Thursdays are Market Day in La Penita and it is hard to fathom anything more important to the community and surrounding area than the market. It becomes the focus for everyone who lives and works here, but also for those of us, who are guests in this foreign land.
A small space in the market might be a family from some surrounding area with fresh vegetables from their small garden plot laid out for your purchase or a spice vendor with large bags of various spices and his postal type scale to weigh out the amount you would desire. There are the craft type goodies that are not only practical, beautiful, and colorful but one can not possibly examine them without wondering about the hours of work that went in to making each one. It is difficult to barter a price at times because you know a lot of work went in to making the piece you are interested in but it is virtually expected of you to do so. Most of the vendors know just enough English to try and gain your interest in their wares, for as you are passing by their space, some will call out to you, “come look, almost free”. There appear to be ethnic groups who must come some distance to hawk their wares as some pieces of pottery, or bead work, are only done by certain indigenous people from other states in Mexico.
As I look around for interesting sites for my camera I am held captive by an elderly gentleman balancing an old five gallon plastic pail on his shoulder and in a voice that has many miles on it, he is calling out “honey” to the gringos who are nearby. This is not the States or Canada where freshly sealed mason jars would probably appear from the pail, filled with honey, this is Mexico, and without doubt this bee keeper has worked just as hard to package his wares as those North of his land have, but instead of mason jars he has re-filled plastic Pepsi and Coke bottles. I have been told by those who have bought his honey that it is the best in the area and that he takes great care to sterilize the containers before re-use. If each week he sells a five gallon pail full of plastic pop bottles filled with fresh honey, he will be contributing greatly to the family economy.
There are so many little stands that the whole area, stretching for block after block, seems to take on a county fair/flea market type atmosphere, but for sure this is different, in the sense that those who came to sell their wares will recycle some of the money they have collected for their goods into goods that they will need to carry them through the coming week. Then come Thursday next week, they will do it all over again.
Right in the middle of the market and town square as we walked along the doors to the church were open and it was obvious from the praying and singing that church was in session. Seemed strange that at 11:00 a.m. in the middle of market day, church would be taking place. On closer examination it turned out to be a funeral with the family members all gathered around the coffin as the priest conducted the service. Now tonight as I sit on top of this hill in the La Penita RV Park just up from the cemetery I am hearing an occasional pop from a large firecracker and I am reminded that this is customary to ward off the evil spirits that may have accompanied someone to their resting place. These explosions will go on through the night. Perhaps next Thursday there will be an empty space at the market.
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