Ten Ninety Four

It’s official. I’m obsessed with the Sunday morning outdoor market in Loja.

Every Sunday morning, farmers from all around the province of Loja come in to the city to sell their produce, meat, and eggs at a street market spanning over 4 blocks. The stands are packed super tight along each street with vendors along both curbs and another set of back to back vendors along the center of each street. The array of colors and sounds is astounding. Piles of potatoes, bananas, and pineapples are everywhere, and heads of cauliflower, broccoli, and purple cabbage are heaped in pyramids of color. A man is yelling, “Cuatro Papayas, Un Dolar!” and an indigenous woman wearing thick wool stockings and a felt hat screams, “Queso, Queso, Queso, Queso, Queso, Baratoooooooo!!” (Cheese, Cheese, Cheese, Cheese, Cheese, Super Cheap!!) at that same speed as the guy from the micro-machine commercials. Eight-year-old kids are walking around selling green and yellow Jello topped with cream and fruit in plastic drinking cups and of course yelling, “Gelatina, Gelatina... a diez centavitos!!” (Jello, Jello... only 10 cents!!). Piles of dried fish and freshly slaughtered chickens showing off their glistening multi-colored organs are stacked on wooden tables, and some women at the perimeter are grilling up shiny sheets of pig skin and intestines. Some indigenous women on the fringes of the market have fallen asleep on burlap sacks of potatoes amidst seas of red onions and stubby carrots. The craziness of the whole scene makes a trip to your local supermarket seem like a visit to a nunnery!

And the prices of everything are, in the words of felt hat lady, BARATOOOOO!!

Here’s what I picked up this week:

• 1 head of organic green leaf lettuce – 25 cents


• 1 dozen pastured eggs - $2.40 (sounds expensive but these are the best eggs
  you’ll ever try)


• 1 pound of organic strawberries - $1.25


• 6 bananas – 24 cents


• 8 heads of garlic – 60 cents


• 1 pound of red onions – 30 cents


• 1 pound of wild blackberries - $1


• 2 cucumbers – 25 cents


• 3 small green peppers – 10 cents


• 2 giant mangos – 50 cents


• 1 bag of Horchata tea (a mix of 28 herbs and flowers grown in the region)
  – 40 cents


• 1 head of cauliflower – 30 cents


• 1 head of broccoli – 25 cents


• 3 avocados - $1


• 1 pound of purple grapes – 50 cents


• 1 pineapple – 50 cents


• 1 baggie of fennel seeds – 25 cents


• 2 pounds of camote (a purple sweet potato) – 25 cents


• 1 pound of beets – 30 cents


• 1 pound of organic tomatoes – 30 cents


• and a partridge in a pear tree – free

Total Cost: $10.94!

Didn't bring my camera to the market, but here's a pic of everything I got for $10.94. Click to enlarge.

From Sunday Market