I went there yesterday after hunting for a new refrigerator. Ours failed last month, so we’ve been eating out a lot lately, but with the upcoming quincena it’s time to buy a new one. I went to a Famsa outlet store (furniture and appliances), where, just two weeks earlier, Ahmed and I had found a refri for 4,000 pesos –11 cubic feet, GE, a bargain in Mexico – but unfortunately, that was a mother’s day promo and we didn’t act fast enough.
No luck yesterday. Either too expensive or not the right size, nothing called my attention, and the pushy Famsa clerks didn’t bother barging in – everyone was absorbed (along with much of Mexico) in the Barcelona – Manchester soccer game. Most of the TVs on display were tuned into the nail biter.
I left, disappointed, and just to compare prices, went to the Elektra store right across the street. The chain has a reputation for making, for example, high-definition plasma TVs and washer-dryer combo units look affordable to poor people through 386 low monthly payments of 249 pesos, but once you hand over the down payment, then the interest charges, late fees and commission start adding up, and if you don’t make your payments promptly you get Elektra people harassing you on the phone and at your doorstep. So I’ve heard.
I got out of there quickly. Easily more expensive than elsewhere, I started heading back to the Mixcoac station, about 20 minutes from the office, but passing the market, scents of fresh strawberries and mole reminded me I had to eat, like now.
But more than half of the stalls in the market, with their 9 inch, fuzzy TVs tuned into the futbol game and the vendors hypnotized, I couldn’t let a perfect Kodak moment escape my so-far fruitless day. So I circled the market several times, passing every type of fruit and chili pepper you can imagine. I held my breath while passing the raw meat and fish section, where I saw a freshly skinned hog hide, little hairs still poking out of the white, gooey blanket of skin. Fried chicharrones with salt, lime and salsa, though, I’m down.
Unable to build the courage to ask one of the shopkeers’ permission to take a snap, I left the market, discouraged, and started heading back to the station. But with more than 40 minutes left for my lunch break, I decided to give it one more shot. I went in through a different entrance, this time passing and ignoring a vendor who asked, “What would you like young man?”. It was the second woman who caught me.
An old man was standing in the aisle, so as I was trying to pass the woman said, “What are you looking for young man?” (young man (in Spanish, joven)…that’s my name).
“Um…” I said,
“Here, try a peach,” she said, handing me a small, delicious, fuzzy one. I ate it, juicy, sweet and intoxicating. The small, short-haired woman showed me her neatly organized display of fruits, listing off all the types she had, and I said, “mangos”.
It seemed as if before I even told her she already had two fat, yellow manila ones on a tray, and asked,
“Do you want these ones?”
I asked her what other ones she had.
She showed me two different sizes, explaining that the bigger cost 25 pesos a kilo while the smaller ones cost 20 pesos. I hesitated, while 10-peso mangos flashed in my mind that I had seen at other stalls. I couldn’t refuse after she had given me the peach of guilt.
“How many do you want?” she asked.
“Two.”
“Two kilos?”
"No, just two…for lunch."
“Which ones?”
“Uh…which one tastes better?”
“The quality’s the same, joven, the only difference is the size.”
“Well, give me the smaller ones then.”
"Only two?”
“Yes please,” so she weighed them, bagged them and charged me 9 pesos.
“Gracias!” I said,
“Que le vaya bien” (literally, “may it go well for you”, but more accurately, “Take care and have a good day”).
D’oh, I thought…she didn’t even have her own TV, and my plan was to first buy something and then ask the vendor to take a photo of customers watching the game. Ni modo. So I continued, still without the huevos to ask someone for a photo and left the market once more. As I was walking out, amid the blaring car horns, road construction and hot, piercing sun, I noticed a concrete mixer and men up to their waists smoothing out the quickly drying stuff. This would make a great photo, I thought. I looked down, ready to remove my camera from the messenger bag, and saw that I was being spackled with wet cement drops. Oops.
I walked along the sidewalk, the street blocked off with plastic mesh fencing, and decided I'd passive aggressively take a photo from the distance:
Done. Enough confidence now, I walked back into the market. This time I will find my target, I thought -- and did: a middle-aged woman with a fruit stall near the entrance.
I bought more mangos (my favorite fruit, which happens to be in season now) for half the price as the other stand and then asked her, in the most polite manner, if I could take a photo of her stand.
“I’m a photographer,” I told her.
“Yes, ok,” she said indifferently.
I framed the shot of the TV near a pineapple and banana display, in the top left corner, with another TV in the background, customers’ necks craned up and watching the game. Two guys my age – maybe the woman’s sons – were standing next to me, out of the frame, watching attentively but unenthusiastic about the setup.
I took a dozen photos, thanked the woman and headed out excitedly. I got what I wanted, finally.
Last stop: something to eat. I ordered two quesadillas, one fish and one shrimp, and removed the tooth picks that held their form together. The greasy paper on which they were served almost turned transparent, and I squeezed the juice from three bits of lime on them just to be safe...a highly effective bacteria killer.
They were delicious: the shrimp tasted fresh, spiced with cilantro and tomato and something else that left me even hungrier. The fish, equally. But I had to get moving and hurried on to the station.
Not without a juice, though. The sidewalk, with vendors selling mostly pirated CDs, movies, clothing or whathaveyou, was clogged faster than my arteries were at that point, but I found a juice stand. The juice guy -- who was watching the game -- gave an insolent look after I told him I wanted the arbitrarily named Conga mix (OJ, pineapple, papaya, mango and honey) and charged me 15 pesos for a 12 oz. He probably overcharged me for my accent, but I was thirsty.
I sipped the Conga, a strange-tasting but quenching drink, and dodged more traffic, people, street vendors and road construction to get to the station, where I boarded the poorly ventilated train and got back to work, sweaty and satisfied.
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