the Fugalei Market, and grocery shopping in Samoa

(I wrote this as a sort of "day in the life" post, about grocery shopping, but no one wants to see a bunch of pictures of grocery stores.  So these are pictures taken at one of the 2 main outdoor markets in Apia, the Fugalei Market.  The market is a huge open air setting, covered by a high tin roof.  Vendors at one end sell flowers, clothing and crafts, a few in the middle sell precooked food, and the other end is packed with vendors of fresh local fruits and vegetables.)

Taro leaves, Taro root, and coconut: the staples of Samoan diet

As the girls eat breakfast, I sit down and write a list of the basics we need.  I can’t menu plan, because you never really know what you will be able to get at the grocery store each week.  Some weeks you can get cheese, or chicken breasts, or cabbage, and some weeks you can’t.   We are going to the beach tomorrow, so I brainstorm some fun portable snacks. I’m also happy I picked up some cash in town yesterday-- that will save us a trip to the bank, which is a bit out of our way. 

The girls are ready fairly fast, and we luckily only wait a few minutes for the bus, which runs right by our front gate.  The buses run their routes in a loop, which means there is no set time for buses, but you usually don’t have to wait more then 20 minutes.  We luck out again-- for some reason, the buses vary in their route, and I haven’t figured out when or why they sometimes take a different street.  Today the bus goes down the street I need, with grocery store #1.  Our ride is 10 minutes and the fare costs 1 tala 50 cene (about 60 cents).

Vendor selling baked breadfruit and taro, and palusami, which is taro leaves baked in coconut cream

We jaywalk across the busy street because the nearest crosswalk is a few minutes walk down the street.  This first store nearly always has cheese in stock at decent prices (and sure enough, later I see the same cheese at a different store for 3 times the price).  I also pick up some chips, they have a nice selection.  That’s about it for this store today.

A quick dash across the street again and a 5 minute walk later, and we are at grocery store #2. I always get meat here, because their deli section seems the cleanest of all the stores.  And by cleanest, I mean on more then one occasion at various other stores, I’ve seen roaches crawl across the meat case.  Today I get some pork chops and chicken breasts, and ask them to slice some ham roll.  Lunchmeats are fairly impossible to find here, and even though the ham roll resembles spam strongly, it will work for our beach trip tomorrow (Later, unfortunately, I threw it all out because it tasted strongly of chemicals).  This store has a fairly good grocery selection, but the prices are ridiculous.  40 tala (around 16 US) for a pound of mushrooms, anyone?   The girls are asking for a drink, but better to wait till our next store.

Another 5 minute walk, and we are at the fruit and veggie market. We pick up some oranges and some coconuts.  The girls love drinking fresh coconut juice, so that will be fun for tomorrow.  I’ve forgotten to bring my backpack, and at this point I’m struggling a bit with all my bags and a kiddo hanging on to each hand.  Fortunately our last grocery store stop is right across the street.

This last stop has the best variety and most reasonable prices, so I do the bulk of my bigger purchases here.  I’m planning on taking a taxi home, so I don’t have to worry about carrying things.  Bread, eggs, flour, rice, some other odds and ends, and the long awaited strawberry milks (the girl’s drink of choice).  I wanted some canned beans but didn’t see them in any of the shops, hopefully there will be a restock soon.  

handprinted lava lavas

There are always taxis outside this store, and we hop in to air-conditioned delight.  Our driver today is the typical chatty sort, and I spend the 10 minute ride home making polite sounds of agreement to a conversation I’m not really following while trying to referee 2 little girls who both want to sit in my lap and do not want to sit nicely in their seats.  8 tala for the ride, but I wouldn’t be able to handle everything on the bus so no choice there.  

a vendor making arrangements for a church

Start to finish, about 2 hours, a pretty successful morning-- not too hot, no rain, no one had to do an emergency potty break :)  I usually do a bigger shopping trip once a week, we do have a little village shop down the street if we run out of basics mid week.   

