Fortunately we scouted the area ahead of time well enough to
get an idea of what is available and not available, and brought a few things
with us. OK, we brought as much as we
could stuff in the car. Dan likes Irish
Spring soap. He must have altzheimers
disease because every box we unpacked had a package of it. But I digress...
We started out moving into a house with empty cupboards (except for soap) and
an empty refrigerator. It is a chore to
stock up on staples in a new place, even if the stores are normal, and these
are not normal, at least by Arkansas standards. There are two major grocery stores in the
area: Walmart and Soriana's. There are drug store chains called
Guadalajara Pharmacy, that is comparable to Walgreen's. There are tiny hole-in-the wall grocery
stores that carry about as much groceries as a gas station, but a different
selection. We are used to the smaller
stores being the most expensive and the largest stores being the lowest
prices. It is reversed here. The little stores are cheap, but the
selection is low.
So, armed with this information and a list of grocery and household
items that we need, we have made a point to shop at the end of
each day in town. (The closest store is 5
miles from us). This allows us to get
things home before the cold things get hot.
So, unfortunately, we end up shopping when we are
tired, and with the multiple stops involved, it is hard to remember what we found where. The first shopping stop at
Soriana's took two hours, and we netted about 60% of the things on the
list. We got enough food for 2-3 days
and their entire supply of Diet Dr Pepper (6 cans). We came home with some purple sweet potatoes
that are called camotes that turned out to be good. A couple of days later we repeated the
adventure at Walmart. We had added as
many things to the list as we had marked off, and again we came out with about
60% of the list. A stop at the pharmacy
filled in a few more items. I had
learned that using all-purpose cleaning powder in the dishwasher causes a
flood, so I managed to find some more appropriate dishwasher soap this
time. (In my defense, the first package
had a picture of plates on it...along with shirts. It seems to work OK in the washing machine.)
Monday was a new adventure in shopping. One day
a week they have "Market Day" in the town of Chapala. It is called the "tiangas". Farmers bring in produce and booths are set
up with all sorts of wares. We got to the
tiangas as it was starting up. We found
some magic concoction that is supposed to keep the house scorpion-free. It was $2.
We bought potatoes, a vegetable called chayote, onions, mushrooms,
sausage, apples, and a pair of shoes.
A
nice Mexican woman explained to me how to cook the chayote (in Spanish, of
course). It was either boil it or bake it (?) for either a half hour
or a half day (?) Should be
interesting...
This experience of shopping and marking things off the list,
while adding other things, has continued on almost a daily basis. The surprising things we have not yet found: unflavored tea bags (like Lipton), soft scrub (any brand), and a rectangular
normal size trash can for the kitchen.
All of them are huge or tiny.
The surprising things we found on first look: capers, cumin, Charmin bathroom tissue, Diet
Dr Pepper.
I am told that shopping becomes much easier after we are
here for a while. I hope so, but in the
mean time we are eating well. Food is
tasty and fresh. Love the warm just-made tortillas! We have both lost a
few pounds without trying, because of eating less processed and fast
foods. In addition, the citrus trees and
rosemary in our garden give a tasty accent to each meal.
I have to admit to missing the convenience of drive-through's,
and a big freezer. But, on the other
hand, I am really enjoying the meals now.
Restaurants are plentiful, but we have been so busy at the house that we
have not taken the time to go out much. I'm
sure we will remedy that soon.
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