Mercado Oriental

I went with a couple of girlfriends today to Mercado Oriental. Now ,why it merits blog space is because it's considered to be a dangerous public market where one can get assaulted in broad daylight. Funny, I hear this more from locals than foreigners who have been there. We were advised to stay on the main streets leading to the market proper as there are already tons of stores offering sewing materials there. Our main reason for going.

It took some planning i.e. what to wear (read: no blings of any form, very low-key attire), how to get there (read: where to leave the car if we drive ourselves or bring the driver to look after the car), etc. We decided to bring the driver with us when we realized we actually don't know how to get there. I decided to wear army pants (for its many pockets), an old t-shirt and my fave Ipanema flip-flops.

I looooove public markets! It's like a cultural class excursion. I feel that I get to know the real country that way. A day in a public market is equivalent to months of getting to know the country and it's people by other means. I love the colors public markets have to offer and the reality it exposes. In all our travels, we always include the public market in our itinerary.

I've wanted to visit Oriental for a long time. The more bad things I hear about it, the more intriguing it became to me. I've been to various public markets (considered dangerous and otherwise) in Kenya when we lived there and I always tried to be inconspicuous (I don't have blond hair ;)), vigilant and not look clueless, I was always fine. I was all that today and so were my girlfriends.

I must say we had fun going through scores of textiles with prices ranging from $C 30 ($ 1.60) - $C 150 ($ 8). Same ones you'll find in stores in Managua only for 5x it's price in Oriental. I love bargains!

A&J scouring for curtain and upholstery materials.

We are definitely going back and next time into the danger zone.