Can you say "coger" in Guatemala?

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Sigh. The Spanish language opened itself up to me about 20 years ago (cue the yikes of realization) and I have never been the same. Sitting back in my 8th grade classroom, Sra. Weaver scribbled the words "presente" and "ausente" on the board... and time stopped. It is a bit bizarre to think of such an innocuous moment as one that has so changed my way, but maybe I had an inkling even then. Maybe I knew that I would become obsessed. Maybe I already had.



So obsessed, you see, that a close lady friend and I embark tomorrow to Guatemala, making this my ninth Latin American country visited so far. And when I was writing a response email to dear Jesús, the first lad from whom we will be renting a room... I struggled.



Can you say "coger" in Guatemala?



Here's the deal: Jesús had kindly offered his friend's services to pick us up from the airport and deliver us to Antigua, a 45 minute drive, for just $35 USD. Not a bad offer, true, but we can hop on a shared shuttle for just $10 per person- and we are teachers, so... yeah. In writing him back, I began to tell him that though we were so grateful for his kind offer, we would be... be... taking? Oh crap. How do you say "taking" in Guatemala? Can I say "coger?" Or should it be "tomar?" "Subir?"





If you are not familiar with the Spanish language, you may believe at this point that it shouldn't be such a big deal which verb is chosen, because Jesús will understand. Even if the verb isn't the one that he would choose, he'd still be gracious and help a gringa out. The problem is this: "coger" means something a bit different in some countries than it does in others. If I used "coger" in Ecuador, for example, I'd be stating quite affirmatively that I was doing something else to the bus entirely. Something, as my stepdaughter would say, that is quite inappropriate.





So of course I googled my question, and the interwebs were no help. "You can say it in Mexico!" they promised. "No worries!" "Coger all you want! Coger all over the place!"



Um, no. In the end, I settled on "tomar," knowing it to be safe and not offensive (hopefully?) to anyone. Jesús will understand. He'll be gracious with the two of us, we Spanish-obsessed gringas.

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