Ninety meters away from the Central Plaza, in the intersection of two of the city main streets, the 6thAvenue, once called Calle Real (Royal Street) and the 9th street, you will find the Pan American Hotel.

In the entrance you will feel the change of atmosphere and be transported to other times, when the city was called "the silver cup".

An old picture reminds the visitor that this hotel has more than half a century spoiling their table companions.

But the best is yet to come, it is not only the piano music, the candles and flowers in the fountain, is the taste of the buffet, that at mid-day awaits for those who want to enjoy the flavor of Guatemala's cuisine.

The personnel of the hotel are dressed with beautiful regional clothes.The chairs are comfortable and remind us of the furniture used longtime ago, as far as the colonial time. But the gourmand is notinterested in the furnishings, until he has passed near the table werethey show the different meals.

At the entrance, a young lady prepares corn tortillas in thetraditional way, with a comal and a millstone, something that will whetanyone's appetite. The table awaits, served with the soups, and thenthe salads follow, you can eat the tomato and onion salad or chojín, aplate prepared with chopped radish.

The main plates include meat tacos and piloyada (a food with largebeans), enchiladas (fried tortillas with pickled vegetables, meat andred sauce), red or white beans, pepián (a stew with meat or chicken,prepared with a brown sauce), jocón (chicken with a green sauceprepared with a base of fresh coriander), accompanied with guacamole,rice and black beans, among other things. Then, the sweet-tooth fanscan enjoy some "torrejas" (bread roles deepen in sweet water) and"buñuelos", or maybe "jocotes en dulce" sweetened hog plums, or "dulcede ayote", a sweet pumpkin desert, depending on the station. The drinksare not included in the price of the buffet, but a natural drink wouldbe the ideal companion for Guatemalan food. And no food is completewithout a cup of coffee, something that has made Guatemala famous inother latitudes.

This great experience is mainly the work of the talented chef, PedroRamiro Serrano. He has been in the hotel for forty years, afterstarting his culinary preparation as a cook near Lake Atitlán, where helearned all the secrets of our regional foods. Serrano thinks that theseason of his food is due to the "heart he puts in preparing the meals".

Time gone by.

The Pan American Hotel building was until 1942, the Hotel Astoria andit is one of the many witnesses that have seen the changes in the Cityof Guatemala.

The old sixth avenue was the most important road in the city, since theRoyal Palace was built in the XVIII Century, in what today shelters theCentennial Park, until the mid XX Century.

The Pan American's majestic aspect is an evidence of those times, when the Modernism marked the elegance.

The hotel's personality is an extension of the hybrid beauty of Guatemala.

That is why, in a structure that reminds the taste for the geometricalsplendor of art deco, you will find indigenous decorations, such asweaves, caites (sandals) and handcrafts, which show that Guatemala isthe product of a unique cultural evolution, where several groups lookup for the future without forgetting its roots and where eating is oneof the great pleasures in the family life or with friends.