For the curious: We spend 60-80 USD a week on groceries, cooking everything mostly from scratch and not eating a ton of meat.  People definitely live on less then this, using family farm produce such as taro or bananas and lots of ramen.  It’s also possible to spend a lot more then this, if you want imported fruits and vegetables, lots of meat and dairy, and prepackaged anything. Eating out is by far the most expensive activity to do here, so we save that for very special occasions.

market magic

I was due a bit of shopping luck, I’ve been looking for a pair of pants for months now with no results.  Pants are the thrifting prize, I think.  I can easily alter a shirt to fit, but pants need to fit around my waist and have the length I need, which tends to be a problem here.  I wandered into a tent at the Satuday market with a sign that said “all clothes $1,” not really expecting much.  But the first thing that caught my eye was a silk blouse-- Ann Taylor.  Then a JCrew skirt.  Then some Banana Republic pants.  I got a bit excited.  I must have spent about ½ an hour rooting through piles, and came away with 3 bags of clothes for $18 Bz total, which included 5 pairs of pants in my size!  I hope this doesn’t wipe out my shopping luck for the next few years.

When I find clothing at this price range, I tend to shop for fabric as well as  following my usual shopping guidelines.  I found this skirt, which is the most amazing silk/linen blend fabric with decorative stitching.  It is huge, but I can easily cut a skirt out for myself with plenty of leftover fabric.

I also found this… shirt thing? bathing suit cover up? nighty? with the original Macy’s price tag on it for $88 US (! you must be kidding me, Macy's....).  It is a beautiful coral cotton voile, and there is at least ½ a yard of material there which will make a nice summer dress for Miss M. 

By the way, this is Myrtle, my homemade sewing form.  I used a Pinterest tutorial (of course) which recommended using  duct tape to shape the form.  Poor Myrtle is slowly melting, sagging, and generally deforming in the tropical heat.  In case you were wondering, this is not a helpful quality in a sewing form, but she is made of like $30 worth of duct tape so I refuse to get rid of her.

Anyways, it does take a bit of who-cares attitude to root through piles of used clothing.  I am always the only gringa, and I get a lot of funny looks.  Most people probably are puzzled as to why a tourist is shopping for used clothes in Belize.  When I went to pay for my massive pile of clothes the girl in charge actually swore under her breath (in Spanish) in astonishment at me…. Believe me, I am willing to trade some funny looks  for  nice clothes.   

When I got home, I went through pockets before throwing everything into the wash, and found a tiny cheat sheet for a Spanish test.  I find it highly amusing that that particular pair of pants made it all the way to Central America...

where I shop: clothes

In college I was an InStyle magazine devotee.  Every month one of my circle of friends would buy the latest issue, and we would gather in a dorm room, sit on bean bags and beds, and discuss the latest trends.  Even though my current wardrobe tends more to jeans and rubber boots, a part of me still  wants to be at least somewhat fashionable.  This is a challenge, to put it mildly.  Belize does not have ANY malls.  There are no chain stores- not one Gap, H&M, or even Wal-mart for goodness sakes.  Stores that sell new clothes follow what I imagine Miami Beach sees as fashionable: short, see-through, and lots of sequins.  So this leaves me with the second hand stores.  Fortunately, I am somewhat of a thrift store pro (I mean, how many people can claim they have shopped at a thrift store in Guatemala?).

dress: market clothes piles, 50 cents (altered by me), belt: Guatemala thrift store, 30 cents, bag: the boundary store, $2.50

All that In-Style education actually helps me.  I’m pretty good at picking out quality fabrics and construction from a literal huge pile of clothes.  I’m also good at recognizing quality brands.  For example, I’m going to pick Ann Taylor over Gloria Vanderbuilt., and silk over polyester.  Another thing in my favor is that I am taller then most Belizeans and have really different tastes.  We tend to gravitate towards different items… not only because I wear more uncommon sizes, but also because I don’t like rhinestones on my clothing.  This is probably why no one snapped up the Manolo Blahniks I found for $5bz, or the Hermes Scarf for $1—my two most exciting finds.

the kitty claims the Manolos

 shopping in Belize

1.     know where to go.  All piles of $1 a piece clothes at the market are not equal.  I stick with the vendors whom I’ve found have a nice, frequently updated variety of higher-end brands.  If I’m looking through some place new, I quickly check brands and materials.  If they aren’t up to my standards, I move on.  In Cayo, Ceci’s clothes are consistently good.  There is also Cayo Bargain center, which has new-with-tags on it clothes from Target, Kohl’s, and other places for very reasonable prices (I’m pretty sure their buyer buys up clearance racks…. I hope).  Then there is the shoe mecca—the Boundary store in Orange walk.  They have thousands of pairs of shoes, none for more then $20Bz.  Don’t worry, mom, I clean and bleach any used shoes I buy :)  

