One of the most common differences I
encounter between living in the States and living in Chichicastenango
is the shopping experience. After shopping at Walmart for 3 months
this summer, it was a big change to come back here and take my normal
trek through town to gather what I need.
Each store is within a few blocks of
the others, but with cars zooming past, broken sidewalks, and air
thick with car fumes, it seems like quite a task. I shop each
Wednesday, and here is the route I took this week:
1. Parked in one of town's two parking
lots.
2. Stopped in Elektra, an appliance
store, to see if they had any little-kid bikes. Nope, none small
enough for Veronica.
3. Carpentry shop to buy a board to
prop up one of our sagging plastic tables at home. The man trimmed and cut a board to the measurements I gave him.
4. Plastic store for clothesline clips
and cleaning gloves. They had a cute little bike, which I will get
another time if they haven't sold it already. This store sells trash
cans, plastic bowls and bins in all sizes and shapes, dishes,
disposable cups and plates, plastic sheeting, and an assortment of
toys.
5. Ice cream store for a treat for
Elena who came with me this week. The girls take turns coming with
me for safety in pairs. We don't buy scooped ice cream, but the
pre-packaged items seem to be fine.
6. Hardware store for washers to help
our car battery clamp fit better. Had to draw a washer on a piece of
paper and ask how to say it in Spanish.
7. Plastic-sheeting store to visit the
Sunday school director of our church, who works there, and let him
know we are back in town.
8. ATM to get cash, which I use at
every store except the small grocery store, which fortunately takes a
credit card.
9. Store that sells pre-packaged meats
and cheeses and yogurt (and liquor) to see if they had any ham in a
chunk... nope, just sliced. This store is the only one where I have
found decaf coffee, but they were out. If you ask when a store will
get more of something, the answer here is always “next week.” I
have figured out that means “probably not ever.”
10. Paper-products store for
whiteboard markers and masking tape.
11. Things-for-animals store to buy
flea powder. I have to keep a fresh supply around the wall near my
bed and one of my daughters' bunk beds to
keep the bedbugs away.
12. Thread store to buy an embroidery
hoop for a counted cross-stitch project for Carrie.
13. Girl sitting in an aisle of the
market selling beans. I bought 3 pounds of “piloes,” a type of
dried bean they sell here. She held up her balance made of two bowls
hanging from a stick with a string in the middle. She put a bag of
something in one side (supposedly weighing a pound) then put beans in
the other bowl until it was averagely level. I have no idea how much
that bag weighed, but the end result looked like about the right
amount.
14. Fruit lady's stand in the market
for bananas, plantains, pineapple, and canteloupe.
15. Vegetable lady's stand in the
market for potatoes, carrots, red bell pepper, onion, and a few other
veggies. She has an actual scale.
16. Walked past an old lady that is
always sitting in her wheelchair in the hot sun begging. I always
give her a quetzal, which is about 13 cents. She can hardly talk,
but I found out her name is Anastasia and she loves it when I speak a
bit of K'iche' to her. I'll have to take her photo sometime and
post it here. Beautiful, wrinkly old face with a huge smile.
17. Banana cart for some more bananas.
I always walk by this guy and his bananas are small but usually not
too banged up.
18. Back to the car to deposit all
this stuff before hitting my final stop: the “grocery store.”
19. Grocery store for bread, ketchup,
yogurt, chips, cookies, eggs, etc. There is quite a variety, even
including some “American” foods, but with American prices, so the
locals don't buy much of those items. I was excited to find peanut
butter this time!
20. Paid 15 quetzales ($2) for 3 hours
of parking.
21. Drove home and spent several hours
putting away groceries and disinfecting the fruits and veggies.
After that long list, I will mention a
few places I didn't stop this time, which are sometimes on my way,
too: the chicken guy, the beef butcher guy, the pharmacy, the auto
parts store, the craft store, and the piles of used clothes. Whew, I didn't really know how many stops there were until I wrote this blog entry!