Sari Sari Stores

In every neighborhood in the Philippines there are Sari Sari stores.  These little gems make life easier for the local people.  If you need a sundry, a box of cereal or a banana, the Sari Sari store is the place.  Everyone in the Philippines has a cell phone and no one uses them to call, they text.  Texting costs one peso a text and making a call costs 30, so people text.  They text at lightening speed and they text while they are talking to you.  After you get a phone, you go to the local Sari Sari store and get a load.  This means that you put money on an account tied to your phone and you can use the phone until your deposit runs out.  The Sari Sari store also sells load for the broadband Tattoo which plugs into your computer and allows you to find a wifi signal from anywhere that you are as long as a tower is near. I have not tried the third option and that is an international load card but I know that it works as I have seen it done.  The location of the Sari Sari store may be next to your home or it may be down the street a few feet.  People convert a part of their home or add a store front at the street.  There are also Sari Sari stores on the highway. All in all, a great place to shop for incidentals.