Retail Therapy at the Colonia
One of the wonders of ex-pat living is discovering that certain activities and/or habits in which you would most likely never engage in your place of origin become common features of your new life abroad. Take for example, my strong affection for the Colonia, a grocery store chain here in Nicaragua. For many years, while I was living in Brooklyn and NYC, I had the pleasure of shopping at farmer’s markets, smaller family-owned grocery stores, and natural food stores. Unlike the rest of the US, there are not many big grocery store chains in NYC with the exception of Whole Foods. Whenever I was outside of NYC, the grocery stores generally frightened me in the US – they were huge and I found the amount of food and sheer size of the building to be completely overwhelming. Thus, the pleasure I derive from the Colonia is somewhat puzzling but nonetheless comforting. It’s not nearly as big as US grocery stores nor as imposing but generally looks the same just with different stuff and in Spanish.