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Tag Archives: Shopping

Old and Gold, Brunswick Heads

10 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by winifredcreamer in Australia, Brisbane

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Festivals, Shopping

We happened to arrive in time for the annual community garage sale in nearby Brunswick Heads. The Old and Gold Festival sounded like our kind of event, with lots of rummaging around and maybe a treasure or two as a result.

The people-watching was fabulous, unparalleled by anywhere we’ve been in Australia. This tiny town, just up from the surfing and hipster central of Byron Bay, filled to the brim with all kinds of people, all colors, styles, and interests. I was drawn to listen in on the conversation of a group of four women. All had long, long wavy hair, wore long dresses, ankle boots, and carried huge, HUGE, patterned cloth bags, they were a striking group. Some looked like they were about to tip over, or collapse onto the bundle like a bean bag chair and sit down for a rest. These bags stashed their vintage clothing finds. “I’m just picking up bits and pieces, for shoots, y’know,” said one particularly willowy specimen peering over her sunglasses at the others. Her friends nodded knowingly, and they went on to compare notes on where and what they’d found.

Babies, dogs, dreads, were everywhere. Some people looked stylish, a white jumpsuit with a wide leather belt or flowing skirts with layered vests. At the other extreme some people wore so many layers of multicolored shirts and ponchos they were like walking rainbows. Men wore shirts of Guatemalan cloth, or a bow tie, or a ratty tshirt. Younger women wore long dresses with boots, while a white haired woman wore turquoise hat, scarf and shirt. There was red with green, purple with canary yellow, plaids with stripes, and colors everywhere. There wasn’t even time to acknowledge the super short shorts, and this being Australia, the extensive tattoos on arms and legs of most men and women under the age of 50.

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6.8.19 OldnGold Bruns Heads-008sm
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We had a coffee watching the passersby and fell into conversation with a family who live in the area. We talked about travel, favorite places locally, and politics, at which point we dragged ourselves away to think happier thoughts.

We passed my favorite vendor’s stand that incorporated a boat play area.

In the end, Jonathan found some particularly interesting sausage, blue cheese and a delicious fresh baguette, while I scored a pair of Mexican silver earrings at a bargain price. The Old and Gold Festival was a morning well spent.

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New Zealand Jade: Art not Science

29 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by winifredcreamer in New Zealand

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

jade, Shopping

Before coming to New Zealand, we looked forward to seeing jade being worked, and shopping for a jade pendant or two. After arriving, we began to find out a bit more about jade and jade carving that did not make our search easier. Jonathan and I are well-trained researchers, and we like to know about things. We wanted to know what New Zealand jade really is, mineralogically, where it comes from and how it is carved. We barely got past the first question because there are too many answers.

On the right is an unpolished boulder (chipped to show jade interior). On the left is a polished jade boulder.

Jade is composed of silica and other minerals and is best known as a translucent green stone. (That is what I think of.) We also found that jade can be hard or soft, and occurs in all shades of green, lavender, blue, red, and black. There are so many varieties that what a carving is made of becomes impossible to determine without spectroscopy.

In New Zealand, jade is known from the earliest arrival of Europeans who observed the Maori people wearing carved jade pieces. In this portrait of Rangi Topeora, one of the few women leaders to sign the Treaty of Waitangi, you can see carved jade objects in two shapes, cylinders and hei-tiki. These are some of  the fairly limited repertoire of traditional shapes. I found the limited number of shapes a bit disappointing until I thought a bit about this portrait. The Maori didn’t carve jade to be decorative, they carved it to make symbols of power and personal rank. It was important for a carved piece of jade to be recognizable as a particular shape and carry its associated meaning. Creativity was only valuable within the constraints of a particular shape. A person wearing a hei-tiki wanted those who saw it to recognize it immediately.

Today, traditional forms are what you see in most stores. I am skeptical of the “meaning” that is described in flowery language on sales materials. What we know is that these shapes have been passed down through generations, providing buyers a memento that gives a nod to Maori history and tradition. In the Canterbury museum in Christchurch there are numerous examples of all the traditional forms along with a lot of jade fighting clubs. Jade was definitely associated with power!Not everything is traditional. There are some contemporary carvings made from jade, and also bone, wood, and stone.

