stange things at the market

I needed a little "alone time" today so I wandered through the market while Alex studied. Instead of just smiling and looking I acted like a stupid gringo and asked everyone questions about their produce. I found that most people found my stupid questions funny and thought I was crazy for wanting to take pictures of their produce. People thinking I am crazy has never bothered me much, thank goodness, and once I got them laughing many people were more than glad to let me take their picture as long as I showed it to them. I often gave them a Qeutzal or two after I took there picture just for karma.

Warning: a few of the following pictures are kind of gross.

A cool veggie, whose name I can't remember. It is used for traditional medical remedies.

After explaining some strange veggie to me, she let me take her picture. I am amazed by how easily they carry stuff on their heads. She has a bag full of vegetables and stuff on her head and walked away down the street after the picture without it even wobbling.

This little girl asked me to take her picture but then was too shy to pose for it or look at it.

I just thought these onions looked really clean and white. Pristine white is not something you see very often here so the contrast was quite remarkable.

These ladies explained to me how to use the leaves they were selling to make tomallies. The lady on the left literally squealed with joy when she say her picture on the camera screen afterwards. I gave them a few Quetzals for being so nice to me and letting me take a picture.

Homemade sausage. Dad - look down in the right hand corner, that is homemade pork rinds!!! I hear it does wonders for your cholesterol. ; )

Pig feet and spine.....yumm!

Cow liver and brains - hmmm .... I don't think they will get me to eat this any time soon.

Believe it or not this is the "panza" of a cow, it is basically the skin and "stuff" that covers the abdomen. They said it was really yummy fried.

Dried sardines anyone?

This lady asked me to take pictures of her older sons (not pictured) and I said ok, but only if I could take a picture of her. The litte old ladies are so sweet here I just want to hug them and take them home with me.

I chatted with this nice lady for quit a while before she asked me if I was a doctor in the states. I asked her how she could tell that I was and she said it was just how I spoke my Spanish. Strange!

I took this picture of cabbage because they were twice the size of my head. Good gracious one head would make a lot of coleslaw!

This is one of my favorite pictures. They were all giggling over who was going to have their picture taken first.

This group of ladies were all in a tizzy about something and they were chatting so intently that they didn't notice me at all. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and snap a picture.

What size would you like your carrots and green beans. There were four different sizes. I will pretend that I didn't seem them cutting them up with their very dirty hands.

The street I took out of the market. Lined with people from the countryside selling whatever they recently have grown.

This is one of my favorite dogs in the city. I pass her daily on my way to the market. She seems to be very old and rarely moves except to look up at me and try and give me a friendly look. Dogs have a hard life down here.

After wandering the market I was hungry so I treated myself (cost a whopping $5) to fried plantains and a lime juice lemonade while I did my homework and blogged.