Canteens in Mexico
In Mexico, the canteen is an experience that everyone should live more than once in his life and is well known that the bars in our country are considered tourist spots to visit and include in the agenda.
A bar is the meeting point by tradition or custom, for celebrate, leave behind your problems or even work and is also a perfect place to meet people at least a few hours, for having a good time with friends, family or colleague.
The bars are distinguished by their heterogeneous population, you can find from bureaucrats in suits, workers with worn boots and sweaty shirts, university students with few pesos in their pockets but with the best attitude to have a good time, to politicians, professors, journalists and foreigners. You can say that the bars are always the most democratic institution as you have money to pay for a drink. This combination of characters was completed in 1982, the year in which women were accepted in these places, and so many regulars stopped attending.
Aforetime the local cantinas were only for men, because was his place of escape and relaxation, where they had privacy, but in 1982 in Mexico City a feminist international conference took place and the leaders took the opportunity to remove the decree of forbidding the women entering the cantinas.
The canteens are a refuge for men and women; the only requirement is to have the age to access this traditional place
There are classic and traditional canteens, located in historic buildings, open to the public for a long time now, youy can also find canteens more familiar with quality service, live music, open spaces, there are also new and modern canteens with unique styles and designed to attract young people. You can find it for all the budgets in all the cities of our beautiful Mexico.
Despite the adjustments and differences they may have with each other, we highlight what they all have in common: canteens are synonymous with abundant food, mixed drinks, live music or DJs; including some with entertainment, but mostly fun and entertainment full of tradition.
In the canteens the main feature is the wide variety of snacks is almost always made up with dishes of the region, state or city where it is located and offers up to 100 in some places, that are split by times and goes in direct relation to the number of drinks that will be consumed; this is right and so also are the rules: the first drink entitles you to choose from plus or minus 5 dishes and so is repeated the system.
In the beginning were no canteens, but pulquerias, places where people come tired of their intense days and little pay came to forget their sorrows and sing their joy.
The term “canteen”, derives from the Celtic word meaning: pantry, cabinet or small room where they sorted and located their wines. In colonial times they called tavern, tendejon and winery to establishments that sell all kinds of intoxicating drink.
The canteens originate approximately in 1847 during the American occupation of our country under the increased demand for the invading soldiers for drinks with the style they used; whereby several inns and taverns began to transform into the typical image of the saloons of the old west.
With the triumph of Juárez at the intervention and war with France, the concept of canteen began to evolve thanks to the winning side, liberals topped off wines from the cellars of Maximiliano improving the assortment of these establishments and increasing the elegance of many of these sites to be decorated with spoils of the defeated imperial houses, and this meant that: soon the central locations were filled with clean Saloons with bartenders well groomed and shaved, high counters with polished metal bar, tables are with marble top and waiters who served the customers with long white aprons.
Visit a cantina is an experience that you should live, include it in your travel plans and book our Merida Cantinas Tour!