Friday, November 17

Super Playero Supermercado and more stuff:

Today, pictures of the best supermarket in Sosua, Super Playero Supermercado.

As you will notice from the photographs, the Super Playero is a very nice store on a par with some of the better supermarkets in the United States. They have a wide variety of items including a very large hardware section in the back.

Prices are higher than at a colmado, but the store is larger, cleaner with more items to choose from.

A note about my pictures.

I do have somewhat of a photography background, certainly enough to know that you don't take pictures with power lines in them.

However, that is virtually impossible here in la Republica Dominicana for a couple of reasons. (1) More than half of the country is stealing electricity and cable television so there are wires running everywhere. When the power is off they just climb a pole, hope the power doesn't come back on and hook in ... and ... (2) when the workmen string new lines, they never take down the old ones.

Consequently this country is a virtual maze of wires running everywhere overhead. I thought it was bad when my son and I lived in Puerto Rico, but that was nothing compared to here. I apologize for all the wires in my pictures.

Like most shoppers, if you spend a lot of time here in Sosua, you will find that certain items are available in the colmados at a lower price and you go there for those purchases. Certain items are either only available at Super Playero or they are much better in quality there.

Brahma beer has a big contest going and the winner gets a new automobile.

Not very people drink Brahma since Presidente is one of the world's premier beers and people drink it like water here.

Yesterday was another typically 'busy' day (thats a joke). Pretty much routine ... apartment time, reading time, internet cafe time, pool time, time with friends both gringos and dominicans, a long walk and the highlight was a nice dinner with the cutest little thing I met the other day.

She is an incredibly cute, nice girl named Herenia who works in a restaurant not far from me. Thank goodness here, 'age' is not a cultural factor in who you spend time with. Anyway she is an awesome girl.

We went to Rockys. I had the ribs and garlic mashed potatoes and she had spaghetti bolognese. Buen provacho.

Herenia speaks a little bit of english, but I speak far better spanish than her english so the conversation went back and forth between languages. She has a dominican boyfriend and and I have a dominican girlfriend. Don't know what that is going to mean, but I definitely want to see her again.

Here the girls are, at the same time, incredibly jealous (celosa) and well aware any guy they go out with is going to cheat on them. Don't ask me to explain that. Some things just are. It is said, down deep, they wouldn't respect you if you didn't cheat. The machismo culture is alive and well here and I love it. Works for me!

You can see the shelves at the Super Playero are well stocked.

Soon I am going to take a bunch of pictures of Supermercado Zoilo, my favorite little colmado. I want you to be able to compare and contrast the big stores like Super Playero and the little colmados.

Remember, a colmado is like the old neighborhood, privately-owned grocery stores 50 years ago in the states. The colmados are a 'beehive' of activity, especially in the evenings. Everyone congregates and socializes, drinks beer, watches the baseball games etc.

A view to the back of Super Playero where the hardware section is located.

One of the really helpful people who work at Super Playero. I always make a point to stop, shake hands and chat with this gentleman. He is a really nice and helpful guy and like all Dominicans, loves to get his picture taken.

Stay Tuned!