Great fortnightly shopping experience

"Oye sambhal ne.. Aa tamatar leva chhe ? (Hey listen, wanna buy this tomatoes ?)"

"Han chal lai laiye... ketla leva chhe ? (Ok fine, how much ?)"

"Aree na yaar... thoda vadhu paki gayela chhe and 18 pesos na Kg aape chhe.. thoda mongha chhe... (Nope.. they are extra ripen and you need to pay 18 pesos for it)"

"Saaru.. chal aagal kyank joiye.. aana thi saara malva joiye (Lets checkout. We should get better than this)"

"Aree ye dekh, ye achhe wale lag rahe hey.. kya bolta hey.. aaur wo 14 pesos me hi de raha hey... (hey.. this seems to be good and it costs 14 pesos only)"

"Thik hey.. chal ye vale le lete hey.. (Ok fine.. lets take this one)"

"Disculpe, uno kg jitomate (Excuse me, one kg tomato)"

"chal yaar.. aapne pan ahiya thi j lai laiye.... Aagal aana thi vadhu saara ane sasta nahi male (Lets purchase from here only. We wont get cheaper and better than this)"

"Uno kg otro (One kg more)"

"Aaur abhi kya baki hey ? Tamatar aa gaye, mirchi aa gayi... abhi aalu aaur pyaz lene baki hey.. (Still what's remaining ? we have purchased tomatoes and chili. Still potatoes and onions are remaining)"

I hope you have got clue about our great fortnightly shopping experience.. If not then, I am talking about our "shopping" of vegetables on every fortnight.

Its been a tradition for us to purchase veggies on every fortnight from veggie market rather than from super mall. There are many reasons for it. You don't get fresh veggies in super mall which you get in veggie market. This shopping from veggie market also gives us opportunity to spend our couple of hours in fresh air rather than keeping ourselves locked in our rooms. And last but not the least, purchasing veggie from veggie market is almost 50% cheaper than super mall so overall, its obvious choice for us rather than super mall.

As you go from one country to another, you will find a lot differences in culture, climate, locality, infrastructure and many more things but as far as veggie market is concerned, I guess it has same "look and feel". You will find many veggie shops in three or four rows properly categorized, market full of crowd and people shouting here and there. I cant stop myself from recalling veggie market of my town in India whenever I go for purchasing veggies.

Although this market looks is same, there are many differences in veggie shopping between India and Mexico. When I was in India, I had been to veggie market couple of times with my mom so that has helped me to understand how to bargain and how to properly pick up the best veggies from the given choices. Here, when I went to veggie market first time, I thought its my chance to test my skills but... that's not the case.

In Mexico, they don't allow you to pick up your choice. If you ask for 1 kg potatoes, they will randomly select some potatoes and will weigh for you. Here luck comes in the picture rather than your skills. You might get good potatoes while you end up with not so good onions... so forget about picking the veggies. One more difference is you need to always purchase in whole Kgs. You cant ask for 2.5 kg. You need to decide if you want to go for 2 kg or 3 kg. This option becomes very odd for some of the veggies like chili and lemon. What will you do with 1 kg chili !!! Have 100 grams chili a day and keep a doctor away :) And the main difference in veggie shopping which mostly likely any Indian wont like is you cant bargain. They have prices written over there and you need to pay exactly the same. This is really ridiculous, isn't it ? At least they should write more price first and then give the chance of bargain. It gives satisfaction that you paid 3 pesos less than what he asked first eventhough you pay 2 pesos more than the real price... Well, we have to be satisfied without bargaining in shopping :(

And one more important thing in this shopping.. we need to forget that we are software techies and working in so and so company. As you will find us carrying kgs of veggie from market to our hotel, we don't look better than labors. At least labors have got practice of carrying so much weight so they are able to adjust it properly in their body.. we are worse in that.

Though having all these difficulties, we like shopping from veggie market. We are done for this fortnight so now need to wait for two more weeks for next experience. Till that time, enjoy yourself from delicious dishes and make sure you empty the whole fridge which is right now full of veggie :)

Happy shopping..