Retiring to Mazatlan: Shopping in Maz

Shopping here is alot like shopping back home... you go and buy what you need (ok sometimes I do buy more than we need) but the premise is the same...choose it...throw it into your cart...pay for it and take it home. Simple!

Except when you’re in Maz.

For example, I bought a container of Pringles. (I had a salt craving and just knew that would be my fix.) Eager with anticipation I opened the long cylinder, reached inside and discovered...well Pringles of course, but everyone was broken and not in half, but smashed! The container looked good but every chip inside was a crumb.

It’s been a year now and every time I see a Pringles container I make a point of lifting it up carefully and Hub leans over and laughs... "Feel lucky today?"

I proceed to shake it slowly, listening to the broken chips inside and then return it to the shelf. It’s become such a quest now that I’ve officially put Pringles on my ‘Canadian’ shopping list when we return next year.

But this isn’t an isolated occurrence. We know of other shoppers that have purchased those ready to eat snack bars. The packaging was perfect but when they opened up the box, instead of 6 bars as indicated on the package, there were 4. Or the purchase of a 6 pack of Sprite, and when you get it home they are all completely in tack, but on closer inspection one can is completely empty!

Who's in charge of this stuff?????

So we’ve taken a consensus and believe now, if an American or Canadian product doesn’t meet that countries standards...they don’t just get rid of it...they don’t throw it out...they just send it to Mexico and we poor bastards will buy it!

Another quirk in the grocery shopping arena is the quantity and frequency of a product. I mean in Canada, if something is sold out quickly, it’s considered a successful product and most definitely would be reordered and stocked. In Maz it’s a little different.

Example...Miracle Whip is not sold down here. So to say that I was surprised to see 4 bottles on the shelf at one of the grocery stores would be putting it mildly. I naturally picked up all four just in case we didn’t see it again. That was 4 months ago and to this day Miracle Whip has not returned.

The lesson in shopping here is simple; if you see what you want, grab it all...because it probably won’t be reordered again.

And for your information there are a few things that are NEVER sold here...

Cheesies (oh there is a brand here but NOTHING like US or Canada)

Celery Seed

Minced Onion

Potato chips WITHOUT lime

Regular salted peanuts (without lime or hot spice)

Lemon Juice

Poultry seasoning
Pudding (oh there's custard but not true pudding)

So now, whenever I pass buy a container of Pringles in any store in Maz, I look around slowly... carefully reach out and pick up the tube...bring it up to my ear...shake it gently...put it back down...then turn to Hub and announce...