In Pisac, where we live, there’s a big craft market. Every family has their own stall made out of wooden tables, sticks and big white tarps. Most people have to change locations every day, so they have to set it up and take it down every day. They have to get up really early at four? five o’ clock am and aren’t done taking it down until about six thirty pm. Most people bring all their things home on big tricycles. Others pack it all up in big bags and carry it on their backs. It’s hard work! Some women who have less money have to just set tarps on the ground. But I would recommend buying from them because they actually make their own things.
Sometimes on Sundays I help my friend Durga at her stall. She sells jewelry. I help translate with English or help model. The way I find out how much it costs is I weigh it. Depending on what it is made of , I multiply the weight by a number. For the pure silver I times it by twelve and for the ones with color I multiply it by ten.
But in the market they don’t just sell jewelry (of course!). I have bought or received: a necklace, earrings, a stuffed animal llama, a stuffed animal guinea pig, guinea pig slippers, a water bottle holder, a bird whistle that you put water in, a hat, a scarf, a sweater, a shoulder bag with a llama on the front and lots of friendship bracelets. They also sell rugs, gloves, ponchos for men and women, socks, wall hangings, placemats, coasters, ceramics, stone figures, music CDs, musical instruments (like pan flutes, flute/recorders, drums and little guitars), how-to-play-music books, tablecloths, really weird (at least to me) pants, yarn, rocks, dream catchers, paintings and probably more that I can’t think of right now.
On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays there’s a food market. Daddy shops there every Sunday because it’s biggest then. Sometimes Katie and I come with him. He gives us money to buy fruits for snacks and he buys groceries for our meals. Each stand has a specific food group that they sell. The biggest stands are for fruits. Some people just sell veggies and some herbs, like cilantro, oregano, ginger or flowers. Some only sell potatoes and others, spices in little bags. At the chicken and fish places they use big cleavers to cut up the meat and, even better, at the beef and pork places, axes.
I like to buy slices of watermelon for fifty centimos. I think some fruits here are way better than in Portland, but for some fruits, it’s the other way around. For example, the watermelons and some of the oranges are nice and juicy and sweet, but other oranges are green and the strawberries are squooshed.
There are also stands for household items, but just on Sundays. They sell just about anything you could need, from laundry detergent to rubber bands. On Sundays for lunch, we go to the food stands. You just sit down wherever there’s room on the benches and tell the lady what you want. I figure out what there is by looking at other people’s plates. My favorite lunch stand is an old woman’s where she sells chicken, fish, really yummy green rice, potato salad and noodle salad. But I like the other ones, too. One woman sells chicken, fried or plain rice, lentils and french fries and yet another sells chicken and noodles. At some places you can pay one more sol to get a stuffed pepper. They’re green or red peppers with potatoes, carrots and beans inside and a batter on the bottom. I think they’re too spicy, but Daddy likes them. They all use big pans with really hot oil and card board around them so that nothing flies into the pan. They don’t even use gloves when they reach in to pull out the frying food!
Every day there are people in the square selling corn with cheese, cake and fresh orange juice. The people with the corn have big pots with corn on the cob and large hunks of cheese. They give it to you in corn husks. The orange juice ladies have a table with an orange peeler and a squeezer. Sometimes they sell cake, too. They peel the orange, cut it in half and put it in the orange squeezer. Then they push the lever and out comes the orange juice. It usually takes about three orange halves to make a small cup of pure orange juice. They ask if you want sugar, but I like mine without.
When my aunt and grandma visited, they went crazy at the market. Many do. I don’t blame them. Everything is so cheap! One Sunday, Katie went around the market with them, translating and helping bargain. They came to Durga’s stall and bought maybe four or five things each. When they finally had to leave, they had eight bags instead of five, plus a huge alpaca rug. They had to buy two extra duffle bags for all their purchases from the market. That was very good business for Durga and her husband.
Durga isn’t, but some people can be very pushy. If they even catch you looking at their stuff, they start saying “Oh, is alpaca and I have especial price for you! Dey are natural colors!” and keep trying to make you buy it until you’re so tired of saying no, you just buy it. And if you don’t buy it, they get a sad look on their face and you feel sorry you didn’t buy it.
Some friends of mine – Abel, Magdalena and Monica walk around selling bracelets, bird whistles and things that women here put in their braids and tie them at the end. My aunt and grandma got some and used them for their glasses. Other kids put on traditional Peruvian costumes and hold lambs. They ask tourists to take their pictures for one sol.
Me and my friend Ana Miley
When we first came, everyone was trying to sell us stuff, but since we have to walk through the market every day, they’ve recognized us and stopped. I like it that way. Even though the market has some flaws, if you ever come to Peru, I recommend coming to Pisac to see the market.
Georgia
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