Grocery Shopping

As I made my way home from the store yesterday morning, I got to thinking about how complicated grocery shopping is (as the sweat dripped into my eyes, my shoulders started to burn, any my arms began to give in to gravity's pull). So when I finally made it back into the apartment, I plopped everything I had been holding onto the couch so I could capture the moment for you:

Ta-da! Now THAT'S how you go grocery shopping!

When we leave the house, we're not as out of control. The large plaid bag and the two smaller green bags fold up nicely and I can tuck them into the flowerdy bag, which is Bailey's cart cover. I'm not terribly germaphobic, but the carts at our store don't always have steatbelts and Bailey's a mover and a shaker!

Once the bags are all tucked inside each other like Russian nesting dolls, I load Bailey into the Baby Bijorn, after making sure she has sunscreen and bug spray on, and ease my purse across my chest - and Bailey's. My purse (the brown bag in the picture) also doubles as a mini-diaper-bag since it's stuffed with a few extra diapers, wipes, burp rag and back-up outfit. Man, I should have been a girl scout.

The walk to the grocery store is a piece of cake. We talk about the cars zooming by, what colors they are, the noises they make and the people inside. Bailey points at her shadow on the ground and I point out all the shapes and colors on the walls that line the sidewalk.

I grab a cart as we enter the doors of the supermercado and then park in an aisle to unpack. People that watch me must think I'm crazy. First the flowerdy bag comes off and I pull out the plaid and green bags, stashing them in the bottom of the cart. Then I unfold the cart cover and secure it around the seat of the cart. Next it's time for the Baby Bijorn to come off and Bailey to take her seat and begin playing with the toys that were also stashed inside. Wait, I forgot about my purse. Well, sometimes it comes off with the seat cover and other times I just sling it to the side . . . it all depends on how crowded the grocery store is and how "safe" I feel leaving it in the cart for a few seconds.

Now it's time to shop. The shopping itself is fairly normal. I've mentioned before about having to weigh out produce, bread, meat and cheese and their respective scales, but aside from that (and the fact that everything is in Spanish) it's just like shopping in the states.

Checking out at the cashier is fairly normal too, except that most (dare I say "all"?) Paraguayans don't push their carts or baskets through to the end of the cash register. Instead, they unload their goods at the front of the counter, then push the cart backwards. Everyone behind them in line knows what to expect, so we just step aside and help navigate the empty cart to a full stop in a random, vacant location in the aisle, where it sits until a box boy comes and collects it. But, since I have Bailey securely fastened in the cart and need both my hands to load groceries onto the counter, hand off my bags to the bag boy and pay, I do things American-style and push Bailey all the way through.

Loading back up for the walk home is just as complicated as unloading. Usually the bag boys stash the heaviest things in the big plaid bag, then put napkins, diapers, and toilet paper in the two green bags I carry in my hands. When they do, I swap out the heaviest bags to put in my hands and put the lighter things in the bag that will accompany Bailey on my shoulders. It just makes more sense to me. After swapping out bags, I take off the purse, load Bailey back into the Baby Bijorn, and sling the purse back across our chests. I then pack up the cart cover, shoving it into the plaid bag. Once I've positioned the plaid bag over my right shoulder, I grab a green bag in each hand and set off on the 10 block walk home. Thankfully there is a bus bench about half-way between the store and home where I can switch shoulders.

And that, dear friends, is how we do things in Paraguay! :)