Shopping & haircut

04.05.2004

After a quick (& supposedly urgent) visit to a cyber café to help secure the safety of the Western world,* I went shopping. Now, I'm not a big fan of shopping. Anywhere. But I needed some basics, especially after my laundry lost a few articles from my small wardrobe. I also wanted to go to Plaza Murillo, & see what time El día que murió el silencio plays at Cine Plaza (6:55pm).

I walked my typical route. Down calle Guachalla, stopping at the corner of calle Ecuador to buy La Razón from my casera. I get my paper from that corner every day between 1-2pm. Take note: if you plan to kidnap me, the best time's between 1-2pm at the corner of Guacalla & Ecuador. But I do sometimes get there later or earlier. Ask my caserita if I already bought my paper that day. She also has my phone number, if you need it.

Then down to 6 de Agosto, and up towards the Prado. Although shopping in the black markets (like Huyustus) is cheaper, it's also a madhouse. First, although the quality of merchandise ranges from poor to good, the selection ranges from poor to decent. Second, how would you ever take something back? Third, how do you try stuff on? Fourth. Well, it's a black market. Which means it's almost all contraband & untaxed. I'd rather support the formal market — which actually pays taxes.

So. Shopping Norte it was. Yes, I know it's an upper class shopping mall. But. It also has a BATT outlet. BATT is a national textile company (they also make things exported under labels like J.Crew). This makes it cheaper, and you're supporting local producers. I've always been a big fan of that. I hoped to replace my lost favorite shirt. I found a crisp, all-white shirt that might do the job.

The hunt for pants in La Paz is difficult. I gave up on finding a decent pair of simple, dark bootcut jeans. Turning to United Colors of Benetton in desperation. Yes, I know that despite their highly public do-goodism, Benetton's just a store for privileged white people. But they did have a nice pair of blue bootcut cords at only $12 more than I'd normally pay for pants in the US. (And since I'm the product of interracial marriage, I fit Benetton's advertisement demographic.) They tried to sell me some sweaters. But this is Bolivia, the land of llamas & alpacas. No thanks.

Down the aptly-named calle Comercio to Textillon for some socks. Not only have I lost a few pairs, but the ones I have are pretty hit. And there's few things feel as great as putting on a brand new pair of 100% cotton socks. I got two pairs charcoal, two pairs blue-grey. The era of all-black socks Miguel is over.

Then, up to calle Sagarnaga to find a sweater. Success, of course. I had to just pick & choose to find a charcoal grey crew sweater for Bs. 60. The casera I bought my slight v-neck wasn't there, so I almost didn't buy anything. But the unicolor sweater was too tempting to pass up.

After that, it was across calle Linares, to calle Santa Cruz, to find a barbershop. It's been well over a month, and I figured a haircut was necessary at this point. And for Bs. 5, I got my first decent haircut in Bolivia. I treated myself to a buńuelo (like chewy elephant ears covered in honey) in front of Plaza San Francisco, and headed for home.

Plus, I'd forgotten my laundry at midday, and had to drop it off before the place closed. Not my old laundry place, of course. A new (more reliable?) one. I'll have a nice pile of clean clothes tomorrow.

-----
(*): I'm not at liberty to divulge the secrets of this mission. Also note that this post, though entirely factual, is full of much sarcasm. Unless your name's Bay Jo, I don't want you to kidnap me.

Posted by Miguel at 07:22 PM

Comments

Just to check on my Spanish, is the movie you saw "Dawn of the Dead?"

Itwould be cool if you could come back to Western, but hey whatever works out for you. And it sucks that all the teaching jobs are gone in teh poli sci department. And that I have no more poli sci classes to take, just difficult anthro and history classes.

Also, I proved a teacher wrong on a geography test I took yesterday. The question was, "Who is South Africa's current president?" I raised my hand and proceeded to tell my prof that all the possible answers were wrong (Charles Taylor, DeClerk, Mandela, Seko, and someone else). He told me to write down who I think it is and he would check. So later that night I sent him an e-mail with a link to President Thabo Mbeki's presidential website. Needless to say I received full credit for that question.

And don't worry about being too picky in regards to dating soemone, or heaven forbid, looks-oriented. People who say they go for what's on the inside are for the most part lying. Something on the outside had to attract them in the first place.

Posted by: Kara at April 6, 2004 04:08 PM

No, the movie I saw was "The day the silence died" — a Bolivian film by Paolo Agazzi, the director of El atraco. It's actually one of my favorite movies ever (I saw it when it came out two years ago). I'm seeing it tomorrow w/ M.

Good job on proving a teacher wrong. And I'm glad he wasn't all up tight about it, as some can be. On the dating thing. Yeah, looks are important, but not the most important. And I never worry about dating.

Posted by: Miguel at April 6, 2004 05:40 PM