Today's picture was taken in about 1900 in Caracas, Venezuala. It looks a lot like the shops I remember in Mexico in the 1960's. Now this is a shop I could really get excited about. The guy in the back . . . I bet those are 50 pound bags of pinto beans he is sitting on. It looks like fresh coconuts under the counter. What I like about these types of shops is how there is no wasteful packaging. If you wanted pinto beans, they would have a simple sheet of paper, they would weigh out your beans, pour them onto the paper, and then fold up the neatest little package from the paper. Then, as a customer, you would have your own canvas satchel that you would put the packet of beans in. As I have mentioned before, I am NOT part of the green movement, but I really hate all the waste in packaging of our groceries and other items today. Take razor blades for example. The blades are in a little case, which is in a bigger case, which is encapsulated in a plastic bubble which is connected to a large plastic/cardboard backing. Ridiculous, and hard to open I might add. I hate the waste, and I hate the hard to open part. Some of the packages are such tough plastic, that even normal kitchen scissors can not cut through them. I have actually cut my hand pretty bad on the plastic on some of these packages trying to get them open. I really wish we would go back to a simpler system for purchasing grocery items in bulk and with less waste in the packaging.
