Ah, the ease of Target. In truth I cringe everytime I walk in a big store like that, the American consumerism, the overstimulation. But here I am, missing the Targets and Wal-Marts of the world. Yet there is something to be said for supporting a local economy - and building relationships.
It has taken us quite some time to learn how to shop for food and household items here in Suchitoto. There is a hardware store, a household goods store, lots of small shops for non-perishable foods, and a mercado for meats and vegetables.
There is one small shop that has curry, another that has lunch meat. We have yet to find one that carries peanut butter, but there's always San Salvador.
The mercado always makes me laugh. It is loud and hot, and everyone wants your business. They make suggestions... eggplant? Lettuce? Strawberries? Pretty soon you've bought more than you had planned, but fresh produce is good for you.
In our neighborhood there are secrets to be learned. Four homes up from ours, the place with the orange wall, sells tortillas. Across the street, the house with lots of children, sells delicious cheese called cuahada. They also have quesadilla night on Sunday. A ways up the road, the house with the big yellow wall, sells big bottles of water.
There are no signs on these houses, we have just learned this by asking around. It is great fun to get to know the faces around us, and hopefully eventually their names too.
The downside of having a neighborhood where everybody knows your name is that everybody also knows where you live.
Antonio never wears a shirt. He is amazingly tan, and seemingly without skin cancer? He is very friendly, always joking with us as we pass him in the mornings and afternoons. He has invited us to church multiple times, we have yet to go. He occasionally asked us for money in the beginning, but he stopped after a while.
Last night he knocked on our door and said he needed to eat and could we give him some change. My heart sank. It seemed as if he had been drinking, and probably wanted money for more beer. We cannot be known as the American couple that gives out free money. Yet our country has the reputation of being wealthy, and on the whole we are.
"What if our religion was each other
If our practice was our life
If prayers our words
What if the temple was the Earth
If forests were our church
If holy water, the rivers, lakes and oceans
What if meditation was our relationships
If the Teacher was life
If wisdom was self knowledge
If love was the center of our being?"
~Ganga White
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