Big box stores are a lot more common and even one short train ride away we have access to a store that resembles Home Depot in size and scope. No more going all over town trying to find the little tienda that sells the little part we need to fix the shower. Ready prepared foods are easier...though still not easy...to find in the grocery store. I can't get refried beans, for instance, in any of the three stores I frequent but I can get frozen pizza. I got a Chinese delivery menu in the mail yesterday...that's new...and found a restaurant in the MALL that is a ten minute walk from our home (so shocked it was here that I didn't even know until the students informed me) that serves brownies with ice cream and chocolate fudge sauce (our Spanish teacher was shocked at such a concoction when we served it at a closing social in 2006!) My struggling Spanish has invited store keepers to proudly speak to me in broken English (I don't think I EVER experienced that seven years ago) It's apparently not even unusual to ask for tap water in restaurants and we haven't had any of the weird looks we encountered last time from that request.
Pictures were taken by my students for an assignment on globalization. :)
These might seem little but to me they seem huge! It feels a little like a wave that's just starting to form. Fortunately, most things remain the same... Cobblestone, narrow streets with big beautiful plazas, grandparents with their grandchildren in the park, street artists and long siestas where most of the city shuts down, polite people that are perfectly fine sitting close to you on the bus, evening family strolls, museums, cathedrals and beautiful buildings everywhere you look.
I hope some things ever change.
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