Today we made a "quick" trip to Guatemala City to pick up a turkey and a few last minute items for Christmas. A quick trip this time meant leaving at 7 am and returning home to Antigua before dark. We did do a bit of shopping, but most of our time was spent sitting in traffic or waiting in line to check out. At one store, there were only four customers ahead of us, but it took over 30 minutes to reach the check out counter. It seems that here in Guatemala, everything goes slower (yet the days seem to fly by!).
The shopping centers in Guatemala continue to amaze me. How there is enough wealth to support them in a country where so many are literally starving strikes me dumb. I am often stuck by the contrast between the aflluence of America and the poverty I see here. More and more I am astounded by the realization that there is significant wealth in this country, which does little to help its poor.
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| Santa in an ornament in a large shopping center in Guatemala City |
A fringe benefit of this trip was that I got to see and feel real snow today--believe it or not in Guatemala City. Yep, we're in the mountains!
Really, though, the snow was machine manufacted inside the shopping center. The maintenance crew had its work cut out for it, keeping the floor dry and customers from slipping on the slick tile surface!
As we circled the shopping center to find our way to the main road out of town (all of the shopping areas here seem to have multiple round-a-bouts you need to follow to get out of the parking area--if you don't know the way, you could spend hours driving in circles!) I was surprised to see two familiar restaurants. I've gotten used to Pizza Hut and Dominos, but was really surprised to see these two US landmarks:
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