We ate our fair share of heavy, starchy meals in Puerto Rico, but the island has a lot to offer in the way of between-meal snacks.
On thing the eaters were really excited for in Puerto Rico was the famous piragua – while it is the Spanish-language word for canoe, it also describes a Puerto Rican snow cone. Little push-carts selling piraguas dot most urban squares in Puerto Rico. Inside the carts are tubs of shaved ice, and sometimes even giant cubes of ice that the piragua-makers shave to order. The piragua comes in a plastic cup (or if you are lucky, a little paper cone) and is then doused liberally with flavored syrup. Along with typical flavors like cherry, coconut and strawberry, you can get more unusual treats like tamarind, hibiscus and mango. Our favorite experience was sharing a tamarind piragua in the Parque de Bombas in Ponce. Perfectly refreshing for a hot day.
La Bombonera in San Juan by John Picken
In terms of quick bites, we also managed to have some excellent breakfasts in Puerto Rico. A typical breakfast in San Juan consists of café con leche and a pastry, a model to which we subscribed. One of our favorite new dishes to accompany our morning coffee was the mallorca-a hot, buttered, fried pastry with a variety of fillings (ham and cheese, etc.). Think panini, but instead of bread there is pastry. Two of the better breakfast places we found for mallorca were Cafeteria Mallorca and La Bombonera. Both boast impressive pastry display cases and big selections of breakfast and lunch items including American favorites like pancakes and fruit salad. Bombonera is the more historic of the two, going all the way back to 1902 (with a vintage Cuban espresso machine to boot). However, we have to give a tip of the hat to Mallorca for friendlier and speedier service.
Cafeteria Mallorca
300 Calle San Francisco
San Juan
La Bombonera
259 Calle San Francisco
San Juan
Eating The World 
Piragua comes from the Spanish word piramide and the word agua. Originally, the piragua were shaped like pyramids. It was the shape of the ice shaver.
Wikipedia reference:
Piragua may refer to:
* Piragua (food), a Puerto Rican frozen treat shaped like a pyramid
* Pirogue, or piragua, a small, flat-bottomed boat
photo of piragua in original pyramid shape @ this address.
http://maps.thefullwiki.org/Piragua_%28food%29
Wikipedia article:
Map showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article:
Young girl eating a “piragua” in Puerto Rico
A piragua ( ) is a Puerto Rican frozen treat, shaped like a pyramid, made of shaved ice and covered with fruit flavored syrup which are sold by vendors, known as piragüeros, in small colorful pushcarts. Piraguas are not only sold in Puerto Rico; they can be found in the United Statesmarker in areas such as New Yorkmarker, where there is a large Puerto Rican community.
Abrazos,
Boricuababy