Today I went grocery shopping for the first time in Guatemala. In my nearly six years of hanging out in Guatemala like a party I wasn't invited to, I have been to the market, but I have never "gone grocery shopping" which, in my definition, includes arriving in a car, using a shopping cart, aisles, and paying with a bank card.

Today was the first time since arriving two weeks ago that I attempted to drive again. Because of the situation we'll just call the "unfortunate La Mesilla chaos experiment" (aka the border crossing exactly two weeks ago today), I haven't had any interest in driving, mostly a repulsion if anything, which is big for me because I enjoy driving.

Anyway, it went smoothly (well smoothly as in no chaos or need to drive uphill through a midday market scene, but not smoothly as in pavement) and I shopped at the Hiper Paiz, which I believe is owned by Wal Mart now. Hiper Paiz has long been a source of chocolate, peanut butter, Ruffles, etc. since Peace Corps days. There are Hiper Paiz stores, which are the mother load, and there are Paiz stores, which are the smaller versions. As far as I know, on the west side of the country, Hipers only are in Guate and Xela. My PC site's department, Huehuetenango, had just a humble Paiz, though nothing to shake a stick at if your chronically peanut butter-less.

The Hiper here is has a mall, too. Sometimes I think I'm, unfortunately, sorta numb and jaded to some of Guatemala's quirks. In tourist rags sometimes perspectives are shared about Guatemala and Guatemalans and I'm like, Duh. But it's because, not to sound dramatic, but I had to learn to survive here, not travel and look at the pretty things. I mean, Peace Corps'll do that to ya. Granted, surviving was doable (and look! I keep coming back for more!), but I feel like I missed out on the googly-eyed tourist point of view. So today, in the mall, I carefully studied a group of three indigenous K'iche women eating Taco Bell. In an effort to not over-analyze the profundity of this act, I will just say I took a deep breath and enjoyed the unique viewpoint.