With a little more than two weeks until Christmas, it is obvious that the retail sales ¨big deal¨ that is so common in the USA is not a big deal here. It seems that at least three economic factors come together to help explain this.
First there are very few large retail establisment. ¨Large¨ here would be considered a mom and pop type store in the US. Only recently did Puyo gain a department store that sells both food and an asortment of other items. It is the largest store in a town of 30,000. The little shops mostly have their specialties and only a few carry items that would be considered hot Christmas items.
Secondly, there is little discrectionary income. Most families work for the basic necessities of life and there is little money left for anything else. We really don´t know what a ¨large¨Christmas expenditure might be, but it is safe to say that $100 would be huge.
The third factor that limits Christmas buying is that there is no credit card use here. The concept of using plastic to pay for things is only something people hear about. They find it difficult to believe.
Credit card use and purchasing on the internet are now closely related in the US. Purchasing on the internet is unheard of here. When we explain how this works, people see it as some sort of magic purchasing. It seems to them that purchases must be sort of ¨free¨if they can be made this way.
So how commercial is Christmas here? We really are not sure, but it is certainly a different kind of ¨commercial¨than we know in the US.
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Do you have any idea as to the percentage of Christians in the population? That is, what percentage of the population will celebrate Christmas. Other religions have different holidays.
In a subsistence economy gifts are usually small and are useful items similar to the experiences narrated by people on the American frontier. Are there displays of trees, lights and Bethlehem? Don
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