Who are THEY?

We learned a lesson early on. When you find something you like, buy it all, because the next time you go back it may be gone forever. We learned this well during our first few months in Xela. We went to the grocery store (a really nice one called Hiper Paiz) and bought the reasonable number of two cans of Campbell's Tomato Soup. A week later we were surprised that they were out, but figured it would be back in stock in no time. Four months went by before they had any more. By that time we had learned our lesson and since that time we have never had less than 15 cans of tomato soup in our house (you HAVE to have it if you eat grilled cheese sandwiches.)

We have been through this many times with many products. Hot Chocolate, Toaster Stroudels, cans of Corn, Pop Tarts (I'm not telling you where I buy them), Pop Corn, Charmin, Paper Towels, Tide liquid detergent... just to name a few.

We have gone weeks at a time without chicken, or cheddar cheese, even pork of any kind. Last December after a month with no bacon or ham I asked the butcher at our grocery store here in Petén why it had been so long without any pork. She replied, "oh, it's out of season."

Now we buy large quantities of these things when we find them. Especially in a grocery store where they have scanners, you would imagine they would have some sort of inventory system. In high school I worked at Walgreens and remembered the manager's frustration when we would get 5,000 rolls of toilet paper because some wacko bought 500 in one day (me preparing for one busy night of TPing) and the inventory system didn't want the store to run out when it was obviously in high demand. We buy often, even when we don't need more, hoping that somebody will get the clue that there are Gringos that want it and if they bring it, we'll buy it.

But whether we are in a hardware store, tienda, gas station, or a Maxi Bodega, we always get the same answer: "THEY haven't sent it yet." Who are THEY? Nobody knows. Neither the managers in the large stores, nor the owners of the small places have ever been able to tell me who THEY are. Apparently, THEY are some magical people who send a truck and everybody just buys whatever comes off the truck. When I ask if they can order something for me, THEY don't do that. When I try to explain that I will always buy something if they bring it (like I bought 23 packages of Pop Tarts last week), I am always told that THEY just send stuff and you never know what you're going to get.

Deep down I know that it can't be so random as that. I'd like to think that somebody, somewhere in Guate is getting these shipments from the States and thinks, "I bet if we send this to Petén that Gringo will buy it." Now if I could only get a phone number for THEY...