Tuesday, Sep 20 , 2016
Today I tackled the farmer’s market at Feria Libre with Heidi, Chase, and Easton. We walked there from our house and instead of crossing Las Americas where we normally do, we stayed on our side of the street all the way to the market. This left is on the opposite side of the street from the farmer’s market but there are stairs that lead to a passage under the busy street and exit you right into the market itself.
Entrance to under street walkway to Feria Libre
(from www.eltiempo.com.ec)
We have seen these stairs before but never used them. It surprises me to see businesses in the corridor of this passageway running underneath the street. Seems like it might be a good location for pedestrian traffic. I don’t think, though, I would want to work in a windowless shop beneath Las Americas all day long.
I’m impressed with our efficiency today at Feria Libre. Finally, I’ve got the layout of it in my head, and with relative ease we were able to visit all the areas we needed to get our supplies. Today we started in the meat section and within a few minutes we were walking out with tocino (bacon) and pechuga de pollo (chicken breast). I have come to really appreciate how good tasting these meats are from the market.
This farmer’s market has a great selection of produce. We bought tomatoes, strawberries, limes, and avocados, spreading our purchases among a few vendors. Heidi saw some zucchini and bought one for the zucchini fritters she makes. I asked the woman, “Como se dice en espanol zucchini?”…how do you say in Spanish zucchini? She looked at me and said, “zucchini”. I guess that was easier than I thought.
We also needed bananas (guineos) but we decided to buy them from the little old lady by the park next to our house. This is also the place that Heidi likes to get a frozen chocolate covered banana. This was a good call because it is at least a 20 minute walk back to our house from the farmer’s market, and who wants to carry bunches of bananas all that way if we don’t have to?
When we showed up the lady at her fruit stand smiled and greeted us. After a month of buying our bananas here, we are her regulars. We bought our bananas, and Heidi and Chase grabbed a frozen banana from her as well. We said good-bye and headed on the short walk to our house.
Chau.
Hi !
Sounds like a fun market ! I would have bought bananas from the little old lady too .
🙂
Laree
She is a sweet lady Laree. Every now and then she throws some extra bananas in for free. It’s called a “yapa”. Often the vendors will give “a little extra” when you buy a lot from them.
Todd