The Coca Cola Effect

Ok, it's time for a little chat about Coke... not the drug, of course, but the drink.
Coca Cola is everywhere. Litterally.

I remember doing a hike about a year ago, near banos, in Ecuador, and reaching, after about three hours, a tiny little village called Lligura or something, really remoted, no cars around, just the path from banos going through the village and up the San Francisco Mountain. As we were on our way back from the mountain toward banos, we thought about getting some food in Lligura, but unfortunately, there was no place to buy food there... only the smallest Tienda in the world... and they were selling crakers, water bottle... and Coca Cola.
I did a little piece of writing called The Trepanier Scale which is on the subject of being as far as one can from what he call home by any means (culturally, physically, everything)... And that scale was going from 1 to 10 and as I remember it (I still have to work on that to get it published somewhere), the ultimate level (10) got the criteria that you were somewhere without Coca Cola.

When I was younger, and for the most part of my active life so far, I've been a big coca cola drinker... until the year 2000, when I kinda change my life a bit and in the process, cleaned my system of a lot of stuff, including coke (don't quote me out of context on that one!)... So I haven't drank much coke for about 5 years now, if you don't count the occasionnal combo at McDonalds...

This summer, traveling most of Central America, it happend a few times (well, let's be honest here, several times) that I wanted a good Coke... strange enough feeling, since I don't drink the thing for so long now... but anyhow, I happend to drink a few really good bottles on the roads of central america. Most of it in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, actually... I guess it was the intense warmth, the need of something cold, the sugar which provide short term energy, and the caffeine which keep you moving when your spending most of your days walking for hours non-stop...

So, like a guy in AA for 5 years and sober, I fell in coke this summer...
Hehehe... but here stops the comparison, since i don't think I enjoyed it that much. Of course, there was time it was asolutely perfect, but it's not the same and I know it! :))

Anyway... thing is Coke is everywhere, and the interesting thing about it is that now, it's not even a foreign product, it's not even an american brand anymore, it's not related to the image of North America... Coke is a latin America for so long that it's as much a local product than anything else. it's part of people's life here... (by the way, gatorade is on the way to do the same soon)...

In San Jose, capital of Costa Rica, there's not only a bus terminal named Coca Cola Terminal, but an entire Quarter of the city named Coca Cola (it's its official name, on the map of the city and all)...
In Panama City, the oldest cafe in town is the Coca Cola Cafe...

And why's that? Well, part of it is the price of the thing. Coke is about the cheapest drink you can get in latin america. Cheaper than water... even in restaurants! I remember checking the menu in a restaurant in Granada, Nicaragua, and going for a Coke because it was the cheapest option for a drink to go with my food... (seriously, the water was more expensive)...

And it was what i had to say about Coke in my travels... :)
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