“When we arrived at the great marketplace, called Tlatelolco, we were astounded at the number of people and the quantity of merchandise it contained, and at the good order and control that was maintained, for we had never seen such a thing before. . . . ”
- Bernal Diaz de Castillo, The True Story of the Conquest of New Spain
We learned today that Tuesday is ‘Market Day”, or Tianguis, here in San Miguel de Allende.
Tianguis is an Aztec word from the Nahuatl language meaning 'market'. Castillo, mentioned above, was referring the the Spaniards witnessing the great Aztec markets when they invaded Mexico. We decided to go to visit this one. It was billed as the market “where the locals go to shop” and that intrigued us.
Colleen and I have had the good fortune to visit markets in many parts of the world. When we first started going we imagined they would feature local foods, crafts, and native art on display. To some degree that is true. However, more and more they are similar despite their geographic location. Much of the material being sold is the same. You can find endless stalls of pirated DVD’s and fashion knock offs that upon closer inspection you discover are made in China.
David Lida writes, “In the era of globalized capitalism, the panorama of the merchandise at the tianguis is changing. With the availability of so many cheap, remaindered, and stolen goods from Asia and the United States, there is less perceived dignity in buying the discards of others. Hence, there are less chácharas in markets that twenty years ago sold nothing but. As a result, there is a homogenization of what you can buy at all of the tianguis—electric drills; sneakers, sweatpants and terry-cloth bathrobes; plastic cereal bowls with Barbie or the Powerpuff girls; Tommy Hilfiger or Abercrombie T-shirts; fake Louis Vuitton bags.”
We found Mr Lida’s observations generally true was we strolled along the tianguis stalls in Mexico City. It was not much different than markets we visited in Thailand and other locations. But, we were hopeful this one would be different.
We took a bus to the outskirts of town. The buses here each have hawkers whose job is to load the bus with as many bodies as possible. As a result, you are packed in way beyond any reasonable safety standards of USA mass transit. But, hey it’s Mexico and the trip was not very far. Most of the passengers were headed to the same market we were going.
We arrived to find 3 sprawling tents filled with a huge menagerie of merchandise. You found everything here. There were bicycle tires, shoes, piles of clothes, hardware tools, woodpeckers in cages (yeah I have no idea why either) to purchase, electronics, toys, lingerie, antiques (chacharas), and more.
In amongst all of these stalls were great food vendors. I felt I was in an Anthony Bourdain episode. (God rest his soul) We had our best taco de pastors here so far. Strolling among all of these stalls were music buskers whose melodies helped make the chaos more atmospheric and distinctly Mexican. It was fun. I found a DSLR camera that I admired for 1/2 of the price in the states. However, the seller mysteriously could not find a battery to see if it turned on. He tried to reassure me. "It's guaranteed!", he insisted. I passed on it.
We ran into an elderly American expat from Massachusetts who has partnered with a local taxi owner to take tours off the beaten path. Just him, his car, driving roads no one else goes. he was quite enthusiastic about it. He had no card, no website, no other information for his ‘tours’.
“It sounds like you abduct people and drive them into the desert,” I joked.
He chuckled, “Oh no no. Don’t be silly.” Then he stared at us with a half smile a little too long.
We moved on.
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