Thank goodness Merida has a Starbucks, well a few actually! While, yes, the whole idea of living in another country is about getting away from everything you're used to and learning to live like the "natives" in your new country, Starbucks thankfully now crosses all boarders. It wasn't my idea, I swear, but some girls from my office had the weekly tradition before I even moved here last year of meeting at Starbucks on Wednesday evenings to work on Masters Degree and scholarship applications, and as soon as I heard about this, I quickly started to join them. Supposedly this tradition was a carry-over from their recent college years when they'd meet at Starbucks for study-sessions...I guess some things are really becoming universal! I know we had serious cram sessions at Starbucks during my years at Boston University (2001-2005) as well, thousands of miles and half a continent away. It really was music to my ears when I learned that Starbucks had already taken up shop in Merida because, really, where else was I going to find my favorite coffee drink: the sugar-free, non-fat, decaf vanilla latte, grande, of course? I learned quickly that if I wanted to ask for this in Spanish I needed to say: Grande "Sugar-Free" Vainilla Latte Lite con cafe descafeinado. Always important to know how to ask for the necessities, right? I will admit that I always feel a little silly asking for this drink because it has so many descriptors, and it sounds like I'm just saying "no this, no that, no, no, no!" But the result is my personal crack...warm, coffee goodness, without all the sugar and fat that most coffee drinks have. I've recently added the decaf request to the drink order because when you already have insomnia you don't need two shots of caffeine fueling it even more just a few hours before you're supposed to be attempting to sleep. I look forward to that overpriced cup of fake sugar, processed milk, and chemically altered espresso every week. I start thinking about it on Monday, in fact, and my Starbucks daydreams get me through until Wednesday. The prices are the only downside to my Mexican Starbucks coffee, and I am personally a little surprised that anyone actually buys them here. I guess the Starbucks brand is just that powerful that people are willing to pay for their overpriced coffees no matter how much they make. My grande coffee costs 45 pesos, which is about the same (maybe a little less) than the same drink in the US. You can get a whole meal at a cocina economic for that price in Merida, so they've definitely not scaled the prices to match the local economy.
I am a little amused because I've become a bit of a "celebrity" at the Starbucks we frequent (the one near the Chapur department store) because just like at American Starbucks, the staff has to ask your name, yell it to the barista, who then writes it on your cup along with your order, and my name is really quite odd to most Mexicans. It took them a couple of tries, misinterpretting my name as Carla or Clara, more common Spanish names, until I finally got them in the last few weeks to realize that no, in fact, my name really is CARA, which translates to them as "FACE". I guess I can understand why it took so long for them to catch on that that was actually my name and not a joke because I don't see kids in the US running around with names referring to body parts either. Me responding "hola, me llamo Cara" would be like someone saying "Hi, my name is Foot" in English, and if someone said that to me I'd probably look at him weird and ask him to repeat that again just to make sure I had heard him right. And even if he assured me that was his name, I'd still probably think he was yanking my chain. When I walked in to order my drink this evening, however, there was instant recognition from the guy behind the register who greeted me with "Que le puede ofrecer CARA!" What satisifaction...victory was finally mine!
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