Monthly Archives: November 2014

Old Town Farmers Market

Hola, and welcome to the latest edition of OnVallartaTime! This post is all about Puerto Vallarta’s Old Town Farmers Market – Tianguis Cultural (its official name), which is every Saturday at the Lazaro Cardenas Park, a quick walk from our apartment. I did a post on this market last year, but the market has grown, with some new booths, so I thought I’d show it to you again.

Last week we had three straight days of rain, not terrible, since it was in the low 70’s. It didn’t stop us from getting out of the house, in fact it was a blast, water was running in the streets like a river! After the rain, the temperatures and most importantly the humidity began to drop. It now cools off in the evening, so we can finally sit on our terrace and enjoy it. The downside of the change in the weather has been that we both got colds, but we are recovering, and the weather is finally getting beautiful, with highs in the mid- to high 80’s and lows in the high 60’s.

Back to the Old Town Farmers Market. To participate in the market, vendors must produce the items themselves and live within 75 km. of Puerto Vallarta. Despite the name, there are really very few farmers at the market; it’s mostly crafts, baked goods, art, and handmade clothing, plus some great food booths. The market is aimed at visitors and full- and part-time residents, mostly American and Canadian. Most Mexicans don’t shop here, it’s too expensive, and there are lots of little stores and the Municipal Market for everyday foodstuffs. But for specialty items, it can’t be beat. We try to go every week to buy whole grain bread, which is hard to find in Puerto Vallarta, and this year there are bagels!

So sit back and enjoy a visual tour of the market!

imageThere are baskets…

imageJewelry of all kinds…

imageHandmade brooms…

imageSome vegetables…

imageCoffee…

imageClothing…

imageAnd more clothing…

imageA booth where you can order cakes (I love the sign, “Making Your Most Dreaming Cake!)…

imageMusical instruments…

imageOur amigo Roberto (whom we met on the beach) and his family, who make the best bead bracelets…

imageFlowers…

imageCheeses…

imageAnd even a chiropractor!

Now for some of the food booths:

imageThis is a taco booth, showing all the toppings…

imageWith the same grill setup as the street taco stands.

imageA tamales and empanadas booth. We got some good pork tamales with red sauce here.

imageThai food…

imageAnd traditional green pozole.

imageThese are some traditional aguas (flavored water).

imageHe’s making nueces dulces, also known as Mexican candy, sugar-coated pecans with cinnamon. They’re highly addictive!

imageAll accompanied by live music.

Well, that was the tour of last Saturday’s Old Town Farmers Market, and the end of OnVallartaTime for this week. To close out this post, here’s a link to a short video of last week’s rain on our terrace. Of course you’ve all seen rain before, but this is what it’s like in Puerto Vallarta. Click on the link below to see the video. Until next time!

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