Back In The Land Of Cheap Produce

One of the first orders of business when returning home is to restock the cupboards. Here in Zihuatanejo we have two choices, the mercado or large grocery store Comercial (I guess there is Bodega also, but we have never shopped there). Today we managed to hit both of them, the mercado for fresh fruits and vegetables, Comercial for juices, canned goods and potato chips (my personal favorite). After almost two months of shopping at expensive grocery stores in the States it was a pleasure to shop our local more affordable establishments. Granted, the mercado is not as convenient as buying everything in one place and there a certain things the myriad little shops and stalls (shown here) just don't have (most anything that is not in season), but the prices are so inexpensive. We got a huge bag of onions, peppers, cucumbers, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, limes, avocados, and apples for just over $10USD. It would have been closer to $5 except we bought the imported (from our old home town of Yakima) apples which were the same as back in the U.S. In addition shopping at the mercado is so entertaining, with bands playing in the aisles and the constant flow of people jostling for goods. It is good to be back.