El Mercado Central

Kayla, Tammy and I walked down random side streets and stumbled upon this area that looked really sketchy. It was a building opening with a large orange sign that read "mercado central" and led into a dark alley boardered with duffle bags and lights from butchery shops. Of course, the sketchiest shops here are the cheapest so I convinced Tammy to go inside. Walking in all you could see were hoards of people packed together and weaving in and out of the maze of side alleys. We had reached an indoor city. There were buildings inside of this building and shops that had barely any room to move. From one to the other the walls were covered in duffle bags from Nike, Puma, and Quicksilver for about $6 each. The smell of food, flowers and spices dominates the air in this old and rusty ¿warehouse? in the middle of the city. Stores sold bags, souvenirs, shoes or food. The food ones were either selling spices which hung fromt the walls, in large bowls and piled to form a pyramid shape, or random butcher shops that sat a row of people that made the area resemble a Moroccan Medina. Near each shop with the hanging greens and fresh spices was usually a flower shops or a mini-farmacy. Of course it started downpoaring within the first five minutes there, but we were inside. The metal roof was old and rusting so the sound of the rain was loud and dominated the mercado while every-so-often the rain would leak through some of the holes in the roof. Walking down the winding alleys of butcher shops, food stores, and close walls of duffle-bags we stumbled upon a large statue of Jesus in a glass box. People here are extremely religious and it kind of surprised me to see something so big in a crowded market lake that. But after about a half an hour of dodging men, women, indigenous women, and police officers, we left the mercado happy and a little bit more satisfied with our experience level in San José. Oh, and by the way. As a side note with nothing relating to the market; I had rice and black beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner today...that makes 5 meals in a row hahahaha.