Guatemala - 2011

Day 5 - July 16, Sat - Mercado again

Laundry lady around the corner.

My first Licha

Pitaya.

Pitaya before cut.

The soccer field next to the Mercado.

Buying Mazapan more cheaply in the Mercado. Too sweet. The ones near Maria Elsa's house are twice the price and worth it!

Anaisa's first mazapan.

Anaisa leaving us after I taught her how to adjust a backpack.

I went to the market again with Maria Elsa and it was a different experience. She is a very good shopper.

At one of the meat counters. I don't know which one, maybe pork. Notice no refrigeration and they don't clean the scale after each use.

I saw here buy chicken, which they then cut up for her, and beef, which they ground for her also. Maria Elsa told me a couple of minutes after this picture was taken that she saw a woman at one of the meat counters take one of the meat hooks, rinse it out in the filthy water that runs along the ground, and spike it through another piece of meat to hang it. Maria was shocked. This was a big lesson for me. I was already worried about the hygiene. That story put a fine head on it.

All onions and garlic.

And cats. Notice the piece of string for a leash.

Garbage dealer: containers. Maria needed containers for her daughter who is finishing her student teaching. Her daughter made kermit the frog containers out of old baby formula cans. There are all sorts of plastic, cardboard, metal, and glass containers. It looks dirty and strange to us, but it really is recycling at its best: reusing instead of recyling.

Look at the size of those carrots. In one of my soups I pulled out what I thought was a piece of sweet potato, but it was a giant piece of carrot.

Grains. Even though they are beautiful they are very expensive. Maria Elsa said that the price is much higher this year, which is VERY bad for the poor.

What are they doing?

Soccer, of course. Brasil and Uraguay, I think.

The Gringo Mule. About 60 pounds of fresh food.

I asked if this was an unusual amount of weight (since I splurged by buying a watermelon, cateloupe, and pineapple) and she said, no. How does little Maria Elsa do this? She walks a couple of feet behind the market and takes a bus across town. She thought we would do that, but I liked the challenge. We walked. I still have marks on my shoulders.

Afterwards Maria Elsa, Conchita and I went to a very local place at the edge of town and had three meals for Q44 (about $6).