El Mercado

My weekend has been pretty laid back. I worked on my Spanish and some school work. I found a little restaurant with a balcony and the clouds cleared for just enough time for me to see the tops of the volcanoes. Apparently lava flows from several of them. I saw one let off big plumes of smoke on my second day here. After eating at the restaurant, I asked for the check (in Spanish, of course). I wasn’t sure whether to leave the tip on the table or give it to the waitress and I couldn’t remember the name for tip (now I know it’s propina). After some gestures she took the money. I don’t think they would want me to leave it on the table. People can’t be trusted with money sitting out in Guatemala.

One interesting thing about this town (and most in Guatemala) is that there are a lot of precautions taken to protect people and property. Every big truck carrying supplies has two armed guards. The Coca Cola truck usually has more. All of the banks have armed guards. Every window has bars and all houses are behind walls. I wonder what goes on behind all of the walls because so much of the town is behind walls. The small stores all have metal bars so that there is only a space to pass purchased items through.

After haggling for a towel and some fruit at the Market, I sat in the “el parquet central” and watched the indigenous women with their brightly colored clothes carry big baskets on their heads from place to place. While some men played Andean music, I chatted with a man in Spanish about the town who was sitting in the park.
The market has every kind of fruit and vegetable I can think of plus a lot I have never tried before. It’s an outside market that is a bit rough on the edges, lots of tarps and tin roofs. Despite the poor construction, it is a place that fills the senses. There are all types of aromas from the food that people are selling. As I walked through, there were small indigenous girls yelling out whatever it was they were selling. There was a guy trying to sell electronics who had a mic hooked up to an old stereo, just to name a few. Even near the bus stop people were yelling out the names of the cities the buses were traveling to. It was explained to me that many people are illiterate and can’t even recognize the name of their own town in words. The colors at the market are brilliant. There are all sorts of brightly colored materials and the fruit and vegetables are spread out along either sides of the market in brilliant reds, greens, oranges, yellows, etc.