Product Availability
June 7th, 2008 Weylin
No, this is not a post about Mayoliva, or even Mayonnaise. The title indicates something about products, but really this is about complaints. You see, this is my third attempt at writing this particular post supposedly telling you about our experiences with product supply and intermittent availability here in Paraguay. However, on my first two attempts to write, I kept getting stuck when I would read over what I’d written and realize that I sounded like I was complaining– I didn’t want that, I thought I simply wanted to tell a story. Well, I’ve finally accepted that what I really want to do here is complain a bit.
When planning to come to Paraguay we often wondered about what products would be available in stores in terms of medicines, foods, and baby supplies. Upon arriving we began to explore the grocery and pharmacy stores, taking inventory and sampling brands and varieties. For those of you wondering, no, there are no Trader Joe’s stores here. And yes, that has been difficult for me. 
We were relieved to find a few kinds of frozen vegetables for us and Ofelia, such as the Brocolí pictured here. We also found some treats like the mayonnaise made with olive oil pictured above. (it puts a nice twist on ham and cheese sandwiches!) In general, we found that there is a much, much smaller selection of goods. This goes for groceries as well as things like toilet seats (I’ll spare you a picture of those). To a large extent, what you find in one store you will find in another. Coming from the US style giant stores with mind boggling product variety, this was a big shift– and at times welcome. There are nice grocery stores here, they just don’t have the extreme product diversity and variety that we have in the US. Example: the cereal “isle” is about 10-15ft long. The yerba mate isle contains more products than the cereal isle! (this I like)
We also had difficulty finding yogurt without sugar. The one pictured here is the only one we have found, and many stores don’t carry it. That is part of my complaint.
The other part is that products you see today, may not be here tomorrow, or they may. This has happened with the Brocolí and mayo, and with our preferred brand of baby butt wipes– actually with our top three brands of wipes! The wipes are not pictured here because at the time of this writing we cannot find them in stores! This is what happens. Back in January we thought everything was cool with the Broc, but then it disappeared. Two months later it re-emerged, only to disappear a week later and to remain absent for another three weeks. When it came back that time, we bought all 8 bags! We have adjusted, we’ve learned to hoard. It does earn us some funny looks at the checkout, that’s a price we’re willing to pay.
What all of this comes round to is not about the excesses of the US, or the scarcity or unreliability of goods here in Paraguay. My complaints are really about our own struggle to integrate into this system. It is a challenge to our assumptions about “the way things ought to be.” We are constantly faced with the reality that how we live is not how everyone else in the world lives, and they often do just fine, or even better in some ways. As difficult as it can be, it is a growth experience in struggling to adjust to someone else’s norms and expectations. It has helped, and continues to help, us examine ourselves and how we live, and the choices (or cultural assumptions) we often make without thinking.
Trust the Process!
