I needed produce and wanted more variety than what my veggie has (going into grapefruit withdrawal…), so I decided to do a mercado run this morning, but to the one in Juárez for a change of scenery.

I was out the door at about 8:00, was disappointed that the bakery wasn’t open so I could grab some pan dulce as an on-the-go breakfast, but was pleased to find the doughnut lady at the embarcadero doing a brisk business.

High tide this morning!

I’ve had more doughnuts since I got here in November (three!!!) than I’ve had in the past several years. They’re very light and fluffy, with cinnamon sugar. When I was in Durango, I saw doughnut vendors calling them ‘donuts,’, masculine (un donut, el donut), but here in Maz, they are ‘donas,’ so feminine (una dona, la dona). I had just enough time to enjoy it before a bus marked Juárez pulled up.

It was a very quick ride and, knowing where I was going this time, I hopped off before the bus started its very jerky stop-and-go ride through traffic in the heart of the market area. I decided to start with a tour of the tianguis (flea market). It was much larger than last time. I bought a blouse in the first aisle I passed. The lady wanted $40, I said $30, and we finally settled on $35. Fun. 🙂

The tianguis was very crowded, but I’ve learned ‘con permiso’ to elbow my way politely through a crowd. I felt so comfortable there, with all the wonderful odours and chatter and colourful goods. One man tried to sell me a dog leash and when I told him I didn’t have a dog, he said it would work for my husband. ¡Jajajajaja!

Feeling a tad parched, I began to scope out the agua fresca vendors and finally conceded that no one had guava today. So I settled on lime, which was predictably very refreshing.

Then, I could no longer ignore the siren call of grilled meat and onions. This was a mystery meat taco ‘con todo,’ to which I added salsa mexicana and guacamole (the thin liquidy stuff). The cook did ask me to confirm that my definition of ‘con todo’ included ‘picante’ (spicy) and I said yes. They weren’t spicy in the least, though! Soooo yummy. 🙂

I then walked around Juárez a bit and made a discovery that surprised me. I found an indoor market just like the Pino Suárez one in Centro! How did I miss it last time?! This market was almost only meat, which looked a lot more appealing than what I see in Centro. I need to go back with a cooler bag and ice! I also found public bathrooms in this market and except for the hand washing facilities being a bucket of soapy water everyone could plunge their hands in (yuck — thank goodness I had wipes!), I was very impressed by how clean and new the facilities were. I tipped the attendant $5.

It was just past 10:00 by then and already getting very hot and uncomfortable. I was ready to go home. So I picked a produce vendor and spent a whopping $36 (do note my sarcastic tone) on this:

Funny how I never never noticed sweet potatoes last year, and now I have no trouble finding them.

I’d promised myself a pulmonía ride to the embarcadero, so I flagged one down as I came out of the produce store and was quoted $50, which sounded fair. I saw a lot more from the back seat of the taxi than I do a bus and now I know how to get to Juárez on foot. It’s only 3.5KM down busy streets, so it’s ridiculous to take a bus there since I walk to Pino Suárez and back and that’s 3KM round trip.