Having given up on what jade is, we looked at where jade is found. New Zealand jade is found in several localities on the west coast of the South Island as pebbles and boulders that wash out of the mountains. Most jade collecting is reserved for authorized members of an ‘iwi’, a traditional Maori group. The jade is carved by Maori carvers, or sold to others to carve. When we heard that it was possible for anyone to search for jade pebbles on the beach in Hokitika, on the west coast of the South Island, we knew we would visit and have a look for ourselves. When we got there, we used our combined archaeological surface collecting expertise and our diligent beach-combing efforts to search out jade pebbles. Jonathan found one, about the size of his thumbnail. This is definitely an activity in the “if it was easy there’d be a lot more people out here” category. I decided against purchasing a carving and instead bought two tiny matte-finished slices of jade out of which I made earrings. I spent a lot less than I would have on anything comparable. It was fun and makes a good story.

Hokitika Beach

Hokitika Beach

We concluded that the best way to purchase jade in New Zealand is to talk to people, especially those who work with jade, rather than buy items in a gift shop.  Chatting with people at craft markets can lead to meeting someone who actually carved the jade themselves, or possibly someone who collected the jade personally. A small studio run by an individual or a family may make it possible to find out where the jade you are looking at comes from and who carved it. To me, the greatest enjoyment of an object comes from knowing something of its history. I met a woman selling jade pieces near the beach in Hokitika and she explained that her husband did most of the carving though she was learning and could produce simpler shapes. They purchase their jade from the Maori authorized to collect it, and she could describe the shapes and varieties of stone. I enjoyed our discussion more than any of my visits to the shops in town.

When you find out that jade can be almost anything, you depend upon the honesty of the seller to find what you want. That proves problematic, as a lot of jade is treated to improve the color or to make the piece smooth. These “enhancements” include anything from simply rubbing the piece with wax (the finish on most pieces), to dying, impregnation with resin, or placing stone on plastic backing. Sellers of jade do not mention any of these techniques of ‘enhancement’. How is a person to shop? The color question is amplified by adding the questions of where jade comes from and who carves it. The largest seller of jade carving in Hokitika is Mountain Jade, with at least two stores. Looking around the store we found that though some of the jade was local, most was not. Some items were marked “New Zealand jade”, others “New Zealand greenstone”, others “carved in New Zealand”. This means that carved items not marked “New Zealand” are likely to come from sources in China or Canada, especially as the owners of the business are from China and Canada, where British Columbia produces much of the world’s jade today. Objects not marked “carved in New Zealand” might well be carved in Indonesia or China. A “featured artist” bio in the store described a designer who purchases stone in New Zealand, ships it to Indonesia to be carved and then re-imports it to sell in New Zealand. We were disappointed by this, as we’d rather see work by local artists. Maybe that’s just us.

The jade hunt was very enjoyable, and we learned enough to ask questions and chat with people. A significant part of the beauty and value of jade is based on what the buyer believes, and not on any particular measurement or test, a case of art, and artifice, prevailing over science.[Those of you who read my posts regularly may have noticed a bit of a gap over the past two weeks. I splashed coffee on my keyboard one morning, and despite my rapid actions, part of my keyboard stopped working. I now have a much cleaner laptop and an interim keyboard, though I may never catch up in describing all the great things to see in and around Christchurch.]

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Auckland 2018

10 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by winifredcreamer in New Zealand

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Cities, Markets, Shopping

We landed at the Auckland airport, picked up our rental car and made our way out of town as fast as we could. Having just gotten off a 12-hour flight, navigating to a new place, and driving on the left, I don’t remember much of the trip. My first real view of the city was also a shock. A few days after we arrived, we stopped at the Arataki Visitors Center in the center of the park that lies between us and Auckland. Terraces around the center provide spectacular views over the forest, a large reservoir, and in the distance, downtown Auckland! It was strange to be surrounded by dense forest and see skyscrapers of the central business district through my binoculars. It’s barely ten miles away.

We drove into the center of the city for a walk along the seafront and a visit to Victoria Park Market (much described by guidebooks), as well as stopping in to a clinic in our ongoing quest to get Jonathan’s visa to Australia (more on that another time). The waterfront is lined with boats of all kinds, sailboats from small to ocean-going, traditional to Americas Cup sleek, and motor craft from cigarette boats to trawlers. There are ferries across the bay and tour boats that circle the area for sightseers. Boating is popular for many reasons including the long coastline, huge bays, and the distance of the islands from anywhere else.

Downtown Auckland is growing fast, with construction cranes all across the skyline. New apartments are being built along the waterfront, as is a huge Hyatt hotel.

