Saturday, March 03, 2007
Mercados, mercados, mercados
Mickey, Nell and I spent the afternoon buzzing through three mercardos - Terlingue (sp) is between the school and my house, a small market with lots of organic produce, a famous taco stand, and everything you could possibly need should you decide to take up streetwalking -- five-inch dangly silver earrings that say "sexy", a cotton tank top and panties that both say "porn king," five-inch acrylic heels, ruffly hot pink skirts that are also about five inches long. Yowza. Of course, all of this is being sold next to stands offering tapes of the Pope's sermons or blasting hymns on loudspeakers.
Next was the city's biggest, Mercado de Abasto. This place...hard to begin to describe. First, it's huge. "Which region of the market do you want?" asked the cab driver. Second, it has everything. In at least four different shops. You can buy a washer dryer, a watch or something from "World of Plastic" here. There were at least seven stalls selling herbs and candles for cures, prayers, spells. A whole quadrant of flower vendors. A couple city blocks of baskets. And hard as we tried to avoid the meat, chicken and fish vendors - flat slabs of beef sitting in open air at about 90 degree-plus do not smell so great by 3 p.m. - we seemed to run into a couple every time we turned a corner. And did you know that there are four-inch marshmallows?
The aisles between stalls are narrow, and the corners, where there's slightly more room, are occupied by old women sitting on buckets selling an apron-full of vegetables or tlalludas (or tlayudas - you can spell it both ways). They provide the white noise here. "Tlayudas, tlayudas, tlayudas" is a chant you can hear in almost any part of the mercado. There aren't many taquerias here. Tlayudas are more popular.
It was here that we all bought Lucha Libre masks. Mine is a lizard - bright yellow with red wings that flap off the sides of the face and white antenae dangling from the forehead. $5. Mickey, feeling flush, bought one with a cape for $7.
We wound up at 20 de Novembre, somewhere in between the other two in size, south of the Zocalo. This one is more expensive, but also more manageable - has a little bit of everything and is slightly more calm. And I can walk to it! The old ladies sell tlayudas here too, but that chant is cut with another: "Chapulines, chapulines, chapulines." Grasshoppers! they come in "large," "medium," "small," and "parts and pieces." Haven't tried one yet, but I'm sure I will at some point. My teacher Guadalupe passed on a cautionary tale about a student who thought he had a bright idea. He wanted a pix of himself eating a giant size chapuline, but knew he might not be able to handle it. So he got a salsa taco too, and decided to take a bite of the bug, then a bite of taco, to wash the taste out of his mouth.
"Hey, this isn't bad at all," he said to the vendor. "The taco really helps!"
"That's because it's salsa de gusano (a kind of worm/bug)!" agreed the vendor.
Next was the city's biggest, Mercado de Abasto. This place...hard to begin to describe. First, it's huge. "Which region of the market do you want?" asked the cab driver. Second, it has everything. In at least four different shops. You can buy a washer dryer, a watch or something from "World of Plastic" here. There were at least seven stalls selling herbs and candles for cures, prayers, spells. A whole quadrant of flower vendors. A couple city blocks of baskets. And hard as we tried to avoid the meat, chicken and fish vendors - flat slabs of beef sitting in open air at about 90 degree-plus do not smell so great by 3 p.m. - we seemed to run into a couple every time we turned a corner. And did you know that there are four-inch marshmallows?
The aisles between stalls are narrow, and the corners, where there's slightly more room, are occupied by old women sitting on buckets selling an apron-full of vegetables or tlalludas (or tlayudas - you can spell it both ways). They provide the white noise here. "Tlayudas, tlayudas, tlayudas" is a chant you can hear in almost any part of the mercado. There aren't many taquerias here. Tlayudas are more popular.
It was here that we all bought Lucha Libre masks. Mine is a lizard - bright yellow with red wings that flap off the sides of the face and white antenae dangling from the forehead. $5. Mickey, feeling flush, bought one with a cape for $7.
We wound up at 20 de Novembre, somewhere in between the other two in size, south of the Zocalo. This one is more expensive, but also more manageable - has a little bit of everything and is slightly more calm. And I can walk to it! The old ladies sell tlayudas here too, but that chant is cut with another: "Chapulines, chapulines, chapulines." Grasshoppers! they come in "large," "medium," "small," and "parts and pieces." Haven't tried one yet, but I'm sure I will at some point. My teacher Guadalupe passed on a cautionary tale about a student who thought he had a bright idea. He wanted a pix of himself eating a giant size chapuline, but knew he might not be able to handle it. So he got a salsa taco too, and decided to take a bite of the bug, then a bite of taco, to wash the taste out of his mouth.
"Hey, this isn't bad at all," he said to the vendor. "The taco really helps!"
"That's because it's salsa de gusano (a kind of worm/bug)!" agreed the vendor.
# posted by Anne @ 3:16 PM 
