Chocobananera

Bananera - the Spanish word for banana plantation.

My town is surrounded by them. The highway looks like it was just a strip of concrete laid in the middle of one of these. Machala, the provincial capital is known as the "Capital Bananera." On the road into Machala, there is a statue of a man carrying a racima (plant) of banana

Suffice it to say, the banana (and its cousin, the plantain) could be considered the corn to our Iowa. (Although I have never head the word "platnera" before to refer to a plantain plantation)

Just as equally ingrained in the local culture is the chocobanana - the frozen, chocolate-covered banana. Typically sold for ten cents, this is one of the most cost effective pick-me-ups. And for someone like me who prefers his chocolate mixed with some type of fruit, it is an ideal combination.

Now there, is a word for the chocolate-covered banana - chocobanana.

And there is a word for someone who works in a banana plantation - bananero.

But there is no word for the woman who sells the chocolate-covered bananas. I will change that.

I believe the proper term should be chocobananera.

I asked Google is this existed anywhere on the Internet. This is what it told me.



Slowly, I see this word making its way into the local idiolect. Most people with whom I have spoken with in the last couple weeks have heard me discuss this new word. But I'm still waiting for someone else to use the phrase without me prompting them.

This group of dedicated women (they are typically house moms who run a tienda out of their front room) do such a service to the community by providing this affordable goodness, that they deserve their own word.

Now we have one.

Please spread the word.