El Mercado...A Labyrinth of Craziness

El Mercado...the open market. Maybe you have seen travel gurus winding their way through open markets on the Travel Channel. Does it look fun? Do you like mazes and brain-cracking puzzles? It is an amazing cultural experience. Rick loves it and Becky dreads it.

Becky calls it the land of giant carrots and shrimpy tomatoes. We think you can buy almost anything in the Antigua market, including gameboys, Xbox games, movies (pirated), music, clothing, medicine, food, furniture, toilet paper, TVs, dog food, indigenous costumes, Christmas decorations, more food, fabric, plants, live poultry, candles, meat, spices...oh the list is endless. But the trick is to actually find it and pay a reasonable price.

The market is quite large. Particually on "'market days" it is quite crowded. You have to be careful in the market. Just a few weeks ago a family of 4 was walking and admist the crowd, one of our friends had her purse cut and her camera was taken. Stuff like this can happen so quick that we go to the market with only empty bags to bring back what we purchase. And while we take these precautions, we try to keep in mind that not everyone wants to steal from you. People in the market are trying to making a living. They bring whatever they can and sell it. And while we do have to barter for a "better" price, we try to keep in mind that for us paying a few quetzals less is fun...for them it may mean they aren't able to feed their families.

While typically we do not carry our camera into the market, the pictures we share represent the market on a "less" crowded day. In Guatemala, it is very important to ask permission before taking pictures. People can get very upset if you just start taking pictures. Particualarly when taking pictures of children, you NEED to ask permission. There is a reason. Unfortunatly, there is a fear of children being kidnapped. We don't know how common kidnapping is but it is thought the that the first thing kidnappers do it take pictures of children they wish to target. Understanding a little about why someone might be saying "no" to a photo, keeps us as foreigners from making judgements.

Do we buy our meat from the market? No. We have a small supermarket that we feel a little more comfortable with. But many Guatemalans and seasoned missionaries do buy their meat in the market. The meat is very fresh (butchered that day). The meat market is quite clean and I am most surprised that I don't see any flies. But we usually don't stand around in the meat market. The reason? The smell. I guess you could get used to that smell...but we don't want to and tend to avoid that area.