Tuesday Market in San Miguel

El Tianguis is the Tuesday market that comes to an area at the top of San Miguel. The sheer size is paralysing..3 football fields. It is a massive dustbowl when not in use, yet the vendors arrive weekly from all over selling absolutely everything you could possibly imagine. It becomes a massive tarp city with a surprisingly ordered  arrangement of vendors. The smells, sights and sounds overwhelm the senses. By 10am it is gearing up to full tilt and the food kiosques,set up in a square with the cooking going on in the middle,are doing a brusque business..no idea if it is breakfast or lunch.

I became braver a couple of trips ago and now dig in with the best of them..nothing like a freshly made Gordita(Mexican pita pocket) stuffed with your choice of fillings. That's only one of dozens of traditional foods served up. The one I still cannot face is the whole deep fried breaded fish..head eyes the works. You see mainly men at that table..it seems to be a "guy" thing as they crunch off the head in one bite. But leaving that behind, you musn't miss the older gentleman who makes the Churros..this sweet batter is extruded out of an apparatus..and dropped into hot oil where they cook for a couple of minutes,cool, and are rolled in sugar and cinammon. They would be about 7 inches long and as thick as your index finger. They are sold in brown paper bags. If he likes you he will point to the freshest batches..I thought it was a gimmick, but no..warm and ready to devour they were!! One is not enough. Mexican doughnut I guess. There doesn't seem to be any coffee for sale anywhere at the market.You see  exotic fruit drinks blended on the spot and Coca Cola by the truckload. Mexicans drink more Coke per capita than any other place on the planet!

You cannot leave without trying Chicharonnes(see photo)... fried pork rinds..well that is simplifying it a bit..huge slabs of pork fat are sliced thinly and cooked in vats of scalding..wait for it..lard.. and then salted and dusted with spices and broken up into potato chip size pieces.  They are delicious and oh so bad for you.

(see photo) It is a market of the people and the produce is much cheaper and fresher than the supermarkets. Locals simply do not have a lot of income and they can find everything they need here at a price they can afford. You really get to see and feel how people live day to day. There are often  three generations of  one  family shopping together.

One funny thing is  the clothing vendor stalls. The tables are piled high with new and used clothing for men, women and children and are crowded with buyers who end up carrying mounds of clothing over their arm and leave with bags full. These run an average of a dollar fifty per item. There are a couple of dealers who actually have racks and display stands and they sell only designer brands. I am told they buy these by the bale whatever that means. The Gringo ladies(slang term for non Mexican..what can I say??)are there en masse and in kill mode to get what they want. Very crowded and a lot of not so ladylike jostling. Don't ever miss a local market wherever you are. It is an eye to the people around you.