Had a BOING Lately?

There are some special added bonuses to riding intercity buses here, at least on the "AutoVías" lines, as from Pátzcuaro to Morelia. When the attractive hostess, standing outside the bus at her mobile desk checks your ticket, she also offers you a free agua purificada or a can of chilled Boing fruit drink. Who would reject such an offer and settle for water? Get a BOING in your bag. It will make that half of a sandwich de jamón y queso amarillo taste even better. So, sit back, and enjoy the movie with your BOING. 

(Obviously, the attractive bottled BOINGs, as pictured above, are impractical for the bus lines. So we settle for BOING in cans, and are content.)

This fruit-pulp bearing, "natural", non-carbonated drink was first brought to our attention by our distinguished and erudite friends, Sr. A., and his wife, Sra. G., in Pátzcuaro.

He told us of the social and labor aspects of the company, a worker-owned co-operative, one hundred percent Mexican ownership. He made a point of contrasting this desireable situation with that of "Coca Gúacala", described by him as "El agua negra del Imperio".

BOINGS are great.. According to the entertaining Pascual Boing website, it is available in the following flavors: Mango, Guayaba, Fresa, Manzana, Tamarindo, Naranja, Uva y Durazno.

For further reading, here's a WikiPedia.org article on the Cooperativa Pascual Boing.

For an alternative, skeptic's viewpoint, read here.