Market Day

The narrow "street" through the market

Traffic jam on that narrow street

After the jam cleared

Debi buying 8 oranges for 10 lemp (50 cents!)

One of the meat shops in the market

One of the nicer vegetable vendors in the market

I was sitting on the deck this morning, checking e-mail, enjoying the delightful breeze, when my new friend, Debi, stopped by to see if I wanted to go explore the markets in Coxen Hole with her. Yes!! I was ready in a flash. She drove - brave woman. Traffic was quite heavy on Thicket, the road entering the Hole and when we got to Main St., we saw the problem - Main was blocked off for some reason and everyone had to turn right. We soon learned that they were setting up for a carnival for tonight. We parked along the street and walked back, stopping to talk to people along the way, like the fish vendors.

The top picture show the narrow alley-way type of road that runs through the market. The cars were so backed up because that was also blocked off at Main. Some of them finally backed up - not an easy feat. Some of them must have eased out behind the barracade because the street finally became relatively empty (photo 3).

We popped into the little shops lining the street, just to see what they sold. The very first shop we entered sells fabric! Just what I had been wondering about. They sell all sorts of sewing notions. Good to know. I need to make a dust ruffle for the guest room bed.

The next shop carried an eclectic assortment of things from nail polish, curly lightbulbs, hair scrunchies, to heavy pad locks.

At the end of the block, we entered a big building - the Mercado Municipale, kind of like a Soulard Market for you St. Louis readers. Lots of little shops and stalls inside selling clothing, shoes, toiletries, and mainly, fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. The fourth photo is Debi buying her bargain oranges. There were 3 meat vendors, like the one in the 5th photo. They have more meat in the freezers behind this man. Sometimes, they'll have a side of beef hanging from a hook in front of these stands. This man was shooing away the flies (not too many!). His meat looked more thawed out than the vendor next to him. Good prices: 35 lemp per pound for T-bone or rib eye steaks ($1.50!!) We are both slightly apprehensive about buying here, although many gringos swear it is excellent meat.

The last photo is another vegetable vendor section and they had really nice looking produce and great prices. I bought broccoli, cabbage, jalapenos, peanuts, corn, cucumber, green tomatoes, mangos for about 100 lemp or $5.00! Out on the street, I bought 2 pounds of fresh jumbo shrimp for $9.00 and 4 pounds of red beans for less than $3.40.

Good shopping!