Away from the waterfront, Queen’s Street was the busiest area for shopping. We admired New Zealand jade, Maori wood carving, merino wool sweaters and every imaginable item painted with kiwi birds or sheep. We’ve been in New Zealand barely a week and we’re holding off making purchases other than postcards. In addition to the usual range of tourists, I did see some very fashionably dressed women. One wore an unusually cut jacket, the other a boldly patterned skirt, and both had interesting very-high-heeled shoes. Perhaps they were influenced by the windows at Chanel.

Since we arrived, the multicultural face of New Zealand has made itself clear. We were asked whether we were about to board a cruise ship, and met a couple from Minnesota who were about to do so. In the forest park, we chatted with a pair of young people from New Zealand and Australia who had Indian ancestors. They warned us about the strength of the sun and the need to stay hydrated. On the same trail, we met two young women from Auckland of European ancestry who had never been to the park before, despite it’s being within an hour of the city. The Thai restaurant where we ate lunch was staffed with Thai-New Zealanders. At a copy center, we chatted with a young New Zealander of Indian ancestry whose brothers and cousins live in Ohio and California. Even the grocery store showed multiculturalism, though it turns out that New Zealand Breakfast tea is earl gray with a different label.

Our only strike-out of the day was the Victoria Park Market. A series of restored structures on the edge of the park is intended to be a boutique covered market and restaurant zone, and perhaps it was, a few years ago. It is mentioned in guidebooks, but there is almost nothing there. For some reason, this development appears to be a flop.

The market was just a blip on our day. Auckland was bustling and colorful, with great people-watching on every block. It’s easy to think about living here, so close to the surf and the forest, yet in a lively city.

 

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Cuba!

26 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Cuba

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

History, Landscape, Museums, Shopping

Actually getting to Cuba is the first part of the tour’s adventure, as it turns out. 10-16-16-meeting-before-cuba-002We met our group the night before departure and they proved to be a congenial bunch.

We had to be at the airport three hours ahead of time (boring), but we saw the array of goods that people take to Cuba. We later heard that every Cuban who visits the US may take two televisions back with them each year, and we saw clear evidence of this in the Miami airport….55 inch screens seemed to be popular. Despite our tour company suggesting we bring a 22 lb bag, we found the luggage limit for travel to Cuba is three 70 lb checked bags. People definitely were aware of this option.


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Marlon sings karaoke with “Bailando” on the bus.

We traveled with Insight Cuba, on their Classic Cuba tour. Our logistics person was Alfredo from Costa Rica, and our local guide was Marlon. Our driver was Manuel. The team was excellent. The tour ran smoothly, there was daily communication about plans and any changes being made. They handled all issues and Marlon is full of Cuba content. As a former teacher, he knows what life is like in Cuba for most people, and he was diplomatic about issues of politics and race.

Though a lot of waiting was involved, we got to Cuba pretty painlessly and no one in our group was stopped or inspected with any particular scrutiny. 10-16-16-revolution-sq-havana

We visited Revolution Square in Havana on our way in, and I found it much bigger and less park-like than I expected. The iron faces of heroes were impressive.

 

 

We had a welcome dinner at Los Naranjos, one of Cuba’s paladares, privately owned restaurants that began in homes, though many are now full-fledged restaurants with room for tens of diners.


We heard a lecture on architecture, visited Old Havana and a center for elderly people who sang us a song and were charming to chat with for a few minutes.


I managed a swim in the hotel pool at the end of the day before we left for dinner. The next day we went to the market, where we tried to purchase food for an entire meal with 1 CUC (US $1.13). It was possible, but not easy (no meat). We also visited a dance company, a museum of the great Literacy campaign of the early 1960s in Cuba, and an animation studio.10-17-16-animation-studio-havna

Here are my new animated friends.

 

 

 

 

 

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Our restaurant surroundings were lovely for lunch and dinner every day, but the lack of ripe tomatoes, fresh fruit and vegetables and the same entrée choices started to become apparent by the third day. The next day was a visit to the huge Cristobal Colon cemetery (Jose Marti is not buried there), followed by a medical clinic, and after lunch the studio of a well-known ceramic artist, Beatriz Santacana. We got on the road the next day for Cienfuegos, and stopped at the beach for lunch and an excellent talk about the national park adjacent to the Bay of Pigs. Our only swim in the Caribbean was here and it was wonderful.10-20-16-bay-of-pigs-005

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This fish is a pentyptych ? (five panels) painted bas relief.

