Chapala's Juices

Chapala's Juices

Chapala's is a great juice store. In La Ceiba, there is one on San Isidro (the main street) just south of the municipalidad (city hall) and another one near the police station. Maybe some of our readers can tell us if this is a national Honduran chain or only in La Ceiba.

I guess El Jefe indulges a lot more than I do because I've noticed that some of the servers always greet him like an old friend, or valued customer. ;-) Well, he does get into town a lot more than I do and I tend to go for a cold coffee at Espresso Americano.

The licuados are milk based and most are L.20-22 (US $1.06-$1.16). I've never had a licuado because I can never decide on one fruit and usually go for the Especiales (Specials) instead.

One of our favorite combinations is the Toronja-Fresa-Piña (Grapefruit-Strawberry-Pineapple) but they hardly ever have it because they don't have strawberries very often. The Papaya-Avena-Cereal (Papaya-Oatmeal-Cereal) is one of my other favorites. Limon con Soda is another one that we like.

Sandia con Limon (Watermelon with Lemon) was a big hit they day we were there. The whole place smelled yummy with watermelon and they had three blenders of it going at the same time. The specials range from L.24 to L.40 (US $1.27 to $2.12)

Sometimes we try to think of a combination that they don't have on the menu just to see what will happen. Usually it isn't a problem. Every now and then El Jefe likes to make up some combination and then make me guess what it is. Usually I guess wrong. ;-o

I do like their juices, but two things bother me. One is that I wonder if they wash the fruit or how well they wash it, because with some of the drinks, they put the citrus rind and all in the blender and then strain the juice. I get freaked out about food cleanliness just in general which is not an easy way to be in Honduras.

The other thing is that they don't provide napkins. If you've ever had a cold drink on a hot day in a humid climate, you know how that condensation on the cup will drip all over you. We've been told that they don't provide napkins to save money. Doesn't that seem a little ridiculous? I mean if you can get a straw and a to-go lid, why not a napkin? Jeesh! Anyway, it's a minor but annoying thing.