Ropa Americana

Friday is shopping day in Salacuim. The fresh produce usually comes in Thursday night and the big truck full of ¨ropa americana¨ (american clothes) pulls up early Friday morning. It's an exciting time for the people of this small aldea. It's a good chance to socialize with your neighbors while buying your supplies for the week and checking out the latest fashions to come into Salacuim. For us, it's kind of like a day at Goodwill. The people here are firm believers that clothes from the states are of the best quality even if the majority of them are a flashback from the 90's. They seem to stand up to the test of getting scrubbed in a cement sink day after day. The trucks pull up and do their routine drop of piles of clothes on the ground, to which everyone dives in to see what they can find. Simultaneously, there is usually a man on the microphone calling out the deals like a cattle auction. Typically, you can find a good t-shirt for about Q4 or $0.35. Of course the shopping day inevitably ends up with a grown man buying a t-shirt that says, ¨I'm a big sister¨ or an 80 year old wearing a ¨Class of 2006 shirt¨. It provides for much humor and really makes the day what it is.


The ¨pile¨