Big Spenders

Usually when my alarm is set before 6:00 I’m not so happy about waking up, but last Tuesday was an exception.  I had an exciting task ahead of me- several coworkers and I were going in to the capital to buy $10,000 worth of books.  Every year we receive over a million dollars worth of books in donations from book consolidators in the States, and then we pass on those donations to schools and libraries we work with, but since those donations come from surplus from publishers, there’s no guarantees to what we get. This year, almost all of our books were at the 3-5^th grade reading levels, so we were in search of some quality early grades books. 

As we walked into the store, Fondo Cultural Economico, the manager came down the stairs to meet us, handshakes and kisses on the cheek were exchanged, and then we were ushered through the store area to a separate room.  Tables had been laid out, books carefully displayed, a careful selection they thought might interest us. We flipped through, quickly discarding books that were too advanced. We asked the price of a book and another employee appeared with a laptop, looking up prices and marking them on a sticky note for every book we were interested in.  Another table magically appeared for us when we wanted to put all the books we were tentatively interested in together.

I found a new favorite, about a little boy with a stubborn pet mastodon and giggled over a wordless picture book of some animals who chase after a fox who stole a hen, only to find out that the fox and hen are actually friends. There were the books I set aside too- Beautifully illustrated poetry that was way to abstract for 6 year olds and moralizing value tales that were too boring to read.  But choosing $10,000 dollars worth of books goes surprisingly quickly when you’re buying for 70 schools and would like best if every school received the same set of books. 

While we were waiting for our order to be packed, the manager invited us to coffee at the bookstore’s adjoining restaurant.  We sipped tea and coffee and talked about book publishing in Mayan languages in their upstairs lounge, and then, urged by the manager to accept his offer of lunch, moved down to the restaurant floor below for cheese stuffed cauliflower and rice. We talked about international book fairs and his plans to expand the bookstore into more of a cultural center, and as the book packing continued, he invited us to try dessert, and we were rewarded by some excellent crepes. There’s a saying here in Guatemala- “full belly, happy heart”.  That was absolutely true at that moment.

We browsed the bookstore as they finished packing out order, and then arranged for delivery and headed back home.  I’m thankful for spending sprees, especially book buying ones, and as we were driving away, I couldn’t help but think I could get used to spending $10,000 at a go if the customer service was always so great.

To even things out a bit. . .

Here's another shopping experience to balance my Paloquemao market post. I don't want to give the impression that I live in a village and shop in markets.

Just a few blocks away (and right across the street from Paloquemao) they've been building a mall called La Calima since I moved into Torre Fuerte. It's been fun watching it go up and open section by section. The anchor stores opened first- Home Center (like a home depot) and La Catorce (something along the lines of a super Wal Mart). Then the movie theater and a couple of food shops. Now the 3 story mall is mostly open, with your average collection of clothes, shoes, and electronics stores, at least 5 restaurants and a food court.

The large and mostly empty food court

We headed over on Thursday night since we had a fumigator come in to spray and had to leave the house. The mall still has a lot of empty stores, and not much traffic (at least on a Thursday evening).

The palm trees and ceiling have changing colored lights in the central plaza

The malls here make my local malls back in the States seem tiny by comparison when I go home.

A guava walks into a corner store. . .

I pull our metal shopping cart behind me as Rae Ann and I walk into the meat section of Palo Quemao, the indoor market. I don't like the smell in this section, and I've stopped buying meat here ever since my friend at cooking school told me about a study they did on the hygiene of the meat here. But, it's the closest entrance from my house.

Once we've walked down that corridor though, we come out into the central room, my favorite. It's full of fruits and vegetables, every stand run by a different vendor.

I choose tomatoes, sample strawberries (and buy a pound for 60 cents), and stock up on more fruits and vegetables. The problem with Palo Quemao is we always buy too much. It's cheaper, fresher, and there are way more options than at the local grocery store. Then we have to be creative to use everything before it goes bad.

The market is a labyrinth that I still get lost in. One section sells only citrus fruits. Another sells beautiful hand-made baskets, vases, and other house decorations. Then there are the small stalls selling bulk grains, dry goods, and paper products. If you get there early enough in the morning, outside there are dozens of flower vendors, selling roses, $2.50 a dozen. One day we stumbled across several kinds of chili peppers (which I haven't seen anywhere else), and I know one stand that sells bok choy and Chinese cabbage.

We remember to stop and pick up eggs and cheese on the way out. You can buy them singly, or in flats of 30. We don't refrigerate eggs here and it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Stocked up on groceries for the week, we head home.

We have traditional grocery stores here too, though the aisles are narrower, the options different, and the salad dressing selection and canned tomato products almost non-existent. But, on days when we have time before Palo Quemao closes in the afternoon, I love to do my shopping there.

Retail therapy, or how I spent 86,100 pesos

I'm really not much of a shopper, but my favorite pair of jeans got a hole in the knee and the only pair of half-way decent shoes I have for walking in I bought here for $7 four months ago and they're falling apart, so it was time to go shopping. Doris suggested Anna and I go with her to a neighborhood maybe 15 minutes north of us where prices are cheaper.

I left the first store I went into smiling, a bag with new shoes swinging in my hand. When we walked in and saw a sign advertising "2 for 5000" I knew I liked the place (5000 pesos is roughly $2.50- chop off 3 zeros and divide by 2) The shoes in the 2 for 5000 bin weren't quite what I was looking for, but when I got to the bin for 25,000, I found pair after pair that I liked. Actually, that's a misstatement. I found shoe after shoe I liked. The only problem was, they didn't seem to have mates. Turns out they keep the other shoe upstairs so they don't grow legs and walk away. Once you try on one, they'll bring you the other to see what you think. I was tempted to buy 2 pairs of shoes at that price, but I don't really need 2, so I stuck with one.

Then, walking down the street, I found something that made my day- the Colombian equivalent of the dollar store! Except, it was even better because everything was 1000 pesos, which is more like 50 cents. I've been really wishing I could find one, because my students can earn prizes based on good behavior and I was mostly finding things in the 3,000 peso range at other stores. Now I'm stocked up on rubik's cubes, squishy balls, hair ties and more. And, when I run out of pens, pencils, and markers, I know where to buy more.

We walked in and out of stores, up and down several streets. I found a pair of jeans I liked, we bought arepas for an early dinner and pastel de pollo for a late lunch (our gas was turned off this morning after the safety inspection person showed up, determined we didn't have enough ventilation, and told us we need to add another ventilation pipe before it will be turned back on. We can't cook or take hot showers until then. Fortunately, the repair man is supposed to show up tomorrow morning.) Finally, with just enough money left in my pocket for my bus fair home and some coins left over, we headed back to the house.