Market Day in Cuetzalan

Sunday was a brilliantly sunny day in Cueztalan... something that is not very frequent in this misty, rainy, mountain town.

After breakfast we headed down to the town square to see the Sunday market.

The plaza and the streets leading into it are jammed with stalls.  People from the surrounding area come into town to buy and sell.

The profusion of fruits, vegetables and flowers are a colorful sight.

These "mameyes", a tropical fruit, were artistically cut open to reveal their pink flesh.

 This fellow was making "churros", long, fluted tubes of dough that are deep-fried.

This guy was grinding coffee.  The region is an important coffee growing region, and I bought a couple of bags of beans to take home for friends.

There were handicrafts for sale, but except for the hand-embroidered garments, I found most of them to be tourist kitsch.

Some of the poor, subsistence farmers from the countryside, have only a small amount to sell in the market.

This live turkey for sale was probably destined to end up as someone's Sunday dinner, perhaps served with "mole".  Its leg was tied to a stone so that it could not escape its fate.

A street dog lazes in the sun.  As in most Mexican towns there many dogs wandering the streets.  However, the dogs in Cuetzalan all seemed to be well fed.  It seems that the locals feed the animals.

The inhabitants of the surrounding area are mostly indigenous people.  On market day they come into town, and many of them, especially the women and the elderly, are dressed in their traditional attire.  I tried to be very discrete taking photos of them... taking general views, and then cropping the photos to focus on them.

After exploring the market, it was time to head back to the hotel, get into the car, and drive about twenty minutes out of town to Yohualichán.  What's Yohualichán?  You'll find out in my next post.