Shopping in San Nicolas

I meant to write this post about a year ago, when shopping in town seemed so new, exciting and different! These days it’s just part of our daily routine and it’s nothing new. But I did want to write this post, to remember how we shop in San Nicolas and to give you all at home an idea of the differences in daily life here, along with sharing some pictures :)

Alli getting some shopping done in the city SUPER MERCADO (super market)

We do much of our shopping in the small Pulperias in San Nicolas. However, we also do some of our shopping in the city of Esteli for some more specialty items, such as a loaf of bread, peanut butter, meat and certain imported items. This usually feels just like shopping in a U.S. grocery store. We also feel super lucky to be connected to the La Garnacha farm to get lots of organic veggies and some of the best lettuce we will probably ever eat! But for the everyday items we go to the Pulperias (small stores) in town. There are about 20 of these small stores and they all sell about the same thing. There are about 4 options within 20-50 steps of our front door. So we often go out and just pick up what we need for the meal we are about to make. The items we are most often picking up from the pulperias are:  onions, potatoes, tomatoes, crackers, ranchitas (dorito chips), popsicles, eggs, milk, oil, rice, seasonings, and bananas. Frozen chicken is something else you can buy at the pulperias, but rumor has it that you pay mostly for ice (it’s frozen and you pay per pound…). At the pulperias in our town, you can also find a variety of drugs without a prescription, some clothing items, matches, gift bags, umbrellas, bleach, candy and many other items! It’s almost like a CVS in the U.S.A. Your one-stop shop! :) We have enjoyed figuring out which pulperia carries the best quality vegggies, which have our favorite brands of snacks, and the pulperias that sell huevos de amor (Literally, Eggs of Love—eggs from their backyard chickens!)

Enjoy a few pictures from our favorite pulperias in town!

Right outside our door you can find 2 different pulperias (Pulp. Orozco and Pulp. Sala Centeno) On the left we usually buy our snacks like little bags of chips, and on the right we can find huevos de amor.

About 10 steps away you will find this pulperia! And actually during those 10 steps there is another pulperia. Four stores right in a row…Our street is Pulperia Row :) We frequent this pulperia for our produce and milk. This one also seems to carry the most variety so if we are looking for something atypical then we will go here. This is also the store of one of our friends (the girl that just got married!) so we like to go here and visit with the family. Although at every store on this street we can always get into a good conversation. After all, we are all neighbors!

This Pulp is pretty organized! You can find some that are just piles on piles and you have to dig to find your items. On this side of the store (room), you can find flour, crackers, oatmeal, seasoning packets, sugar and salt, oil, diaper and in the coolers below…cold drinks and popsicles.

Produce section (tomatoes, onions, potatoes, bananas, plantains, coconuts, garlic, yuca…) We like this pulp because you can pick your own items and measure them out yourself (bought by the pound). In the glass case, you would find some pharmacy items (ibuprofen, vit. C…) and also some bread products that are brought in from Esteli.

Snack section! You can find a variety here. Our favorites are potato chips, and another “chip” that is like a rolled-up cheesy dorito called taqueritos :) They also have cheese puffs, a yucca mix and a spicy peanut mix.

I told you this place was organized! On the other side of the room, you can find household items, like laundry  and dish soap, toilet paper, matches, and non-perishables like canned tuna, ketchup, oil etc…

Candy and small package of crackers and cookies!

Eggs that came from an egg distribudor in the city. When we can we like to buy huevos de amor  (eggs from the backyard chickens!)

Small packages of powdered milk, ketchup, and baby formula. You can also buy small packages of seasonings and oil.

And here is a picture of the whole room. It’s a pretty skinny operation, but behind all of this is more storage to keep excess items and also where they sell their rice and beans.

As you can see this little guy was sent down by his mom to pick up a few items, he had money and knew exactly what to ask for! That’s the joy of living in a small town, with so many shopping options right outside your door :)

We still have many questions about the store system in town. How do all these stores survive? What ARE their hours? And how can 1 family have 1-3 stores and not feel like they are competing? It is definitely a different kind of economy here with way less regulation on who can open a store and where you can have a store (or a restaurant). But it’s been fun to experience a different way of shopping and we love the convenience of having shopping options LITERALLY right outside our door.

Off to buy some tomatoes and oil to make real Nica rice…until next time! :)

Love.