Responses #1

To answer some of your questions about products and brands:

Convenience stores here are generally in the form of a Kiosco, narrow stores that at the very least sell candy, sodas, phone cards and cigarettes, but often also sell sandwiches, some basic groceries, beer, cheap wine and bus cards. Some of these places are slightly bigger and have some tables inside and outside. For some reason they are often called Drug Stores (in English) here. Young folks hang out drinking coca-cola or beer. There are no 7-11s or any chains you’d recognize. At some gas stations they have tables outside where people congregate and drink beer, but they aren’t necessarily marketing to the drivers who come to buy gas.

The only fast food chains I’ve seen in the Mendoza area are McDonald’s and Mr. Dog. There are a few chains selling coffee and pastries or sweets (Bonafide, Dun Ken, Ouro Preto, La Virginia, Havanna) but they are domestic or originally from Brazil. There are also a couple of ice cream chains.

As for Pringles®, yes they are available here, for about $3 a can, but sadly there have been no flavor innovations, in this part of South America at least. Only your basic red can, orange can and green can and pizza-licious. But Doritos has a tube shaped chip, like a Bugle, that is pretty good. By the way, you should all check out the Pringles® website some time and see what flavors are available in other parts of the world. (paprika flavour anyone?)

Before coming here, I too had pretty much assumed that all apparel in the world was currently being made in China. But of the things we’ve bought here, and most of them do have country-of-origin labels, I don’t think I’ve read the name of a country other than Argentina. But we haven’t been to Wal-mart yet. We haven’t really bought that much in the clothing department even though we had to tote four seasons of clothing in two packs. When we first got to South America and it was so damn hot, we (read: Louann) went on a tank-top purchasing frenzy. (lou says “frenzy?—I bought 2!”) But now we’re picking up some long-sleeved shirts and sweaters. I know you may be picturing us decked out in regional alpaca wool pullovers, so if that’s what you want to imagine, stop reading here. In reality, I’ve made most of my purchases in some very picked-over secondhand shops. No alpaca. Not yet.

In theory I think it is a good experience for us to have to deal with having a limited wardrobe. It reminds me of college in some ways, wearing the same pants for a week or two, then rotating to the other pair. In MN many of my students seem to wear the same thing day after day and it doesn’t seem to bug them. So, as I was saying, IN THEORY I think it is good for a person to have the experience of rejecting vanity and shedding some material possessions. But in the day to day reality I kind of wish I didn’t have to wear the same sweater to work every day, and that I had a better pair of shoes.