Urban poetry

A thoroughly overloaded pickup truck parked by the Zapote market in San José—flashback from the summer of '22.

The Night Market

Yanbu is also a port on the Red Sea, and the market began 500 years ago as a gathering place for merchants and sailors. I admit to being disappointed—it was small and dark, and there was nothing I was remotely interested in buying. (I finally bought an obviously mass-produced ceramic mug with some hand painting on it just because the young woman in the shop looked so hopeful when I walked up.)

Aguas Calientes

I like the old name Aguas Calientes better, but calling the town Machu Picchu Pueblo makes it clear it's definitely a tourist town—hotels, restaurants, shops—but also that it's a place that only exists as a waystation to Machu Picchu. There are no cars in town, only the buses that go up the mountain. And since you're only allowed to bring one carry-on sized piece of luggage on the train in, nobody is staying for long. (Many people actually do Machu Picchu as a day trip from Cusco.)

Fish market

Some of the future ceviche on display at the market.

I am half-sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalott

It is unrelentingly gray and gloomy here; winter has barely arrived and I'm already tired of it. Tuesday I had jury duty, and though I had magazines and puzzles and my Kindle, I was bored and fidgety. It was raining but I went for a walk at lunch just to get some fresh air; I stepped on what looked like a wet patch of sidewalk and found myself ankle-deep in ice water. So I spent the afternoon bored and fidgety with cold wet feet.

Here's a pleasant memory from last summer: a Saturday market in San José. I skipped an all-day beach excursion to meet up with a friend. We ate arepas and bought fruit and listened to live music and then walked around the park. It was a lovely day.

Yes, they had no bananas

Some of the vendors. No, they weren't all selling bananas, but it was definitely the most common fruit for sale.

People at the market

This is kind of a crappy picture, but when I wandering through the market I was too mesmerized by the food for sale—and taking pictures of that—to try to take many pictures of the other shoppers. And it was really crowded, so the few pictures I did take were uninspiring.

When my bag was getting too heavy to lug around any more and I still had half an hour before meeting up with the group for our ride back to the school, I went to the food stands along one end of the market and bought an empanada so I could sit down. You couldn't see much of the market from where I was sitting but I was too lazy to walk around any more, and so this is the best I've got.

Farmers' market

The first weekend in San José we went to the Zapote market. It was hot and crowded and I am still dreaming of the beautiful, ridiculously inexpensive fruits and vegetables I bought there: pineapple and watermelon and avocados and mangos and carrots.

Mas Mercado Central

The market is labyrinthine, and despite these pictures, was very crowded when we were there, so I was ready to leave about ten minutes after I got there.

Herbal remedies

Mercado Central

I always enjoy visiting the markets wherever I go, however much I have come to loathe shopping in general. In the Mercado Central in downtown San José, you can buy everything from clothes and furniture and housewares to produce and prepared foods and souvenirs.

Urban poetry

 

Spirits and Tacos! What else do you need?

I don't drink anything stronger than a beer anymore, but I can verify that the tacos are very good indeed.

Christmas concert

The crowd listening to the choir singing in front of city hall last night. That's the German Christmas market in the background. (It's funny how songs that drive me insane this time of year like Sleigh Ride are downright lovable when sung in French.)

We had a free evening, so theoretically I could have caught up on photos, but I was in a food coma and fell asleep shortly after coming back from the concert. After breakfast at the hotel we did a food walk through the Upper Town, sampling two kinds of crepes, pea soup, smoked salmon, hot spiced wine, and caribou, the fortified wine popular during the winter Carnaval in February. Then we had lunch (vegetable terrine, chicken in puff pastry, maple syrup pie.) Then we went to the Grand Marché where we had various cheeses with bread and croissants.

I did not eat dinner.

The main market

And for comic relief

Here I am trying not to drop an unexpectedly heavy watermelon in the market.

Bounty

The corn looks lovely in the previous entry, but you can't tell how enormous the ears are, so here's a photo of my lovely guide, Vanessa, hoisting one of the ears. Plus some gorgeous banana peppers.

Mercado

Today was the first day I could go outside without a jacket, which means that it in a week or two everyone will be complaining about the heat.

But it makes that warm summer day in Valparaiso seem less long ago and far away, so here, as long promised, are pictures from the markets.

Street photography

Caught you looking.

An unguarded moment at the bazaar in Kerman.

Random things I saw in Shiraz

Silks in the bazaar, a butcher shop window, and a row of old pay phones.

For sale at the Spice Market