I was ready to sit under an umbrella all afternoon, but it was not to be. We were due to stop at the museum that tells the Cuban story of the Bay of Pigs and move on to our stay at “casas particulares” private home B&Bs in Cienfuegos. Jonathan and I had a room that was pretty basic, but the air conditioning worked. The public areas of the house were very pretty and airy, though we had little time to sit with our feet up. The next day we visited Trinidad, a town preserved by a big economic slump during most of the 20th century. There we walked on the old cobblestone streets, visited the architecture museum, met with a priest of Santeria, and saw the studio of a very creative woodcarver, who began using old cabinet doors as the material for his bas-relief portraits when artists materials were scarce during the 1990s and beyond. I think everyone slept on the bus back to Cienfuegos.

The next morning we were back on the bus, first visiting a printer’s studio that specializes in wood block and linoleum prints. I did buy an eight-color lino print that I like a lot. Later I found out that most of the people who work there are not paid but live off their government ration cards and what they make from selling prints.

We next heard the Cienfuegos Municipal Orchestra play and they were wonderful, full of energy, as well as very good. There are eight musicians and all teach in the local art school as well as performing concerts twice each month.

10-22-16-lunch-road-to-havanaFrom the orchestra we headed back to Havana, stopping only for sandwiches on bread shaped like a Cuban crocodile.

 

 

 

Before arriving at the hotel, we stopped at Hemingway’s house outside Havana. The man knew how to live. The house is comfortable and airy, with a big pool and beautiful gardens surrounding it. Decor is heavy on dead animals, but we knew he was a big-game hunter. The cape buffalo head is pretty massive and would be a bit strange presiding over a cocktail party.


This was our final full day in Cuba, so we celebrated by going to the famous Tropicana nightclub show. Dinner began at 8:30pm and the show started at 10. The dinner was utterly uninspired, but by purchasing it on top of our admission fee we qualified for good seats by the stage.

Great singers
The Finale

Dancers
Chandelier headdresses…

We rode home with our heads full of the colorful frenetic dancing. But that wasn’t the end. The next morning we made one last stop at the fanciful compound of artist Carlos Fuster, who has developed a project to cover his home and neighborhood with mosaics. 10-23-16-casa-fuster-havana-043It looks a bit like Gaudi’s mosaics in Parque Guell in Barcelona, doesn’t it?

img_4114We decided on a group photo in front of one of the community-made mosaics by Casa Fuster. Then we said goodbye to Cuba.10-22-16-hemingway-outside-havana-006Our week in Cuba is a bit compressed because I was unable to get internet access and had to wait and post when we returned. Still to come are my posts on vintage American cars in Cuba and Cuban architecture. Last but far from least will be my opinionated “Good Things to Know About Cuba.”

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Cromarty, the town at the end of the Black Isle

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Scotland

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Tags

Shopping, walks

The Black Isle gets its name from the dark form of the island in winter. When viewed from afar, Inverness, for example, it looks black. Surrounded by water, snow doesn’t stick (they don’t get very much). Cromarty is a small town at the tip of the Black Isle. It has varied and interesting architectural details, and some nice shops including the only Dutch cheese shop in Scotland (don’t ask me why).


The thatched roof building is the birthplace of Hugh Miller (1801-1856), and the Carnegie library is dedicated to Miller as well. Hugh Miller was a proponent of the study of geology in the early 1800s. In this era before Darwin, this was a very new endeavor.


An interesting building in Cromarty, and the tile entrance to an antique store that had a great variety of things.

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There’s always a ruin to be visited, so we walked up a path from town to the Gaelic Chapel, the ruins adjacent to the village churchyard. You can barely see the chapel walls in this photo and we are on the inside of the structure.

 

We spent a very nice day in Cromarty, and even stopped to watch birds in Cromarty Firth on the way home.

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Ceramics in the El Noqbi neighborhood

28 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Morocco

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Markets, Shopping

Lyra and I wanted to look at ceramics and found a recommendation to visit the El Noqbi neighborhood on the northeast side of the medina. Art Naji is probably the best known spot, partly because it is so visible on googlemaps. There are many workshops that sell pottery on the streets that radiate out from the bus stop and from Art Naji. The workshop allows photos.

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We looked at thousands of pieces from tiny to huge. We selected two small bowls and went to the counter where we found that they offer only fixed prices. (For the reason we left, see my “Good to Know about Morocco” post, coming soon. As soon as we left Art Naji, we were approached by a neighboring merchant who showed us his smaller, somewhat less organized studio. We found two bowls that we liked and paid a price we thought reasonable.

