While I’ve been to Antigua 6 times now it’s only been in the last five summers that we’ve had a house that I’ve been cooking in.  One of my joys of life here is a slower pace with more time doing things for daily living with intention than sitting on my phone scrolling. For the first couple summers we were typical gringos shopping in the supermarcado (the regular typical grocery store) rather than in the marcado (think swap shop for all my Florida friends). The last couple years Nicole and I have made it our mission to take advantage of shopping in the marcado for our fruits and veggies.  Now to give you a better understanding of the marcado there are rows upon rows of stalls with literally anything you could desire. From house hold goods, to clothing, to shelf food,  fruits and veggies,  and Nicole’s favorite the meat 🍖 and fish 🐟 section.  Literally you can get anything you desire. With that being said it can be very overwhelming to shop inside the marcado.  Close quarters and so many options can sometimes create a sense of fight or flight for me,  despite shopping for food being my favorite past time.  The past few years after feildtrips with our teachers we’ve learned which “venders” to go to for what. This year with the help of my teacher I found a new way into the marcado for market day when all the trucks bring in the freshest and cheapest of fruits and veggies.  It’s in the open air and much easier to navigate. All the joy of shopping and getting a good deal returned. When Nicole and I got home (in less than an hour including the time it took to walk there and back) while I washed and cleaned the veggies Nicole calculated what we spend for the week.

Our market haul today for a total of $20.27

2lb tomato
2lb onion
5 plantain
3 heads garlic
2 big carrots
1lb potatoes
1 head celery
Cilantro
Parsley
Papaya
16 radishes
I bag spinach
1 bag green beans
4 squash
3 big cucumbers
4 peppers
2 heads broccoli
1 eggplant

I’ll add a picture too give you a visual. 

The next day in class I was thanking my teacher for the advice and we were comparing notes on the prices in the market.  She told me that we were given the exact same prices as locals. So I write this with the full awareness that from my very white, two income perspective, I feel like this is a steal.  Like we did great getting the prices that locals get and that we have enough fruits and veggies for the week but I know  that $20 dollars, while it felt like nothing to us, it’s a lot for locals. The average salary is $140 a week for a vendor in the marcado. I struggle with knowing how drastic the disparity is here, even between the locals including ladinos and mayans and the history of Guatemala and now how the US is continuing to impact Guatemala. It’s a hard reminder that racism and discrimination have happened around the world and throughout history.  That no matter where you go the desire for money and power leaves so many with nothing while an elite few have plenty.  So I am humbled by the people of Guatemala once again and thankful for a life of opportunity to realized how privileged I am and try to live my life with respect for others who have been given a life much different than mine.