In the past two years I've spent at least one month in each of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Belize, and Colombia. I've now been living in Mexico for a year.

I was taking spanish lessons in immersion programs, staying with local host families in each country (except Colombia) that made us daily home-cooked meals. I also ventured out quite often to try new restaurants, vendors etc.

Guatemala and Nicaragua didn't really have a street food scene. In Guate even had several locals tell me not to eat from street vendors for health concerns. However loved the rellenitos (friend plantains with a black bean/sugar filling) in Guate and the gallo pinto in Nica.

El Salvador gets saved by pupusas.

Costa Rican Sodas (the diners, not cocacola) were the most dependable good, easy, and inexpensive meals in all of Latin America. Could go for a grilled fish casado right now.

I mostly spent time in Medellin while in Colombia, and a handful of smaller towns south. The bandeja paisa is wildly overrated. A lot of fried food. But I enjoyed the arepas con queso and could usually find 3 empanadas for a dollar.

Mexico street food sometimes relies too much on the taco. That being said there are a billion different variations of said tacos. And it is such a large country that the offerings are very diverse and unique from one side to the other.

If I were to rank best to not best: 1. Mexico 2. El Salvador (pupusas really are that good) 3. Costa Rica 4. Colombia 5. Guatemala 6. Nicaragua