apple factory

within the first few days that I arrived i met a woman.  she is so delightful that I try to catch up with her once a week.  one day as we were getting a coffee her eyes light up and she she says ‘let’s go to La Torre’.

let me back up a bit.  besides the local market for fruits veggies and some foul smelling meat there has been only one ‘grocery’ store in Antigua since precolumbian time.  apparently the owner has enough local influence to keep all other stores out.  instead of caring for and cultivating this monopoly he has a store with poor quality products that seem to always be covered with a layer of dust.  so yuck. 

here’s the good news, there is a very nice, high quality chain called La Torre which is opening in the next village which is less than 5 minutes away.  for those of you in the US it’s a difference between shopping at a Whole Foods or at a 7-11 for dinner.  so, since i arrived the excitement has been at a fever pitch about the opening.  every week someone posts on the expat page they ‘think’ it is open.  i have learned that there is a lot of specutlating vs. reality on the expat page so i’ve been waiting for real photographic proof or a first hand account of someone who has been there.

so my friend says, let's go and i say yes.  well, as you can probably guess.  it wasn't open yet but we found something better.


on a side street is a small carpentry shop where an old man is carving apples and other fruits in a tiny dark storefront.  the work is beautiful and made the trek to Jocotenango a good adventure.