To Market!

Want to know one of my favorite things about Latin America? I’ll give you a hint. It’s dirty, colorful, noisy, and moves at about a thousand miles an hour all the time.

For those of you who guessed a taxi, half-credit; taxis here do fit that description perfectly. However, the other whirling ball of sight and sound that I’m talking about is the Latin American market.

I love the markets here. They’re full of tiny tables, presided over by old ladies, full of fruit, vegetables, meat (both cooked and raw), seafood…in short, anything you could ever imagine eating. If it’s edible, chances are it’s somewhere in this ever changing maze of stalls. But it’s not just food, either. For many people, the markets are the Mall as well, and they get their clothing (yes, underwear too), toiletries and even entertainment from their local market. All those other “all-in-one” stores, Wal-Mart, Costco? They got nothing on this. 

Aside from being able to pick up an amazingly juicy watermelon for 75 cents, I go to the market in almost every city I visit, because, for me at least, it’s a way to really get a sense of what the city itself is going to be like. For example, in San Carlos, located at the bottom of the Lago de Nicaragua (Nicaragua’s enormous, freshwater lake) and the mouth of the Río San Juan, the market is a smelly fish bonanza. I liked it anyway, which is saying something, because San Carlos wasn’t exactly my favorite stop on the trip.

I like markets because I like the idea of a market. It’s a place where people can bring their own, personally produced or acquired goods to a place where customers can buy local, yet still get everything they need. It’s not like a farmer’s market in the U.S. where you go to the farmer’s market to get fresh veggies, but to the store to get shampoo. In a market, all those things are right there. Plus, at the market, your little shopping excursion just turned into an adventure.