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Getting used to Fez

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by winifredcreamer in Morocco

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Attractions, Markets, Shopping

We planned for a long time to stay a month in the Fez medina. Now we are here in a riad of our own.

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4.5.16 Medina walk-010sm

 

There are lots of surprises in the medina. No cars are allowed in most of the area, but donkeys and horses clop back and forth. The animals give you time to get out of the way, but the motorcycles are a menace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ll start with a neighborhood landmark, Bab Rcif. There are 15 of these large gates around the city of Fez. Fortunately, each seems to be a landmark for taxi drivers, so we can now get home from anywhere by saying “Bab Rcif”!

4.2.16 Bab Rcif

4.2.16 our street

This is the bottom of the hill we walk up to get to our riad.

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Here’s the view from the upper end of our neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.5.16 Medina walk

 

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of different kinds of buildings, new and old. The walk takes us past homes, workshops, and other riads.

 

By the time I took these photos we had three days to walk around–it’s takes some time to start learning your way around the Fez medina. We started by taking a walk with a guide for a couple of hours, and got a sense of the main route home. Our guide, Khlafa Elasefar, was excellent. His English was very good, he understood our goals and only pressed us to do a little that we didn’t want to–and that was to spend more time at the historic sites. We saw a few of the sights during our orientation. “Agave silk” is beautiful. I didn’t know that agave fibers had such a luster. (I’m going back to buy a scarf.)

The blue blur is his thread
These weavers move fast

Jonathan confers with the spice seller.

There are fragrant heaps of spices in the market, but for freshness and purity, closed jars are preferable. Our guide brought us here and we bought all we need for our stay.

We took in the mosque (no photos) and the Attarine Mederesa, formerly a school with 150 rooms for boarding students who came from far beyond Fez.

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We also visited the Sidi Moussa tanneries. The traditional tanneries of Fes are a big attraction, despite the smell they generate during hot weather and the colorful and possibly poisonous runoff. After some debate about whether to move the tanneries out of town, Fes seems determined to keep this tourist attraction and the Sidi Moussa tanneries have recently been renovated. Now the larger, better known Chaouwarra tanneries are under renovation and only the Sidi Moussa tannery is active. The benefit of a tour guide was finding this out before the hike to the closed tannery. It did not smell very much during our visit, but the weather is cool, it’s spring, not summer. We were given a sprig of mint to sniff, and that was pleasant, if not strictly necessary.

4.2.16 Sidi Moussa tannery-003The white vats are the smelliest, where a mix of limestone and pigeon poop softens the skins and removes the hair. The dye vats are the brown ones. Huge cylindrical machines wash hides between phases. The finest skins take a month to be processed and dyed. The balconies overlooking the tannery all belong to merchants selling leather products. A young salesman said they could complete a custom leather jacket in three hours.

It was a lot to take in. What you don’t see here is our efforts to buy cups of coffee, fruits, vegetables and meat, water, salt. Even more difficult is to ask directions. Or to not ask directions, because sometimes people want to help you when you don’t want help. “I am not lost, thank you. I am taking a walk. Yes, walking. No, thank you.” Etc. People mean well, but it’s not very relaxing.

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A Shopping Trip to Lima

14 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Peru

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Shopping

The original goal of a visit to Lima was to see the Julie Taymor version of “The Magic Flute” being offered as part of the Metropolitan Opera in HD series. It’s an abridged version of the opera, finishing in under two hours, and absolutely gorgeous, as well as having wonderful singers (Nathan Gunn, Matthew Polenzani).

We ended up tacking on an additional day and a half to accommodate doctor visits and shopping for our home redecorating project. Welcome to shopping in Lima! Here are a few thoughts.

(!) Lima traffic has always been bad–now it is worse. Traffic is rerouted from major streets for projects that do not have a projected end date. Traffic is rerouted within neighborhoods for projects to replace water lines. There is no indication of where these projects are located or how long they will last. The extensive system of one way streets guarantees that you cannot escape the long line of cars backed up to turn onto the only street going the direction you want. I brought a book.

traffic sm

This is the highway, not a parking lot(!). We stopped at one of the large malls (San Miguel) and I headed for Ripley, one of the largest department stores, to look at their “Beach and Terrace” section. I finally asked for directions. It was in the underground parking garage and unlike the catalogue with its sets of wicker furniture neatly arranged, there was a row of bicycles, one set of plastic wicker (too small), and two unmatched chairs. Lots of molded plastic chairs in a stack. The only beach umbrella available was part of an extensive set of loveseat, chairs, table and pillows (plastic). So much for getting a pair of wicker chairs and a beach umbrella. This scenario was repeated at the two other large stores I visited, right down to the location in the underground parking and lack of stock. On line I found a store that sells wicker furniture in Lima but it was far from any other place on our list and we ran out of time before getting there. Result: a new toaster oven. No wicker.

