Mexico is full of little tricks and traps and unless you have a smile about your face and a willingness to laugh you can get very frustrated. Someone recently wrote that one way the culture shows how downtrodden it is is in the form of asking for things. I caught onto that early on in Mexico and have always asked, “you DON’T have water, do you?” I suppose it can be looked at as further evidence of how the culture expects to be kicked in the ass, but honestly, I think it is because if you ask the question in that way you are frequently surprised with a “why YES! we DO have water” and it is such a lovely surprise that you are all warm and happy. Now if you’d received a “no”, well, you were already expecting that they DIDN’T have water so no big deal. But when you’re already expecting “No” and you get “Yes” it is a very nice surprise. And being happily surprised is very rare when you’re doing tramites in Mexico. 
The last time Jamie went shopping he had a little incident in buying water. We can either have our water delivered for $25/garrafon (19 litre/5 gallon) bottle, but we never know when the water truck will come; buy it for the same price from the guard shack; buy it direct from the plant at $22; buy it at any Super for $24 or buy it from Bodega Aurrera for $20. Bodega Aurrera is a bit on the north side of town but it is also the cheapest for dry goods, so we try to hit it once a week and stock up. Last trip Jamie waited a good hour for them to refund him money he’d paid for water but they didn’t have in stock. Yesterday, not only did I know better to determine if water was available to purchase BEFORE purchasing, when I turned in my garrafones for credit (the first little tramite is to take your empty garrafones to the paqueteria, where you must also turn in any packages you bring into the store). Depending on the store, they will either have an elaborate tramite to turn them in (Bodega Aurrera takes the garrafones, enters them into the register, creates a gift card and receipts; Soriana simply writes down on a little piece of paper the number of garrafones and the item number) or something simple. Yesterday, the guy only gave me credit for one garrafone, caught his mistake and put the second on the gift card, BUT all this after he took 10 mintues to determine they actually had water to sell!
So Ellen and I head off to do our shopping. We’re in and out pretty quickly. Trampa numero uno is paying for the water. First the poor checker had absolutely NO idea what to do with the gift card. She calls a supervisor over and is shown how to use the gift card but they disagree on the price of the water. If you don’t bring your garrafon it is one price, bringing a garrafon results in a $60 charge then a $40 gift card. Still with me? :) So a couple more checkers come over and the all agree that the charge should be $60 and not $120. Unfortunately, the checker, the checker’s co-workers and the supervisor cannot figure out the item number for the water. After many consultations they decide to ask me to simply pay for my purchases and they reverse the gift card (trampita numero dos) and go put heads together. Jamie texts me that he needs pasta sauce and both Ellen and I have to pee, so this is a good time to take a break.
We refresh ourselves and I am still waiting for the glory number so I can buy 2 garrafones but the checker who has asked me to wait simply closes up her register and leaves. Ok, no problem, I still need to buy pasta sauce. Back in line we come up with the same problem when I tell the poor cashier I want to buy 2 garrafones of Electropura. This time a MALE supervisor comes over and they try each and every number in the book but are unsuccessful. I’m betting you’re thinking I should just forget the water already, eh? Ah, ye of little faith… Finally, the cashier asks me if I can just pay for the pasta sauce and they’ll get back to me. Sometime before I’m old and grey, I assume. Well, oldER and greyER. “No,” I tell her “I’ve been through this once already, waited for someone to come up with a code and I’ll just wait here (and hold up your line) until the code gets here.” Smiling the whole time like I’m just TICKLED to death to do so. Everyone is happy, smiling and probably hating the gringa inside. Finally, the supervisor comes over with the code, the gift card is applied (trampita numero tres as the poor cashier now needs a serious group huddle to figure this little tramite out) a few swipes of the supervisor’s card later and I am allowed to finally PURCHASE 2 garrafones of water.
The supervisor takes me over to the locked water container, selects 2 garrafones and loads them in my carrito (basket). Unfortunately one is leaking and she calls a male checker over (they are heavy) to replace it with (what turned out to be) a garrafon which simply leaks less. At this point I’m cutting losses and walk out with our groceries, the 2 garrafones and count it a win.
Outside we notice trampita numero tres. The super has errected postes which completely and totally disallow the removal of the carrito to the parking lot and as such, I end up paying a $5 tip to the muchacho to pick up my garrafones, so skillfully fought for, and bring them to the car. Completely obliterating any savings in purchasing said garrafones at Bodega Aurrera. But their dry good prices still rock the wallet.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Jonna // Jul 13, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Ah amiga, and that is where we differ. I will happily, joyfully, pay an extra 5 pesos for someone else to haul, carry, transport and deliver almost anything but most certainly those large, heavy garrafons of water. My sadness now is that I can’t do that as we can’t catch the water truck when we can’t see it from the 3rd floor and we are using a different brand than the condo management so as to avoid confusion or accusations of water theft. So, Mimi has to go off to the Pueblo and buy our water and haul it up the stairs. I still pay more though to get one of the brands made by either Pepsi or Coke because I trust it more. Not because they are Pepsi or Coke but because even the smallest amount of bacteria will explode a soda can so they make the purest water.
2 crystal d fritts // Jul 15, 2008 at 10:32 am
Okay, I have a couple of questions. How often do you go for water? Do you use it for drinking (duh) and cooking? And are these prices pesos or American dollars?
Still love your blog!
3 wayne // Jul 15, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Now I feel lucky. Our water is 21 pesos, delivered or not. Depending upon our need, we can: bungee cord the garrafone to our gate with 21 pesos inside. The truck will stop, exchange it for a new one and carry it into the house for you. Or we go to the lady around the corner who sells it out of her house. Same 21 pesos. Or we can go directly to the dealer, same 21 pesos. We have to maintain a supply of 6 of those things so we are always getting water!
4 Kathe // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:09 am
Here is an interesting little difference in living further south in Chetumal…our water is 16 pesos….no matter where you buy it…and I have not seen any water other than Crystal.
I load up my empties and take them to the little abarroteria where the young man there gladly loads the full ones in my car.
Your little story is enough to put anyone off moving to Mexico…and is a primo example of what life is like here.
5 jenadina // Jul 30, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Wow, you pay a lot for water where you are. In Tijuana, the garrafones are around 10 pesos to fill if you bring your own, and you can find it cheaper depending on which day of the week you go!
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