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El Chalan on the Street
Today I took Lola for a walk and bumped into this Wong supermarket employee pushing a shopping cart along the street. He was on his way back from bringing a customer’s groceries to her house, a free service that the store offers. Check out the chic Fiestas Patrias outfit: white poncho, red scarf and broad-brimmed straw hat — the traditional gear of the northern Peruvian cowboy. Wong bagboys wear these getups through July 28, Peru’s Independence Day. Maybe supermarkets in the United States could adopt this trend. What kind of “typically American” gear might the checkout people wear for 4th of July? Labor Day?
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Supermarket Cowboys
Peru’s biggest supermarket chain – Wong – plays up Fiestas Patrias in a big way, sponsoring patriotic events throughout Lima and featuring the “flavors of Peru” during the month-long season. The store’s colors are red and white, the colors of the Peruvian flag, but to celebrate the independence-day spirit during July, some employees wear outfits distinctive to Peru. The young men who bag your groceries wear these white ponchos with red scarves and big straw hats – the traditional costume of “el chalán,” the horse trainer or cowboy from northern Peru. (See photo of actual chalan, not in red and white, riding a horse in Lima, by Paul Ark, right).