30 Q

i have never seen a starbucks within the confines of guaté,
though it may exist. in Antigua, starbucks does not.

cramped into a starbucked corner of laptops and middle aged adults trying to seek refuge in a place that is not home but in which they can indulge in the niceties of coffee scent and life plugged into the virtual. tap tap tap, the keys they press clack against the grind of coffee machines. blending GUATEMALA ANTIGUA STARBUCKS COFFEE.

nobody else here knows where Guatemala is really. its just a nice little accent to the décor of the coffee house on the wall pictured as a pink flowery branch.

this is guate.

$3. 75 in a nice plastic cup that says, “our new cup.
15% less plastic than before. 40% fewer carbon emissions to make it.
visit starbucks.com/csr.”
you can feel good about drinking your four dollar frap. you are saving the environment by drinking out of this cup.
you can feel good,
about starbucks.

because it feels good. of course it does, it’s chocolate. it’s coffee from the volcanic soils of the high regions of the Guatemalan alps. where the city wakes bright and early at 6AM and as the sun awakes so do the people.

these short, colorful people, darkened by sun and soil and by age,
crushed by pounds of the bean upon small, strengthful backs of women.
these mounds they carry on the tops of their heads. how far? as far as they need.
any load they can carry for family or company.

both men and women work their fields if they are lucky, their own plantations. the landscape is more beautiful than your city life in your city apartment. sex and the city has got nothin on this place. sex in Guatemala is surely much better too.

here coffee has no meaning outside of feeding taste.
for Antigua. it means life.
life less entertained unless entertaining the gringo tourists for a buck.

starbucks. 3.75 for a frap. 30 Quetzal.