The French Wal.Mart and Your Best Friend

Yesterday I got tired of washing my socks and I did not want to pay $2 a sock to have them washed. I asked the hotel ¨Donde esta supermercado?¨ The gentleman asked if I want Wal-Mart or CarreFour (the French Wal Mart).
This small city has two Wal Marts and a CarreFour. I went to the French Wal-Mart because it was closer to my hotel and bought 3 pairs of socks. Also I bought some Dental floss. As I was searching for my socks, I noticed a difference between Wal-Mart in the United States and Argentina. Here the middle class and upward moving classes shop at these mega stores and the poor shop on the streets from small shops and other poor people on the street.
Speaking of poverty: Yesterday I took a wine tour around Mendoza. As we were driving back we drove by a shanty town. There were two things that jumped out at me and made an impression: 1) Most (if not all) of the people in this shanty town had indigenous features. Argentinians for most part have European features and the indigenous population is not visible. 2) I noticed a woman walking into the shanty town and a dog with its tail wagging running up to greet her. The dog was happy to see her and after greeting her started following her into the shanty town. It made me think about the importance of friendships and loyalty. One´s surrounding does not matter. It is not how much we have (the dog was malnourished) but ....
Well I am getting sappy so I will stop!