Friday, September 08, 2006

Shopping in Monte...

Hey all,

I went shopping the other day a few blocks away from our rental home. I think the name of the shopping is punta cartes shopping mall. nice size, three floors and a grocery store in the lower level. Anyways, I only have a certain amount of money per month that fb allows to spend on what ever I want. I could save it or spend it how I choose, which if you all know fb that's a pretty sweet deal. I wanted to get a few things so I walked to the mall. Wow! Never thought I would say that I walked to the mall, everyone knows that living in California, specially the bay area walking a few blocks to a decent mall is not likely.

anyways, you would not believe the outrageous pricing here! shesh! Double shesh!!! I went in all the nice stores for girls my age and it was pretty empty. When id ask in Spanish if anyone spoke English id get smiles and nods "so, so". Later to find out NO would have been a little help. So, I checked out store to store to store. A non-leather bag cost $180 American dollars. I was shocked and almost wanted to crap in my pants, I mean the bag looked like something I could get for $10 bucks in some cheap clothing store in California. Now, all that knows me knows I will spend the money on good quality stuff if I really really want it, luies, guccis, sevens, bcbgs, citzens, sephora, and more. so, I guess my point is for someone that spends well, I could not dare to spend that much on crap! Plain old CRAP!!!! They don't even have a freaken sephora here!!!! shesh!!! opps, sorry venting.

alright, so I finally found a store more my pace as you can say, the clothes are really nice and the fabrics more or less is good (you just have to read the Spanish label to make sure your not buying something made in china or polyester). the two sales girls there looked and me with a sort of "what the heck, she must have money to spend here", look. cause they were shocked when i said that this store is pretty good pricing. normally a bcbg casual dress is like $168 Americans, there i bought one for i think mas o menos $50 or $40sih american dollars. the fabric is linen and the color is a dark red. made in Uruguay! i like that part!!! i dont want to come to a country and find freaken made in china if i want to buy made in china id go to the states and pay next to nothing for it.

okay, so as i handed the sales girl the money she was very very pleased to see american dollars and even showed me how pleased she was by inspecting it in front of my face. ha! did i forget to mention that there is no such thing as return here, you buy it thats it. no returns, so much for upscale shopping. at nord's you can return anything if you are not pleased with it and the sales girls wont even give it a second thought.

i know it sounds like i am comparing apples to papayas, but i sorta miss living back home and knowing where all the good deals are shopping wise for both food and clothing. our new aunt lucia said that none of the locals shop in punta caretes shopping mall unless they really have money. of course this was after i shopped there. how the heck do all the stores stay in buiness? ah i know, airy tourist like me.

next time we will go to the other shopping mall and i could see the prices and compare the quality. there is some kinda weekend market here where they sell stuff outside a park, sorta like a flea market (yuck), but this one is not like one its pretty cool (except for having to watch your back every so often just in case you get some pick pocketer). i think i will try to get fb to come with me tomorrow (thats asking for trouble cause then i wont be able to shop) oh well we will see.

ciao ciao

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