The nearest Walmart to me is in Guatemala City.
About 12 miles from my house.
On a good day, it takes an hour and a half to drive there. On a day with heavy traffic, it can take up to three hours.
So, I don’t go there often.
Last week, I went to Walmart for the first time in six months. I had to take someone to the hospital so we made a quick stop afterwards.
It was a very different experience from since the last time I was there.
Experience
As I walked toward the nearest entrance of the mall where Walmart is located, a security guard with a mask asked me where I was going.
“Walmart,” I said.
“Then that would be the other entrance. This is the exit.”
I walked to the referred to entrance and the security guard there asked me the same question.
It was late morning and there were not a lot of people. If there had been I suspect I would have waited in the roped off waiting area.
I was directed to clean the soles of my shoes with a rubber mat coated in disinfectant. The security guard took my temperature and gave me a dollop of hand sanitizer.
Then I walked through the mall and reached the actual entrance to Walmart. There, two security guards led me through the same process.
Shoes. Temperature. Hands.
Only then was I free to shop.
Purchases
I had been waiting for months to go to the capital and buy the items off my wishlist. These things are not available in my small town and I’ve learned to do without. But now I had to chance to buy them and I was so excited.
- Butter: In my small town we normally use vegetable oil or homemade pig lard.
- Milk: Not the boxed milk I can get at the village store, but cold pasteurized milk.
- Cheese: Any kind of cheese!
- Gum: I can buy packets of gum at Walmart. In the village store you can only buy individual pieces.
- Chocolate: ‘nuf said.
- Lettuce: There are plenty of edible greens to be found in the fields around my town, but there’s something unique about a fresh, crisp head of romaine.
- Bread: Whole wheat sandwich bread. This was a special request from my neighbor.
- Cereal: After being overwhelmed with the options, I chose a few boxes of the trusty Honey Bunches of Oats.
Living in a third-world country there are some things you simply learn to live without. But it is so fun once and a while to take the long trip to the capital city and appreciating the small joys in life.
