La Refacción (Refa for short) is a Guatemalteco Spanish word for “Snack.”

But it’s not something you do casually. When you want a snack, you don’t walk into the kitchen any old time for a refa.

La Refa can be at say 10am or 3pm, it’s usually just an excuse to break up long stretches of time or a good way to provide a treat. When we had to do a presentation/exercise with Tanya’s host family for a class, we had banana bread as our refa even though the event was only 30 minutes long.

Because our language classes run from 8am-12noon, whichever house we are at provides a refa around 9:45 or 10. It usually consists of a beverage and a snack with some kind of sauce to add. Sometimes it includes an atól drink, which is just like any kind of liquid.

Refas are my favorite. But usually they are so big that I am not that hungry for lunch. My favorite refa is a banana because there aren’t a lot of carbs. Usually they are dobladas or tortillas with guac and red sauce, and some kind of juice.

Guatemalan dobladas video here.

All around: yum.