¡TJ Maxx, ven a Peru!

If TJ Maxx were to build businesses in Peru, they would make so much money. Today I went shopping  with one of our girls, Gaby, who wanted to get some new shorts. How the shopping works here would definitely only work in Peru. It makes the streets of New York City look like a shopping mall. Part of the clothes are in the actual Belen Market. These are the clothes that you can try to barter for but you normally fail, especially if you're a gringa. These stands are all side by side and set up in districts. So all the womens' clothes are together, all the mens' clothes are together, there's one for hats, underwear, athletic shorts, etc. You name it, they have it. These people who run the stands are also store owners. How it works it the people only have one size of each piece of clothing at their stands and if a person wants another size, the stand owner runs to their store down the street to get the right size. There's no way to try on the clothes in the market, so you pretty much have to know your size. Also, clothes here are tiny. I mean TINY. I bought a pair of shorts that were size 34 (I normally wear size 26). The people here wear clothes that are incredibly tight. So if you buy clothes that are too tight (which will always happen your first time) you can't bring them back the next day and return them because the stand won't be in the same place and finding them is virtually impossible in the crowd.

That's the first part of Peruvian shopping. The second is in the stores en la calle de Prospero. All the clothing stores are on this main avenue and they are all the same. It's not like in the US where if one store doesn't have it, another might. These stores are all right next to each other and all carry the exact same clothes for the same prices. And there's not one store that carries everything for cheaper prices, like TJ Maxx. If they would come here, they would make so much money and make my life so much easier when I'm taking my 16 children shopping!