Beer In A Bag: My Trip To San Luis Soyatlán

In Mexico it's quite common to drink beverages out of clear plastic bags: juice, choco milk, tejuino.

In all cases, the bevvy is poured into a bag, a straw is thrown in, and a rubber band ties the bag closed around the straw.

Never had I had beer out of a bag, though, not until a little trip to San Luis Soyatlán.

San Juan Soyatlán is another town on Lake Chapala, but on the south shore. It's roughly across the lake from us here in San Juan Cosalá.



As you may notice, San Juan Cosalá is not on this map. This is because nobody is interested in coming here. San Juan is between Ajijic and Jocotepec, over on the northwest shore.

Anyway, back to the discussion of beer... there's a quite popular street stand there on the main drag through town. It's popular probably because of the sheer quantity of liquid they dish out.

Alright, so here's how to order, in case you find yourself thirsty in San Luis.

(1) Locate the booth. This should be easy to do. Just look for a long line of well dressed Guadalajara people looking excited.

(2) Get in line and begin contemplating whether you want to drink a "small" or your own weight in liquid.

(3) When a spunky woman approaches you yelling, holler out "chico" or "grande", but don't bother specifying what drink you actually prefer. That comes later. She will hand you a small or large plastic bag, which you should then open and hold out in preparation for step (4).

(4) Someone will walk down the line pouring ice into the plastic bags. Have yours ready, and hold it open with both hands.

(5) When you finally pass by the fifty-odd crates of rotting produce that precede the drink counter, you are ready to order your drink. The Vampiro is a tequila and fruit juice mix. Micheladas are like a Mexican Bloody Mary: beer and clemato and pepper, and whatever else they throw in.

(6) Keep waiting. Yes, step (6) is to keep waiting, because so far they've only given you the mix. You don't yet have any alcohol in your bag, so don't start sipping away yet. Stay in line.

(7) After proceeding past the sliced fruit and about two hundred wasps, you arrive at the other end of the counter. Now you need to hold open your bag again so that the man at the cash box can pour in either tequila or beer. If you order a michelada, as I did, you'll be getting a whole caguama poured in.

(8) Pay. And Enjoy.


And for good measure, here's a picture of my baby admiring his mama's drinking skills.