6: Buy Things Abroad

One of the things I worried about before getting here was that I would run out of the things I need every day, like lotion, shampoo, deodorant, and so on. I had to remind myself that I wasn't going to a third world country, but I was still anxious.

Today was the first time we experienced the weekly market. It has been in existence for a very long time. Stalls began to set up at 4AM, and by 11:30AM, the several streets near the church, library, and ayuntamiento (city hall) are full of people! Here were peddlers of all the things that you need, y mas (and more). (As you can see, I've picked up a little bit of Spanish!)

Here are just a few of the many stalls (and there are multiple vendors for each product): dried fruits, fresh produce, nuts, ham, wallets, handbags, shoes, clothes, toiletries, candy, seat cushions, art, olives, fish, toys... I walked through the market five times to get a sense of the range of products and to compare prices. The cheapest produce (4 heads of lettuce for 1 euro, as well as 1 euro for a kilo of peaches) was a booth set up along the street that leads to the bus station. The booth with the most varied array of candy was set up by the library. And the nuts and dried fruits is right around the corner from the library!

So if I ever need anything, I'm going to check the market first because of its rich cultural history and its selection.

There are other stores as well. The perfumeria is like a drugstore, but only with personal hygiene and make-up products like shampoo, body spray, soap, et cetera. The pharmacies here have all health products and all have neon green + signs. I happened to find a health food store with everything from chia seeds, medicinal herbs, protein powder, gluten free foods, and unsalted nuts (it felt a little like Berkeley Bowl in there!). Every couple of blocks, there's a "Chino" store, which is usually a huge bazaar of goods (probably made in China)--I think of them as the Walmarts of Guardamar. I've purchased trace paper, tupperware, and a beach towel from such shops. The "no more than two euro" store is analogous to the Dollar Tree. Of course, the supermarket also stocks a lot of common household items like laundry detergent, ziplock bags, and so forth.

So I've learned that I didn't need to worry about finding the products I'm used to using in the States. The only thing is that it's slightly more expensive to buy common products here, and some things are a lot more expensive--a small bottle of sunscreen is about 8 euro, which is $10!