Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The Market

From the Parque la Paz, a vantage point relatively high above Tegucigalpa, you can see the weekend market spread out near the soccer stadium. It looks like any other market, with countless stalls, blue tarps above to keep out sun or rain, milling people and live music.

Upon arrival it becomes a terrifying and overstimulating world of produce, yelling, and near death experiences. Through some horrific miscommunication, the market is set up in the stadium's parking lot. In the off-chance that a soccer match is scheduled for the weekend (as they always are), the parking lot is majestically overwhelmed by a torrent of anxious amped up fans and thousands of actively transacting marketeers all vying for the same space.

As the first people from outside Honduras to ever set foot inside the parking lot/market area, we were welcomed with open-jawed stares and offers to buy produce in 10 pound increments. We would have loved to buy large quantities of zucchini-like squash or squishy local cheese, but we were worried we didn't know the protocols for exchange and about getting run over by rabid soccer fans. In the end we watched the live music/auctioneers sing prices to the excited crowds, and then went home to take a nap and think about what we'd seen.

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