Let's Do the Time Warp

          Sometimes I think living here is, in a lot of ways, more like living in the US in 1960 than in 2012.  It’s not really like this in the big cities (they have something very much like a chain of small wal-mart stores, or maybe a regular Kroger), but here at the portal to the Amazon jungle, and the foothills of the Andes Mountains, it’s a bit like stepping into a time-warp.  There is no “one-stop shopping” available. If I want meat, I go to the butcher.  If I want bread, I go to the baker.  Lightbulbs? Light bulb store…  You don’t buy new shoes when they break (not that people don’t…), you go to the shoe repair guy on the corner (he’ll fix your leather goods too!).  There are shoe-shine men, and children, everywhere, and the seamstress down the street will make anything you show her.  Every door in our house was made by a carpenter, and he made all the furniture for our neighbors.  To top it all off, teenagers everywhere walk the streets singing “Stand By Me,” by Ben King, in English. 

98% of them have no idea what the words mean.  

If it weren’t for the cell phones and internet cafes, I’d think I stepped through a wormhole.  Since the mindset for pre-packaged everything a la USA style doesn’t really exist here, this means I have to do everything from scratch.  Now, there are some major benefits to this.      

1    My cooking skills have improved greatly – my husband even brags to friends.

2    I’ve found ways to cook pretty much any type of American food we crave, so we’re instantly less homesick than a lot of other people.

3    I’ve got some sweet ideas for homemade Christmas presents for other gringos (white-people).  What American wouldn’t like English toffee and a kit for s’mores?  (graham crackers don’t exist here, but I found a recipe!!!) 

4    I’ve become reacquainted with a sewing machine – I even made some cool cloth diapers for Jude that will grow with him. 

The downsides?  It can take me a couple hours to make dinner every night…sometimes I’m working on it off and on all day (when breads, etc. are involved). 

Also, I’ve learned the brilliance of cooking with real cream and butter….

…our waistlines are the major victims here.

 

          My conclusion?  I’ll take real food with lots of exercise over your canned cream of chicken soup any day.  And, I’m pretty proud of those pillows I made for our couch – they’re way cooler than the ones I would’ve bought at IKEA if we were in Ohio right now.

 Ok, that’s a little bit of a lie, but they’re still pretty impressive if I do say so myself ;)

The 60’s are pretty cool…I think we’ll stay a while.