Reviewing Our Local Grocery Stores

"Peedy's" photo-enhanced

Closest tienda to our little place goes by the name of "Peedy’s", near as I can tell a gringo corruption of the owner’s nickname--Pirri (another  of Ronco’s brothers). It’s our 7-11. We go there early or late for beer, bagels, or the canned milk we put in coffee. 

"Peedy's" is too dark to see much that’s on the shelves, and produce bins are often slim pickins, except for fruit flies, but one thing you can count on is a smile from whomever is at the counter. "Peedy's" front stoop is also a local hangout for hombres wanting to kick back a cerveza or three, and BS. 

Next further out is "Teesha’s"--a gringo-ish devolution of Leticia. It’s the spiffiest and best stocked tienda in the pueblo, but also the least friendly. We don’t go there except for the vacuum-packed coffee, and on the rare occasions we want to feel like clumsy foreign buttinskys.

Tencia as La Suprema: she's such a cutup

Our favorite tienda is "Tensha’s"; it’s numero uno mainly because of the ebullient personality of Hortencia, its sort-of eponymous owner. She’s the hoot who, from the time I mistakenly asked for chamomile instead of butter, exuberantly, and educationally, recited, “Manzanilla, mantequilla. Manzanilla, mantequilla, etc,” every time I came in her store...maybe you'd have to be there to appreciate the whimsy, though.

Mexican pinball: without a flipper,
what's the point?

"Tensha’s" is an even more popular hang-out than "Peedy’s". I often see Silverio there playing the Mexican slot machine, and a pinball at the door (without flippers, alas) attracts all genders and ages. Hortencia holds court and pushes the homemade, and the all too frequently sampled-by-me, pies. Plus she's got the lowest price on El Jimador, and best selection of cacahuates in town.

Go Tencia!