This morning’s orientation exercise was the Mercado Lucas de Gálvez, one of the city’s many vibrant local markets. You know you’re approaching a market in Mexico when the streetscape becomes a touch rougher, a tad down at heel perhaps. Almost always there’s a sudden abundance of car part shops, chain-saw boutiques, plastic toy and sugary drinks vendors, and garish knick knack shops that explode onto the street. Then there are piñatas strung up in a riot of lurid colour with their comic-book faces and the endless shoe shops, cheap luggage and other odd speciality stores (door handles anyone?). At Mercado Lucas de Gálvez this mayhem is at street level but just look up and you’ll see a superb row of highly ornamented facades now consumed by tropical decay. My, how grand would this area once have been.
Entry into the market is quite hard to find as there’s no grand archway, just multiple dark narrow passages that lure you in with flashes of bright sunlight from the open-air tightly packed maze inside.
There’s been a market here since 1884 but over the years multiple buildings have been demolished until the present one opened in 1948. Nowadays it’s one of the only places in town to get all your fresh veggies, authentic exotic fruits, spices, meats and freshly made tortillas (which are turned out on an industrial scale using an old-fangled iron tortilla press). Plus jewellery, kitchenware, live poultry (ducklings, chicks, young turkeys for rearing, and budgerigars, mice and guinea pigs for pets – we think). There are endless food stalls offering all kinds of Yucatecan foods prepared by Mayan locals who come into the city from the surrounding country.
Travels With My Ant 
The belligerent rooster makes one curious as to what sort of knees ups occur within the Salon Gallos. Please let us know, if you are ever brave enough to venture in.
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We were as intrigued as you, perhaps more so. However, on closer inspection I’m afraid it turned out to be a car park. Not sure why they chose that particular name. It certainly attracts attention though!
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Hi Paul & Anthony, I’m thoroughly loving your travels, keep enjoying.
Kerrie x
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Thanks Kerrie! We’re loving our life in Mérida. It’s such a gorgeous city. I’ll be posting more adventures as we’re here for 3 months. x
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These posts are glorious! The photography is outstanding. Keep it coming x
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Thanks BJ! I enjoy taking the photos and writing the blog posts. Loads more to come so hopefully you’ll follow along. Mérida is such an incredibly vibrant place (as you can see) with so much to explore in the city as well the surrounding Yucatan area – the Mayan pyramids, the cenotes, the Jungle and the beach, which is about 35ks away but just 10 quid away by taxi! We plan to assess the potential of living here for longer, so keen to experience normal day to day life and not as a tourist. Hope you’re well. Hope to hear from you occasionally. x
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