The Sunday market (tianguis) in Tlacolula de Matomoros is a bustling place to buy home goods, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, traditional folk art, flowers, clothing, meat, beverages, and more.
It is also a good place to try new things. I sampled pulque, a fermented drink made from agua de miel (honey water). It was not as sweet as something made from honey water should be, but it was tasty. I had a taste of sweet potato, some chapulines (grasshoppers), and some sal de gusano (worm salt). For lunch, I had a tortilla with flor de calabasa (squash blossom; it also makes a wonderful soup) from one of the puestos (stands) in the indoor section of the market, near the chapel, Capilla del Señor de Tlacolula. There was a tejate stand right next to the place where I sat on an overturned bucket to enjoy my quesadilla.
I cannot help but contrast this experience with navigating a mall or grocery store. The open air, the colors of the tapetes (wool tapestries, rugs) and the women’s clothing and the bags brighten the experience. Tlacolula’s tianguis offers delicious scents at nearly every stop. One can purchase live turkeys and a whole pig’s head. Even the lead photo here features a tool for killing chickens one by one. There is little prettified or packaged in this market; the food is food.
shewhodaresnothing 