Cerveza, hija!?!

I have a new favorite word here in Mérida, not because of the word itself, but because the idea behind it is fantastic.

 Botana.

Translated: Snack.

 But not quite the snacks you’d expect in the United States.

 I’ll describe what botanas are by telling you how I found out them and then what my family here in Mexico thought when I told them about my experience!

 To start, yesterday I had a wonderful time travelling yet again to the beach in Progreso with 6 or 7 compañeros from Modelo, and 4 other chicas from Calvin. We found plenty things to talk about the entire time despite our language barriers, and my abs hurt by the end of the day from laughing so hard at various things. One of the funniest things to me was hearing the Mexican student’s impressions of how we ‘gringos’ from Calvin speak! I will hopefully post videos of this later!

 So we started out by going to a restaurant for refrescas (beverages). I was hungry, so I was disappointed when I found out there was no food being served because it was about 12:30 in the afternoon. I was assured though, that if I ordered a beer, I would get some free snacks. Well, I didn’t want a beer, so I asked the waiter if the free snacks came with a coca cola light. He said yes, they would. And thus, I had my first encounter with botanas!

 The waiter brought out plate after plate after plate of appetizers for about an hour and a half or two hours, when we told him we had to leave. Apparently, there would have been even MORE dishes served if we hadn’t of been in a hurry.

 By ordering at least one drink a piece, we received about 20-30 free plates of food (to share between 10 of us). The plates were small, but tasty and filling.

 First we received tortilla chips and a bunch of different dips. There were refried beans, a dish made of potatos and carrots that was real spicy, then there were the sea food dips with squid and octopus.

 I thought that was all the botanas consisted of.

But oh, no. That was only the beginning.

 Then there were tomales, and different kinds of tomales (sort of) and other…stuff…that I had never tried before. I don’t have the names with me, but I’ll write about them later.

 It was fantastic. I fell in love with botanas yesterday. Tasty, and a great way to socialize for a long time rather than rushing through a meal. And the best part, it only cost me 40 pesos with the tip – which is less than FOUR US DOLLARS!!!

 Well, then I came back home to my house (where I’m writing this and will post it to the web later), and told my parents about the amazing deal I had discovered.

 They began to laugh really hard and talk real fast with each other, and the only word I kept hearing was Botana. Then they asked me – so you were drinking cerveza? Were you drinking beers? And I responded quickly “oh! No, no, only two of the guys with us were”. And they laughed some more and explained that typically botanas are only for people who order alcohol, and that the connotation with saying “I went to a place that served botanas”, is like saying “ I went out and drank beer with my friends”. And here, my parents told me, many of the families we know (and live with ) are conservative and Christian, so this would be a big mistake. My family is also Christian, but they understood the context so it was funny to them, not shocking or offensive. Someone who did not understand the context would assume I had gone out drinking, which is a big NO in this community (which, interestingly, is because it is such a big YES for some people, and there are lots of problems with alcoholism, so the Christian’s here take a big stand against drunkenness and drinking).  

 So now I know, it’s okay to say “I ate some botanas” because literally it means “I had some snacks”. But to say I went out to restaurant where there were botanas isn’t quite the same.

 In fact, I was told not to discuss this in church on Sunday when I see my friends who I went out for botanas with.

 I’m so blessed that my family here has a great sense of humor. They are always laughing and making jokes, and for that I am grateful. It makes me feel a bit more lively as I struggle with having any personality at all in another language, because I love to laugh and make others laugh.

 

All that wrapped up in one word for me,

Botana.

 

Paz y Amor,

Alexa