the market

So I realized that I had not yet described to you possibly one of my favorite things here in Nicaragua and that is the market. I am not exactly sure why I like it so much, but every time I have an opportunity to go to the market, I take it. It is a very lively place and it is possible to find almost anything there.

The market in Jinotepe is in the center of town and probably takes up close to ten city blocks. It runs along various streets in front of the houses and other businesses. Most of the stalls are permanent and sit along the sides of the road so that all the people, cars, bikes, men pulling trash carts, and horses pulling carts can cross through in the center. The stalls have tin roofs and wooden walls, although some just have tin roofs. Each stall is owned by a different person so that it is always possible to find the same person or family working at the same stall. Customers then become regulars at certain stalls. My family has three stalls that they always visit when they go to the market, partially because they offer the best prices and goods and partially because they are women who they have known for a long time.

Depending on the time of the day the market may be very crowded or hardly anyone there at all. It is particularly fun to go when it is raining or just after because it is virtually deserted by all customers, but there is still a lot of great produce and other foods to buy.

As you walk through the market you step over trash and mud puddles due to the poor conditions of the paved roads. It is important to keep at least remote attention to where you walk to avoid some of the mud puddles. There are women sitting just in front of their stalls behind huge baskets filled with fresh cooked bread. They wave leaves over the baskets to keep the flies away. They yell ¨pan, pan¨as you walk by. It is hard to not buy their bread because it smells so good and rich. As you continue to walk you pass stalls selling all different kinds of beans, although red beans are the most popular. (Nicas are adiment that red beans have the best flavor.) There are other stalls that only sell vegetables and they are piled high with tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, celery, lettuce, onions, garlic, eggplant, and other vegetables that I don´t know the English word for. All of these sit in baskets at varying heights so it is easy to see what their goods. Some spices hang from the roof in small bags. Other stalls only sell fruit and it all looks wonderful. They have pineapple, mango, papaya (that are the size of a two-year old child), oranges, guava, guayava, zapote, and other fruits again that I don´t know their name in English. All of it is rich and very tempting to buy. You will also pass by stalls filled with second hand clothing and shoes that are fairly cheap, sports equipment, tires, cell phones, radios, and sodas.

As you walk you will also hear bells ringing behind or in front of you. These bells are on the handles of the ice cream carts. The men constantly touch them as they walk so people know they are coming. They shout ¨helado¨as they go by. There are other women who walk through the market shouting ¨dulces, maiz, mani¨(sweets, corn, peanuts). My personal favorite are the women yelling tortillas. There is one woman in particular and everyone knows who you are talking about. She carries the tortillas in a towel on her head and shouts tortillas like no other woman. It is high pitched and nasally and is more like ¨Torrrrrrrrtiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillas!¨ You can hear her a long way off and it is hard for me not to laugh at times becaus it is just so amusing listening to her.

There are also supermarkets around the market, smaller than those in the states about a fraction of the size. The goods in there are more expensive and most people do all their shopping in the street market and only enter the supermarket if they can´t find what they need in the street market.