mini marts everywhere

One thing that's totally different about Mexico & the US is that Mexico still has tiny tienditas, little stores, on every. corner. Imagine those quaint shops that your grandparents might have frequented...the little soda shop, barber, fruit stand, etc. The locales that their neighbors owned. That's still the thriving business around here - you sell veggies to the Gomez family and you use the money to buy notebooks and pencils from Gomez Papelería (paper store)...and the cycle continues. It's quite nice because you are obviously supporting local business instead of throwing money at Walgreens or Target. However, there are times where the smallness and limited availability of the stores is frustrating (especially for the instant-gratification lover in me).

Example: If you haven't checked it out - I've started a Mexican jewelry business on Etsy. (www.amoritamexicana.etsy.com) After hearing about a package mishap, I told Jaime that I think somewhere around Tijuana - there's a Mexican whose job is to sit on, mistreat, throw around and squash all packages entering the US. Wanting to protect my precious orders - I said, ok...let's find some sturdy boxes and bubble wrap. Would you believe it - 30 seconds after I said that we spotted a "plastic store"...a magical little shop where you can buy bubble wrap by the meter (think Michael's fabric section divided by 100 and instead of fabric...all types of plastic). 

Feeling great about that find - we started off on our laborious box search. After hitting 5 neighborhood paper stores without any luck, we decided to go to the man - Office Depot. Not even the great office supply warehouse could provide us with what we needed. However, the pleasant clerk told us we could go through their used boxes in the back room. Jumping on the opportunity, Jaime took charge fishing for small packages and we left with 10 semi-sturdy boxes...free! Guess you can make your dreams come true here too - kinda. after searching for 3 hours. and being very resourceful. and patient...

Disclaimer for anybody who might want some tagua earrings in their wardrobe...your package may have "3M Banderitas" stamped on it. And your jewelry box may be protected by egg carton that we got from our mini market friend down the street. This type of wrapping is eco-friendly and cool, right? Or is it just plain trashy?