Coke Stands

What became one of our favorite activities on our bike adventure through Guatemala was stopping at little road side refreshment stands. They really gave us a sense of how people live in the rural areas; as they were often just an extension of the living area of a local Mayan Indian family. Almost all were little shacks with palm thatched roofs over dirt floors. The stands in the forested lower areas were usually made of rough hewn lumber, and as we rode to higher areas the wood walls were replace with adobe (mud brick) walls. Most were very small about 10' by 10' and and were identified by a "FANTA" or "PEPSI" sign. For lack of a better term we started calling them Coke stops, even though they often did not have Coke.


What they did have was a lot of local color. At the Coke Stands in small communities, people would stop what they were doing and wave, whistle, or shout "que te vaya bien", (may it go well with you) "adios" (literally :"to God") or "Gringo" (No translation needed). The town kids would come flocking to the stand to see these strange travelers on these high tech bikes, with these loud neon nylon clothes and strange helmets. Of course they would be amazed. Many of the towns had little electricity, few cars, no TVs and very few foreign visitors passing through. We would buy 10-15 Lolly Pops and distribute them to the kids (sorry no organic, healthy snacks there) and would instantly fall in love with these beautiful children.

Often times the shacks were next to, or attached to the house. We would get a glimpse of their daily life; chickens running around pecking at bugs, grass, or crumbs, tamales or rice cooking on an open fire in a 50 gallon drum, women washing clothes on rocks by a stream or faucet, children playing with home made toys, young women (13-16 years old!) with babies strapped to their backs. Everyone with a smile on their face and wearing the traditional Mayan clothes. (Edgar our guide told us that you can tell the marital status, and the tribe they are from just from the type of skirt they are wearing.) Not only were the stops important for replenishing our depleted bodies, but they nourished our soul....

After the second day of the trip we started to hear a lot less Spanish and more of the local Quiche Mayan dialect. My role as the Spanish translator quickly diminished as we got deeper into the mountains. It was surprising to us at first, but it turns out very few of the young children, or the older ladies spoke Spanish. We later leaned that in the Mexican and Guatemalan mountains there are over 10 million Mayan Indians whose first language is not Spanish. Even when we learned the greetings and a few common expression we were still stymied in our attempt to communicate, for when we arrived at the next town 40 or 50 miles away, they would be speaking one of the 21 different dialects. The words were often similar and people got a kick out of our attempt to say "saque u" -hello! or Ban-tiosh - "thank you" People would break into wide grins when they found we could say a few words.

Even with many people not speaking Spanish we were able to communicate on many levels. It continued to amaze us on how friendly everyone was, and how no aggression was ever shown towards us.

So if your idea of a vacation is more than just lying on a beach and having all the luxuries of home, I would definitely recommend trying a bike trip in a developing country. This was my first bike trip and I can officially say that I have become a "junkie" . I AM ADDICTED!!! Hope you like our blog and my advice is to try to find a route off the beaten track with Coke stands.....



(john 2/24/10)