How Many Swallows Does It Take You?

Every time I see this over sized beer bottle downtown, it reminds me of my first beer drinking lesson here.

We had been invited by a friend and restauranteur here to visit his home town in the Yucatan. To read the full story, run over to my other blog. The post about visiting Akil. We were going to spend a week there. Sightseeing many Mayan ruins and cenotes that are not on the tourist maps. But, more importantly, we would be meeting a lot of his relatives who still live in this tiny village. But there was a small problem he wanted me to fix before we actually left on the voyage.


It seems I drink beer like a Gringo. More precisely, like an American. I sip. Or so he said. I disagreed. I drink just like everybody else. A polite swallow every now and then. It would be impolite to guzzle it. He disagreed with my disagreement. "To be a true Mexican beer drinker", he said, "you have to be able to swallow the whole bottle in one gulp!"

He went on to say that we could not go on this trip with him unless I learned to drink like a Mexican. (read like his relatives!) So I tried. Under his expert tutaluge, I downed many a bottle of beer in my attempt to consume the whole thing in one gulp. I never succeeded. Even though I gave it a valiant effort.

Finally, one night he announced that I was ready to go and he would not be embarrassed by me. I had finally gotten it to the point where I could down a bottle in three swallows. A feat I can still perform to this day. But don't. Unless there is a bet with money on the table!