Market Day!

Every Saturday is Market day. We begin by going out in service usually from 8:30am-11:00am or so and then head to the market before we go back home for lunch. The market is full of all the fruits, vegetables and meats you could want. I've only been twice so far, but each time I've gone, I always end up buying more than I planned on and discovering something new. For example, there are 3 different varieties of avocado at the market-I'm used to the blackish/brown one we have in the states, but here there are more- and according to the Brother's & Sister's they are much better than the ones we get-I'm sure that's true!

Also, Ecuador's biggest 'claim to fame' is the banana. On our bus ride to El Tambo, we saw thousands of banana trees bordering the streets and it's common in service to get offered a banana as a gift. Once again, we're used to the long, yellow 'normal' banana's sold in the states, but here there are also mini banana's-about half the size of an average banana and they are much sweeter than the others.

El Tambo has an indoor market that runs all week long too, so if you forget to pick something up on Saturday, there is a chance you can still find it during the week. The indoor market doesn't have as much though and I like the option of choosing who I buy from, (especially because we're foreigners, it's common they will try to charge us more, so the friends have showed us who to buy from :) ) where as in the indoor market, there are only a few options. Cañar, the town across the mountain has an even bigger market than here in El Tambo, so we are planning to go there possibly this Saturday.

To give you an idea of the prices, here is what I bought this past Saturday:

20+ bananas
6 HUGE avocado's
16+ tomatoes
8+ lime's
8+ red onions
A big bag of garlic cloves
A bag of fresh cherries
A bag of Grapes
A big Pineapple
3 HUGE cucumbers
A head of lettuce
and I may even be missing something else....

Grand total $11.00!

In the states, 1 avocado alone was going for $1.99, and these are  FRESH from the garden fruits & veggies, you can't get any better than that!

Here is a picture of SOME of the fruits & veggies we bought on Saturday

This is the indoor market- always there if you need it!

 This is how you buy the chicken here... pick which one you want!

This is the indoor meat market, not the best selection during the week, but you still have quite a bit of options:)

One more picture of the meat market, a bit different from the states, but hey, this is the life here in Ecuador!