LUCAS DE GALVEZ MERCADO

HEARTBEAT OF MERIDA

One cannot visit Merida without shopping at the Lucas de Galvas Mercado.  We did purchase some food items here, and though we bartered, we found the same items cheaper at the local corner store right around the block from our hotel!  Never matter - it was only about a dollar difference in total, and the experience of shopping in the market was well worth that extra buck! 

 I had no idea radish grew in Mexico - but it turned out to be my missing ingredient for my Yucatecan salsa recipe!  The mercado is crammed full of stands like this, plus live chickens, a fish market, hardware section, toys, candy, eateries, shoes, you name it - you will probably find it here.

And everything is so colorful, it's a dream for people like me who love to play photographer when I can (even though I'm not).  We did ask several times if it was okay to take pictures, and unlike other parts of Mexico where people want money for photographs, everyone in the market said "Si, Si," and waved their hands about as if to say "take pictures of anything you like." 

Shark meat anyone??

 I must admit to being brainwashed by western standards for food safety and cleanliness of places where food is prepared.  This part of the mercado is pretty old, dusty, and there are cats hanging about.  The thought of all that dust and hair in the air came to mind when I saw this batch of raw tortilla sitting in the main hallway, where any person could have touched it!  It later occured to me that the guide book says that most restaurants get their produce and food supplies from the market, which means this batch of raw tortilla may have been baked and on our table by supper time.  Oh well - we didn't get sick. 

This is the tortilla factory from the other side.  It seemed like a pretty busy little factory, but hard to imagine it would pass inspection at home.  That said, I am often critical of how regulated everything is in Canada.

 Fruit and veggies galore!  Everything is so beautiful stacked and arranged.  I have read that apparently the produce here is sprayed, and is far from organic.  This was a real disappointment, as fruit in Mexico has always tasted much better to me than what gets imported into Canada, having traveled in a truck for days.  One would think the fruit here would be ripened on the vine, considering food grows everywhere in Mexico...