JV Life: Grocery Shopping

Everyone who doesn't grow their own food has to shop for groceries. That includes the residents of the Mountain House. The only meal we really cook is dinner, and each of us is assigned one night a week. So we request the items we need for our planned meal and the people assigned to go shopping go pick everything up at the Sunday market in the Urcos town plaza.

We go shopping in pairs, because it's too much food for one person to carry. We've designed a shopping rotation so that parish volunteers (Erin, Jacqueline, Victoria) are paired with school volunteers (Theresa, Benjamin). The idea is to have scheduled time with someone you don't see most days at work. I go shopping with Jacqueline one week, then Victoria the next.

I really enjoy going to the market. It's a really fun atmosphere: like a farmer's market but bigger. The vendors shout out their prices and products “ManZAna, manZAna, manZAAAnaaa!” “Plátanos, cuatro un sol, señor. Ricos son!”

Our vegetable lady.

We always start the shopping by passing through the fruit section and going straight to a vegetable stand we always buy from. The casera (woman who sells) is chatty and cheerful, often tending to three different customers at once. She tries to push us to buy more of this or that. We refuse and total up how much we owe her. That's right, we tell the seller how much we owe. It's a nice trust. Then, as we pack our bags up with fresh vegetables she usually tosses an extra little something (maybe garlic, maybe ají) into our pile for free. “Aumentense ají, chicos” (“Take an extra ají, chicos.”) As Jacq said “this is why you always come to this lady.”

Jacq picks out some fruit

After the vegetables, we go to various stands depending on what we need for the week. The market is organized into sections, kind of like a store. We buy dry goods like beans a few kilos at a time so we only need to replenish the stock occasionally. We usually need to get powdered cinnamon every month. Unless we get lucky, the powdered cinnamon is just crushed up cinnamon sticks. Finally, we always end in the fruit section where we spend what's left of our budget to fill the standing item on the list: F.T.F. - Fuck Ton of Fruit.

Victoria and our smoothie.

If there's time, we treat ourselves. Usually we'll get juice from a smoothie stand. The woman who makes the juice is another friend of the house so we chat with her if she isn't busy or just between ourselves if she is. If we don't have time for juice, we like to stop at the churro stand and get a sleeve of 5 for 1 sol. If you've been to Spain, don't get excited. These churros aren't the fantastic desserts I'm told they eat in Spain, and there's no chocolate dipping sauce. But they are fried and sugary and fun. Simple living means appreciating the simple pleasures all the more.

A Fuck Ton of Fruit!

After we've bought everything and enjoyed ourselves, we go the street corner where cars to Andahuaylillas line up and get in the first available car. Invariably we're squished with two other people in the back seat. For some reason, 6 is considered the standard number of people of 5 seater station wagon can carry.We don't argue over the price because the rates are fixed for these trips between towns. At home we unpack the food. A key part of this task is to count up the fruits and divide out an even ration for everyone. We leave a note by the fruit bowl that states how much fruit of each kind of fruit one person is allotted. If there's a fruit you don't like, trading is allowed. In addition to the personal fruits, we usually buy one or two big fruits (like papaya) and make either fruit salad or juice.

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