To market, to market to buy...

We felt our first earthquake this morning (Jan. 17, I'm still playing catch up on the blog). Not all that exciting after living in Southern California for almost 9 years, but it's still worth making note of. We felt the building sway a bit and then it stopped.

We finally made it to the fresh food market (Mercado Central) in downtown Manta and it was awesome. The Mercado is set on two floors in a large rectangular building in the heart of Manta. As soon as you step into the market you are surrounded by the sights, sounds, and smells of the fresh marketplace. You hear the voices of the vendors calling out to customers as they pass by, trying to entice them to buy from their stall.

The first floor is where they sell the meat and fish. You can smell the coppery odor of blood from the fresh meat, and the salty, briny scent of the fish that were caught that morning. We see the fishermen that catch these fish buzzing by our apartment building in their boats every day. 

Fishing boats on the beach

The second floor of the market is where they sell the fresh produce & dairy products. We sampled and bought a fresh cheese that tastes similar to feta. They also had mani' (peanut butter) that they make fresh here. There were two types; the pure version you are most familiar with, and one that had achiote added to it. Achiote is a seed that is used in Latin cooking, and it adds a bright yellow/orange color to the food.

I took my camera with me so I could capture the fresh foods that were for sale and as soon as I started to shoot I was the center of attention. Most of the vendors posed for me to take their picture and they were eager to show off their fruits and vegetables for the camera. They made me laugh with their antics and they laughed right along with me. It was entertaining and enjoyable. 


Ronnie watched and smiled, indulging me as he almost always does ;) He also carried all the bags of fresh produce so I could shop and click to my heart’s content. I can't remember ever having so much fun shopping for groceries! 

I tried out my negotiating skills, in my broken Spanish, and either talked them down from their asking price (saved 20 cents on the strawberries) or they gave me more produce for the price they quoted (instead of 3 tomatoes I got 4). The man that sold me the strawberries was funny...he quoted $1 and when I asked him to go down a little bit on the price he said "98 centavos" which is 98 cents. He laughed at the look on my face and teased me by saying in Spanish "well you said to come down a little". Several of the other vendors were listening in and we all had a good laugh :-D

We paid $4 for the produce and $2 for the cab ride ($1 each way). Here is the breakdown of what we paid for the produce:

•  $1 for 2 large mangos & 7 mandarin oranges
•  20 cents for a 1 large cucumber
• $1 for 12 small limes (juicy little suckers) & 4 tomatoes
• 80 cents for 1/2 kilo (1.1 lbs) of fresh picked strawberries
•  50 cents for 5 medium red onions
•  50 cents for 2 large Anaheim chili peppers

Hasta luego, P.