Supplements

Imported tubs and locally packed leaf powders:

most of what gets listed falls on one side or the other of that line. Sports nutrition, meaning whey, creatine and pre-workout, arrives from abroad in rigid screw-top tubs with a foil seal under the lid. So do most multivitamins, fish oil and collagen, as tablets, softgels or powder in sealed bottles. Dried leaf powder from Guatemalan growers is sold in pouches, some with a full printed label and some in a plain bag with a home-made sticker. Prenatal vitamins are judged like any other bottle, while breast pumps and maternity belts sit under pre- and postpartum, and canes, walkers and bathroom aids under special interest.

Choosing between a tub, a pouch and a bottle:

size it to what you will finish before the date. The biggest tub of whey is the cheapest way to buy it, but only if it is empty well before the expiry printed on the base, and a screw lid keeps damp out far better than the zip on a pouch. With leaf powder the closure matters even more: once a heat-sealed bag is cut it never closes properly again, so a small bag you will get through quickly beats a big one that sits open for months. Whichever you pick, go for the one with a named producer, an address, a lot number and an expiry date printed on the pack. A typed sticker on a plain bag tells you none of that.

Fake vitamins and tubs that came over the border:

vitamins and supplements are among the products most often counterfeited in Guatemala, and the copies are good enough that the box rarely gives them away. Fake multivitamins have turned up in bottle sizes the genuine product was never sold in here, and under variety names the brand does not make, so compare the tablet count and the exact name with what a pharmacy stocks. Goods also come in by road from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, and a tub with no Spanish label has usually travelled that way, through heat and handling nobody can account for. A private seller with several identical sealed bottles is reselling stock, so ask where they came from.

The foil, the lot number and the powder in a privately sold tub:

unscrew the lid when you meet. The foil should be flat and glued all the way round with no pinholes, and the lot number on the base should be printed rather than handwritten, and match the box if there is one. Tip the tub: whey and creatine should run loose, and hard lumps mean moisture got in. Leaf powder should be a bright green; a dull, brownish one has been open too long or left in the light. Anything already opened is the hard sell, because nobody can know what went into it or how it was kept, and it is priced accordingly.

Pricing a sealed whey tub against its date:

the date does most of the work. An imported five-pound tub of whey costs around Q1,100 to Q1,200 new, and a sealed one with most of its date ahead should fetch a couple of hundred quetzales under that. With only a few months left the buyer has to get through all of it in time, and the price has to drop to match. Smaller things, a tub of creatine or a pouch of leaf powder, lose most of their value the moment the seal is broken. Photograph the front, the Spanish label with its registration number, and the lot and expiry close enough to read, plus the foil with the lid off. Say whether it is sealed, where it was kept and why you are selling. If a bottle of vitamins came in a box, sell it with the box. Someone travelling in from Xela or Chimaltenango for a tub will want to read the base and the box side by side before paying, and a lot number that matches is what closes the sale.