Festival de Importados - Really!?

My local grocery store - Mas x Menos (More for Less) - loves to hold a good theme party. Every now and then I will wander in and they'll be celebrating something random. But when they celebrate, they go all out with decorations, banners, and merchandise aligned to said celebration. Recently they had the Festival de Mexico...so they had lots of salsa, jalepenos, and "mexican" related items.

Today, I was visually assaulted by red, white, and blue paraphernalia when I entered the store. This was odd considering that they did not have this up for the 4th of July, but now, afterwards. This week's theme party? "Festival de Importados - Lo mejor de U.S.A. a tu alcance." This translates into "Festival of Imports - The best of the U.S.A. at your fingertips."

My first thought was "ummm..ok, this is interesting." And, as a somewhat homesick girl, there was a small voice inside of me also going "Hooray! Yippee!!" But what I quickly learned is that Mas x Menos has NO idea what the best products of the US are!

I mean, yes, they had a bunch of US products filling the shelves of their displays. But, this Southern girl was quite upset that Sun-Drop and Dukes Mayonnaise did NOT make the cut! How dare they??!! What? No Luzianne tea? No decent chocolate? Who are you people and how could you call these the BEST products of the US?

And, really? We're going with Old Milwaukee as one of the best beers we produce? In college, Milwaukee's Best was known as "The Beast." Other featured beers included Budweiser, Miller Genuine Draft, and Coor's Light....SERIOUSLY!??

The whole thing, while horribly disappointing, also made me laugh. I would have loved to been around when they were deciding which items to feature. "Hey Carlos, Charmin toilet paper is from the US, right? Ok, I'll put it next to the dial soap. The Gringos are gonna LOVE this!!"

Just another interesting experience here in Costa Rica. Although, while it was not all I could have hoped for, I guess I should be grateful they at least tried!

<3,
Amber