As I write this the swifts are swooping all around me and making this crazy twittering sound...There is a shrill whistle that sounds at random times throughout the day and night and it drives me mad as Lou Ferigno as the Incredible Hulk, someone get me some gamma rays. If I could find the whistler or whistle I may have to cease the existance of at least the whistle. This whistle is like a fork on a chalkboard.
1/26
Today I decide I'm going to the plaza central, home of the central produce market, near the city center and the Parque Santander. This is across the citt about 80 blocks fortunatley it's not that hot because there is some nice cloud cover. I buy a cup of pineapple for breakfast for 1000 pesos and trek on my way to Mercado. I stop to get keys made at a small tienda and 2 of the 6 keys do not work. I stop in a gambling hall and watch this crazy Colombian roulette/craps combo game i guess they play here. It involves a giant board for placing roulette style bets and these giant 16 sided dice and this weird pool ball thing...I wanted to give it a shot but decided against it...
The sellers in the mercado are very very aggressive so I use their aggressiveness to get the best deals I can as an obvious gringo. Around the market is crazy hundreds of vendors selling anything you'd ever need. Alot of ropa(clothing) utside the market and alot of veggies fruits and meat(the meat floor made we want to hurl a couple times) along with freshwater fishes like tilapia and this giant freshwater catfish like thing with tiger stripes, I forgot the name. The market is dimly lit but vibrant in it's color contrast and the other floors do not smell that bad. The market has 3 produce floors, fruits, legumes, and meat/cheese/eegs and one dry goods floor that includes hot food vendors and some bars. I have 2 aguila which i mispronounce agui-yah, the correct is AHgee-lah. For 2 USD(there goes that goddamn whistle again and again again) I am served a hot meal of a caldo (goat meat soup with ground corn and cassava in this case) , the seco (chicken quarter with hot sauce, a quarter pound of delicious steamed cassava, 2 boiled papas(poh-tay-toes), 2 fried potato slices, salad of cabbage and green tomato with lime, a ball of rice with coconut milk, a pile of frijoles which I hate usually but these were good and a Jug of tamarind juice. Tamarind juice is good but takes a little getting used to because of much it tastes like tangy soy juice with lime or something.
I walk back through the market buying and bargaining for produce.
When I'm done I wander back across town a ways before getting a cab because I have walked about 120 blocks. The cab driver brings we back to La Florest and does not change for the 20,000 peso note so I walk into the panaderia and buy some almojabana, yuca bread baked with tangy cheese, and give a piece to the driver along with his 5000 pesos for the ride. He smiles and looks at the bread like it is a long lost lover.
Later on I prepare dinner for when Julie gets back first I make juice from the market fruit, carmabola and maracuya with lime. Carambola is starfruit, native to SE Asia but abundant and cheap here. Maracuya is a giant passionfruit which is amazingly delicious.
I the make the main dish of cracked rice, used for dogfood but my favorite rice, with stirfried red peppers, grilled pineapple and ajo (garlic). This is combined in a pan with 2 eggs to make a sort of stir fry. It is delicious.
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