My favorite market vendor.  Scores that day: an Old Navy dress for $5 and a silk J Crew top for $2

2.     Look outside your regular size, but know your standard sizes.  I know my size in most of the chain brands.  However, since most of the places I shop don’t have fitting rooms, I have been known to try something on over my clothes in the middle of the store.  If I ever have children, I fully intend to embarrass the heck out of them with this.

trying to see myself in the mirror while squashed in a fitting room which is actually a closet

3.     Be willing to do a little work.  I will mend small holes, take things in slightly, and shorten sleeves.  Also, a lot of places have constantly changing stock, so it pays to check in frequently.  I usually spend 5-10 minutes on Saturday mornings at the market checking through my favorite places to see if anything new catches my eye.

sometimes competition over an item of clothing can be fierce

4.     Know your style.  Huge piles of unsorted clothes are overwhelming, and it's easy to walk away with something you really don't need or even like. The other day I came across a beautiful high-end silk top for $5bz.  But  it just wasn’t something I ever would have a place to wear, so I petted it a while and moved on.  My Pinterest board has really helped me define my style and figure out what items I need to look for. 

So anyone want to come shopping with me?

challenges

Over the past month or so I have started to challenge myself to experience life in Belize more.  Since I love my routines so much I tend to do the same things over and over, and then I get bored.  Then I get frustrated at myself for being bored, because I live in Belize for goodness sakes.  People pay a lot of money to vacation here.   Anyways, the first challenge is to explore more food at the market.  There is a whole row of food vendors at the market, and I had mostly avoided them because I can’t figure out how you are supposed to know how to eat there.  The vendors don’t have signs advertising what they sell or how much it is.  There are no nice lines to wait in till it’s your turn to order.  People sit or mill about,  and somehow yummy food appears in their hands, at least that is how it seems to me.  So I have started stalking vendors.  First I walk around a bit to see if anything looks or smells particularly good.  Then I hover around the edge of the stand, and spy to see what people are eating and how they order.   Ordering usually involves shoving your way through the crowd and yelling what you want to the cook.  (Don’t worry, the little old ladies do it too).  Since often I don’t know what the food is called I mostly just point, ask the price, and order so-many-dollars worth. 

So far I have sampled:

 Papusas, which are corn tortillas with beans, cheese, and chicken baked inside it

Chicken tacos from several different vendors (hey it’s easily identifiable)

Pork tacos, which I was going to get a picture of but inhaled instead.  Ahem.

And yes I am eating these foods at about 8am in the morning.  Somehow I now find myself craving tacos with spicy onions in the morning instead of a donut.  It’s weird. 

saturday market

So last Saturday started off as your average market day.  A guy hauling porta-potties called me baby and offered me a ride, a band in the Cayo square was playing some song with mostly inenteligible words except for the refrain of "ganjaaaa, ooooh gaaanjaaaa"....

And then, I saw something amazing for sale--

Peas!  Ok, so it doesn't take very much to get me excited, but Daniel has been trying to grow peas here for years without success-- our theory is that it is just too hot here.  We are limited to those awful mushy canned peas.  I bought a couple of pounds, and we are drying some in the hopes that it is some hardy strain that we will finally be successful growing.

Market total:
1 lb tomatoes
1 lb onions
1 lb peppers
2 lbs beans
1 lb carrots
10 bananas
1 pineapple
2 lbs peas
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$10 US!  (produce is really cheap right now)

saturday at the market

3 pounds beans

onions

purple, red, and green peppers

potatoes

bananas

avocado

pitajaya

dried jamaica flowers 

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$10 US

So, what the heck is a pitajaya? (pronounce it peet-a-hi-ya)  It's that weird pink fruit behind the beans in the picture.

This also is called the dragon fruit, and comes in a yellow version too.  But I like the pink, because this is what it looks like when you cut it up:

You peel the skin off like a banana, then eat the inside, seeds and all.  It is sweet and mild- kind of like a blueberry, only slightly slimy.   The yellow version has white insides.....not nearly as interesting.  I'm planning on blending it up with some orange juice and freezing it into popsicles- yum!