Mono Loco Bar - Antigua Guatemala

There's something universal about sports bars and Mono Loco in Antigua Guatemala is like most others, but, at the same time, it has its own unique flavour and style. My sister tells a particularly good story about Mono Loco, located on 5th Avenida near the central park. She and fellow Canadian companions were installed in front of the large TV screens to take in beer and the final Vancouver Winter Olympic hockey grudge match between the US and Canada. Now, if you're Canadian, hockey is religion. If you're American, religion is right-wing politics. So, well, you see the difference. In any case, both sides were on hand at Mono Loco in Antigua Guatemala to root for the national team. Generally, Mono Loco attracts a good mix of gringos and Guatemalans during the day and into the evening. On Ladies nights, it seems that it's predominantly tourists. But that's another story. Now back to the hockey game. The Guatemalans who got there thinking that they would hunker down to watch a nice football (soccer) game were sadly disappointed when they found that not a single TV had footie on and that all the good seats were taken up by Canadians and Americans intent on watching their team take the gold. After the first period, Canada was holding a 1-0 lead. The crowd, moist and garrulous from beer and frayed nerves, started taunting each other and yelling courteous insults (this is a Canadian specialty practised by no other breed). And there were outright challenges and slamming of betting money onto the bar (this behaviour is not exclusive to Americans, but they do it the best). As the game sawed back and forth, some Guatemalans decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So they started asking questions about how the game worked. According to my sister, most of them had trouble seeing where the puck was, except when it was in the lineman's hands. ?Que? ?Donde esta el puck? Canadians explained that it was somehow not necessary to know where the puck is but rather to

see where it is going to be. Although this borders on the metaphysical, (and it's kind of a garbling of the classic Wayne Gretzky quote), many Guatemalans caught the fire and started warming to the excitement of the game. Most of them were very diplomatic, reports my sister. They cheered for both sides. Smart. When Canada took the gold with a 3-2 overtime win, the Americans, though disappointed, saluted Canadians with a victory beer. Even better, gringos of all stripes, along with any surviving or awake Guatemalans, stood for the Canadian anthem. Good sports all around.