Here’s my shopping issue. I’m ruined for shopping in the developing world because I want to shop like I do in the US. Go someplace, find things, pay, take them home. The “finding” is the biggest job. In Peru, finding may require a lot of work, but the paying and taking home can make you want to tear your hair out.

Take the toaster oven. First the cultural issue: Most Peruvians do not have any oven. They have a range top. Thus, they do not want a toaster oven for toast, but to roast a chicken, or bake dinner for six. Sadly, we just want toast. All the toaster ovens are too big and their heating elements are in the corners to make room for the chicken. We decided to buy the smallest, only double the size of what we would buy in the US, and with heating elements somewhat closer to the center. We now needed a sales person.

The floor is teeming with sales persons. They are grouped in tight circles chatting and laughing, or they are hidden in the corners of the display areas. Their training does not seem to have included anything about sales or customer service. We break into a group and ask for help. We are referred to a young man, who seems nonplussed that he would be asked about a toaster oven. He finds a young woman. She would like to demonstrate the features of the toaster, show us how each rack is positioned and that it slides in and out. We say that we have made up our mind just need a toaster oven in a box. There are none of the one we’ve selected visible. She waves vaguely to indicate that we should go pay and she will get the toaster oven. We go stand in line to pay. We are allowed to pay with a credit card (It used to be worse. You used to have to go to a bank, pay into an account there and return to the store with the voucher for the payment). We return to the toaster zone, looking for our box. Our helper is not there.

I go looking in one direction. Jonathan goes in the other. He finds our assistant hiding in a corner playing a game on her phone. She grudgingly agrees that she will go get our toaster. We, of course, are ready to leave but must await the toaster. She leaves. We get very tired of waiting. A supervisor steps out of the circle of chatting women nearby and I ask her why we can’t get our box. I begin to wave my arms and try to describe how simple it should be to get us our toaster. The supervisor looks alarmed and leaves. A few minutes later our person returns with our toaster on a cart. She had to go to a warehouse area and there was no one there to help her. She had to open the box to make sure all the pieces were there and she had to do it all on her own. (They do this. They open every box you purchase to make sure that its sealed contents haven’t disappeared between China and the department store). Now she must accompany us downstairs before we can leave. Three young men in the next location do not want to help us, they want us to sit in a row of chairs for a while. We decline. Our assistant retapes the box and we leave. We need lunch. Or a drink.

I did find some of the things I was looking for, bedspreads, small rugs for the floor by the bed. We ended up finding chairs and lamps at a store that Jonathan passed on his way to the Surquillo market, one of the good city markets where we buy a few upscale items (baby artichokes, cheese, nuts, sushi vinegar). Whether a store is on one of our routes in and out of the city definitely shapes where we shop, which shows you how truly awful traffic is in Lima.

Last but not least was the shopping at the tourist market. We like traditional craft items, and we needed two more decorative plates to go with the others we hang in the patio. We found these without difficulty. Our final stop was the stall of the people who make finely woven floor mats from reeds. The reeds are harvested outside Huacho, less than an hour’s drive from our house in Barranca, but the sales are in Lima, so we visit the tourist market for the best selection. They have lots of colorful baskets, but no floor mats. They don’t make them for the stall any more, they are made to order. They offer to carry out the process via Whatsapp, sending photos and prices. We are thinking this over as we leave with their phone number. I think about suggesting a visit to the wicker store and decide that I would rather lie down. We return to the hotel.

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The next day we visit the “Bioferia” the organic market that takes place on Saturday mornings. It is lovely, outdoors along the side of a park. We run into a friend and catch up a bit. I buy a vegan tart with whole grain crust, cashew cream filling and big berries on top. It’s actually pretty good and my day is already a success.

We get to the theater on time for the movie and find out that popcorn is not available because the opera goers as a group don’t purchase enough of it. My entreaties to the concession manager fall on deaf ears. Next time I’ll bring my own damn popcorn. The show is wonderful. We head for home. It takes forever (4+ hrs for 100 miles, you do the math). Jonathan says he is not going to Lima again, except we bought tickets for the next opera on Jan. 16.

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