Outdoor markets in Tuxtla Chico, Chiapas, Mexico

Last December 9th our cruise ship stopped at Puerto Chiapas in the southern-most state of Mexico, adjacent to Guatemala. On the ship we signed up for a shore excursion that went to two different sites, first, the town of Tuxtla Chico, also known as “Chocolate City” and then to some ancient Mayan ruins, the Izapa ruins.

A large percentage of the people who live in these small rural towns are descendants of the Mayans and most of them are extremely poor. There are many different Mayan dialects and reading and writing is not a part of the Mayan culture. For most of these citizens, their first exposure to reading and writing is when they start school and must learn Spanish. Thus they start out doubly disadvantaged: reading and writing are foreign to them because of their culture, and Spanish is a new language to them, totally unrelated to their Mayan dialect. So, of course, non-Mayan children are far ahead of Mayan children when they start school, and they continue on ahead because their parents are able to support their efforts at reading, writing and speaking correct Spanish; thus the high numbers of school drop-outs. It is probably the same in all cultures where the language they use is only a spoken language.

After observing the process of making chocolate by hand in an open-air plaza in the city center and watching a young couple do several traditional Mexican folk dances, Jerry and I decided to browse through the extensive outdoor street markets. The booths and stands stretched along both sides of all the streets surrounding the city center…a huge, central-city-wide flea market….and I do mean FLEA market. I got about 5 flea bites by the end of our time there—all on my legs.
It was like a WalMart spread out in lines of booths throughout the grid-pattern cetral city streets. You could buy just about anything that you’d find in a Walmart…well, maybe not electronics/cameras/appliances.

This tropical part of Mexico has rich volcanic soil that produces big fruits and vegetables in abundance, like these tennis-ball sized radishes.
These ladies are selling flip flops and scarves (hanging up). You can also see a bag of limes in the lower left corner, while the other booths have plastic containers, clothing and Coca Cola.
The people of Chiapas are excellent farmers, as you can see by some of the produce available at this booth: Watermelons, bananas, oranges, mangoes, apples, and cantaloupes.
This booth had an eclectic mix of plastic ware, utensils, mugs, scrub brushes and other household items for sale.
Some kind of edible flower? I have no idea what these are, but they're pretty!
Shrimp, anyone? You even get the eyes as a bonus.
Here you could pick up some clay casserole dishes or other clay serving dishes.
After a long day of shopping, take home some barbecued chicken, just like at Safeway (almost).
Tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, and more…
There was some kind of big government sign-up thing going on in the central park. There was a stage with official government-type-looking people at tables with lots of paper work and people (mostly women and many with young children) were sitting around in folding chairs waiting their turn to be helped. This sign seemed to indicate that it was for people to sign up to get government assistance. Everyone looked sad and depressed except for the government-type guys.
The stairs on the right went up to the stage where the government welfare sign-up was going on. Most of the people sitting around waiting their turn for help looked discouraged, sad and resigned. Their demeanor was in such contrast to that of the people working in the booths of the outdoor markets…they looked happy with what they were doing; many were selling the fruits (and vegetables) of their own labor and they returned smiles to us when we smiled or snapped their pictures.

See other fascinating places at My World Tuesday.