“Hártese como chucho”, the peculiar name that gave María a boost

Honduran María Cantarero, a single mother with three children, is recovering economically in times of crisis as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks in part to her friend Pablo Espinal’s idea that the modest dining room she opened was called “Hártese como pooch “.

In Honduras, saying someone is “a chucho (dog) to get tired of” because at most it can have an affective connotation between friends and family, but the phrase can also be pejorative, which has not happened with María’s dining room.

It turns out that after her marriage went badly, which she reached in her twenties, María began to look for a way to earn a living and support her three children in jobs in the informal economy, which they believe story failed. to Channel 3, from Honduran television in Tegucigalpa.

María, in the municipality of Tocoa, Colón department, in the Honduran Caribbean, was doing badly because of the same economic crisis that her country is experiencing, exacerbated since March 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic and two tropical storms. , in November.

The last thing María decided to do was set up a modest casual dining room in a corner of Tocoa, fully ventilated, for which Pablo told her that if she wanted a lot of customers, call them Hártese como chucho.

A large plate, along the small dining room, with an image of a man elegantly dressed at one end tasting a “baleada” (Honduran dish) and a plate with two “baleadas” on the other, has been enough to make Maria’s start a business. to fill with “dogs” during the day and at night.

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Pablo said he came up with the name because it’s a popular phrase among Hondurans, and the good thing is that it drew dinner parties to María, who questioned her friend’s idea because for her it would be like ‘dogs say to her ‘. customers ”.

He added that his idea “is part of the publicity” and that what people may or may not think in a negative sense should not worry Maria.

The Honduran entrepreneur started helping her children start the dining room, but it has also gone, according to María’s story, she already has a friend, co-worker, with whom she is in charge of the cooking and other tasks that it takes. company required, in the one with room for no more than eight “chuchos” clients.

Many of the customers are buying food to take away because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other attractions in María’s dining room are the large portions of her dishes, so that the “mutts” with good teeth can eat full; and the costs, which are quite low.

The dining room offers its customers dishes for breakfast, lunch or dinner based on beans, eggs, avocado, cheese, butter, rice, fried ripe bananas, cooked green bananas and spaghetti, among other things, so that the guest can decide what to order from the improvised menu.

María indicated that if a government agency could help her, she would appreciate the provision for a house because, not having it, she lives in that of a friend of the Honduran Mosquitia, who has provided her with shelter.

Thanks to his friend Pablo, the “Hártese como chucho” dining room, which opened about two months ago, also has a huge spread on social networks, with messages from residents of Tocoa inviting Hondurans to visit Tocoa, for tourism, and of the occasion to use to “get tired of puppies”.