Is There One In Every Gosh Darn Country?
July 12, 2006
If you're traveling with 5 teenage girls, checking out the local mall is high on the list of touring destinations. So we went to the local mall.
How odd to leave the old part of Heredia, where the sidewalks are uneven and broken, the little mom and pop tiendas on every corner sell a handful of things, the sandwich shop has 4 things on the menu, and a short taxi ride later be at a bright, shiny, commercial mall.
To be clear, there are shops and restaurants in the area where we are staying that have a variety of things, an old school style department store downtown, but all of these places are in old, side by side buildings made of every possible building material, interspresed with empty lots, broken brick and abandoned piles of construction debris.
So to pull up to this structure that could be in any town in the U.S (Don''t say America here when you mean the United States. The only time I've seen my teacher insulted, and he';s a mellow young guy who does a great job of putting up with the antics of 3 teenagers in our class. One of whom shall remain nameless) was a little mind bending.
We went inside, the girls in a state of high excitement, and went first to the food court where we had that ubiquitous US export, fast food. The girls gorged on Burger King, Taco Bell, and KFC. I admit that I ate some Burger King french fries and they were good. But an hour later when someone said they had a stomache ache so I was glad of my restraint. I only had to teach myself that lesson about a dozen times, but eventually, it stuck.
We went into every store in the mall, the girls trying on clothes, laughing, picking things up, running out of the dressing rooms semi clad to get other stuff. It was the Americano White Tornado. Wé'd walk into a store as a group of 7, and the clerks would look at us in various states of amused wonder. Some of them, were not so amused and seemed either put out or nervous.
Even though the building itself looked like any mall, the merchandise was different. There were the ususal teenage clothes everywhere, and they were displayed very nicely, but there was a fraction of the amount that you would see in a US mall, and most of the clothes were more like ones you would find in a discount store. I don't think things are as easily obtained here, and maybe that was the reason for some of the clerks' uneasiness. I don't presume to understand the back story of everything I'm seeing here. I've got all I can do just to keep up with these crazy kids.
It was an interesting evening. I know consumer goods float all boats, but I would hate to see the Walmart style borg of consumerism overtake yet another place on the planet. But again, I know nothing of the feelings of the local people. I just want to say, we don't need all the stuff we have, and I think once you start biting at that poison apple, you're never completely satisfied with what you have.
Just a little warning from someone who gets a kick out of finding multiple uses for the little facial scrubby pads I brought with me. Did you know you can wash your face, feet and bathroom sink with them? But in that order, or it's not such a good idea.
And by the way, when we came home, chattering and gigglying about the evening, I was able to tell our hostess and her sister, in SPANISH that we went into every store in the mall, and they laughed. The laugh needed no traslation. It's a great life.
If you're traveling with 5 teenage girls, checking out the local mall is high on the list of touring destinations. So we went to the local mall.
How odd to leave the old part of Heredia, where the sidewalks are uneven and broken, the little mom and pop tiendas on every corner sell a handful of things, the sandwich shop has 4 things on the menu, and a short taxi ride later be at a bright, shiny, commercial mall.
To be clear, there are shops and restaurants in the area where we are staying that have a variety of things, an old school style department store downtown, but all of these places are in old, side by side buildings made of every possible building material, interspresed with empty lots, broken brick and abandoned piles of construction debris.
So to pull up to this structure that could be in any town in the U.S (Don''t say America here when you mean the United States. The only time I've seen my teacher insulted, and he';s a mellow young guy who does a great job of putting up with the antics of 3 teenagers in our class. One of whom shall remain nameless) was a little mind bending.
We went inside, the girls in a state of high excitement, and went first to the food court where we had that ubiquitous US export, fast food. The girls gorged on Burger King, Taco Bell, and KFC. I admit that I ate some Burger King french fries and they were good. But an hour later when someone said they had a stomache ache so I was glad of my restraint. I only had to teach myself that lesson about a dozen times, but eventually, it stuck.
We went into every store in the mall, the girls trying on clothes, laughing, picking things up, running out of the dressing rooms semi clad to get other stuff. It was the Americano White Tornado. Wé'd walk into a store as a group of 7, and the clerks would look at us in various states of amused wonder. Some of them, were not so amused and seemed either put out or nervous.
Even though the building itself looked like any mall, the merchandise was different. There were the ususal teenage clothes everywhere, and they were displayed very nicely, but there was a fraction of the amount that you would see in a US mall, and most of the clothes were more like ones you would find in a discount store. I don't think things are as easily obtained here, and maybe that was the reason for some of the clerks' uneasiness. I don't presume to understand the back story of everything I'm seeing here. I've got all I can do just to keep up with these crazy kids.
It was an interesting evening. I know consumer goods float all boats, but I would hate to see the Walmart style borg of consumerism overtake yet another place on the planet. But again, I know nothing of the feelings of the local people. I just want to say, we don't need all the stuff we have, and I think once you start biting at that poison apple, you're never completely satisfied with what you have.
Just a little warning from someone who gets a kick out of finding multiple uses for the little facial scrubby pads I brought with me. Did you know you can wash your face, feet and bathroom sink with them? But in that order, or it's not such a good idea.
And by the way, when we came home, chattering and gigglying about the evening, I was able to tell our hostess and her sister, in SPANISH that we went into every store in the mall, and they laughed. The laugh needed no traslation. It's a great life.
posted by Karen | 1:47 PM
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