Tur de Grocery Stores

Word of the Day:
fiambre- cold cuts??
último/a- the absolute worst

For some reason, I ended up visiting 3 grocery stores in 2 days, which like everything else in Chile, provided very strong messages about class. I spent a lot of Hiper Lider and Jumbo to get food for our impending camping trip. Those stores essentially follow a Walmart sort of big box store model, but what I find fascinating and sort of creepy about them is the amount of English that you see in them. Half the packages, especially the toys, are listed in English. There’s usually American music playing. The non-place strikes again!

However, I also ended up accompanying my host Dad to Vegamercado, on the other side of Ñuñoa, past Estadio Central. Driving with Arturo is always entertaining, because he knows the history of every site and always has interesting tidbits to share, rendering even the smallest stream into a highly important agricultural canal. He also is able to give a sense of the transformations the city has gone through, which is very interesting.
Anyway, Vega mercado is an entirely different animal, sort of like a Costco if Costco was in a totally random warehouse and blasted cumbia music.
Sort of like this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPByxdchIBo
(Speakers up to 11 for full effect) There was absolutely no English anywhere. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a grocery store that had more of a sense of place.

It also isn’t the sort of place you would necesarily expect to find people like my host parents, except for the fact that they are extremely good at finding a bargain, which is useful for living on a budget. All in all, an interesting sociological glimpse.