# Video of the Ajijic Tianguis



## hkrause (Jul 27, 2009)

Here's a video I shot of the weekly outdoor market in Ajijic. You can send this to your NOB neighbors who worry about the "mean streets" of Mexico. 

Enjoy!

Heather

PS - Oops... the board won't let me post a link as a new member. If interested, you can search for "Ajijic Tianguis December 2010" on YouTube. It's the video by user "heatherkrause"


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

hkrause said:


> Here's a video I shot of the weekly outdoor market in Ajijic. You can send this to your NOB neighbors who worry about the "mean streets" of Mexico.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> ...


Well, what the hell, let me construct a word picture of what you missed. Imagine a city street in a small town cordoned off once a week so that Mexican entrepreneurs posing as folksy food and paraphernalia merchants can bring to market wares just purchased at the nearby abastos some 50 kilometers distant earlier that day or the day before and overcharge credulous "gringos" for crap they would never deign to buy at the local Walmart back in Luverne, Alabama. 

I´m reminded of that scene in Forrest Gump when Forrest came back from his first attempt at shrimping out of Bayou La Batre with a catch that was about a handful of shrimp. He encountered an old gent wise in the ways of shrimping along the gulf coast who, in the movie, told him; "Well, congratulations; you can make yosef a cocktail."


----------



## Mainecoons (Nov 25, 2010)

The prices are less than WalMart or Soriana in most cases and the stuff is a whole lot fresher precisely because it has been brought straight from the Abastos that morning. The seafood from at least one vender is consistently excellent and fresh as well. I have no idea who buys all that other junk there but you can get very good fresh food at very reasonable prices and walk to it and home to boot.

If this place is such a bad deal, why are there so many Mexicans shopping and buying there too? Why don't they all go to Chapala or further away? We've been to Chapala and observed that while the stuff is cheaper some of the time, the quality and selection is best at the Ajijic market. 

Walking to a market and buying stuff brought right from the wholesaler beats the heck out of not having that option. We are very grateful that it is there.


----------



## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

This discussion is about the weekly open air 'tianguis', as Ajijic does not have a 'mercado publico', which is located in Chapala centro. We shop there, as it is re-supplied daily from the Abastos and is quite convenient to our home. Everyone has their favorite place for fresh groceries.


----------



## hkrause (Jul 27, 2009)

*Thanks*

Thanks for taking a look. Yes, I'm aware that prices might be lower elsewhere, and that some sellers bring things from other markets. We've been to the mercado and tianguis in Chapala as well, and love both. Plus the Abastos in Guadalajara (which is incredible!). I've promised to take my sister for a day trip there when she comes to visit. 

But you'll notice I wasn't showing prices in the video or providing a commentary on this market compared to others. I was just trying to capture some sights and sounds of an open-air market in Mexico to show what they're like. Mainly, I wanted to show family and friends a taste of why we've elected to retire to the area... something to offset all the negatives they see and read in the media. It's nice for them to understand that Mexico isn't all drug wars and violence. We enjoy wandering through the tianguis and feel it's a nice little slice of life in Mexico. Several people have said they liked the video, so I thought I'd try sharing it here as well, for anybody who might enjoy.

Heather


----------



## Mainecoons (Nov 25, 2010)

Yes, the Chapala Mercado Publico is excellent as well and a great alternative to the tianquis.


----------



## Mainecoons (Nov 25, 2010)

Now Dawg, don't get your dandruff up there guy. We happen to like our tianquis, that's all. We have about three people we deal with every week, we speak Spanish with them, they take very good care of us and we don't find the prices unreasonable. That's one of the luxuries of being able to retire well, don't you think? You don't have to worry about getting the lowest price every time, you can focus on quality and doing business with people you like, plus the ambiance of walking two blocks from your house to do same.

I would think you are able to do the same. I view it as part of enjoying the fruits of one's labors.

Give us credit after a long life to know when the quality is there and the price is reasonable, if not the cheapest.

When we finally get out of this medical hassle we're in at the moment, we'll be home and would very much like to have you and Mrs. Dawg over. I promise that our Maine **** mutt, MAXimum Catteous, will not chase the dawg down the street!


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[QUOTEwe'll be home and would very much like to have you and Mrs. Dawg over. I promise that our Maine **** mutt, MAXimum Catteous, will not chase the dawg down the street![/QUOTE]

You`re on MC. We are just leaving for Chiapas as we write but when we return to the lake in the summer, God willing, we´d love to get together with you guys. My disrespèctful posts making fun of the Ajijic tianguis are meant to be in fun.

Too many about here take themselves too serously. We do not.


----------



## m55vette (May 21, 2010)

We enjoy our Wednesday strolls to see if there are new items or vendors. Also a nice way to run into friends. Thanks for the video, my daughter will enjoy seeing it.


----------



## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

hkrause said:


> We've been to the mercado and tianguis in Chapala as well, and love both. Plus the Abastos in Guadalajara (which is incredible!). I've promised to take my sister for a day trip there when she comes to visit.


+1 for Mercado Abastos in Guadalajara. I think it is an incredible place and regularly take visitors to see it along with other tourist attractions in Guadalajara. The only reason I don't go there more often is that it is a 20 minute bus ride and I have a mercado 1 block away for every day stuff.

I enjoyed your video. What was that strange language I occasionally heard people speaking in the background? I don't hear that in the mercado near my house.

Memo


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

While I would like to be seriously offended at RV deleting my recent posts, I can´t remember what I wrote so perhaps I deserved deletion. Perhaps I didn´t. Oh well, no point in dwelling on that.

Here is the real reason I am posting. I got the impression that some posting hereabouts are interested not only in food but food some would define as exotic so here is some information that might interest some of you, the reader.

The is a Korean grocery/liquor store on Avenida Las Americas just south of its intersection with Lopez Mateos on the right as you head toward downtown Guadalajara and a fine place this is. A plethora of fun Asian ingredients including delicious home made kim chi and large containers of such essentials as fine sesame oil and light soy sauce and on and on. 

The name of this fabulous place is the "Asian Grocery" and that name understates what they have in stock for you if you like to cook Korean or Chinese or other Asian foods. There are also a couple of Korean restaurants in the area open in the afternoon. Ask where they are of the proprietors. 

There are many surprises in Mexico. For instance, who would think that such regional outposts as Tapachula and Huixtla in the Soconusco region of Chiapas along the "tierra caliente" would have numerous Chinese restaraunts serving really mediocre Chinese food poorly but earnestly presented. It all goes back to the time the coastal Chinese were attracted tom North America to build railroads and their connection with the railroad from the Guatemala border to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec which was intended as an alternative to other solutions needed to cross the Americas from the Atlantic to the Pacific in pre-Panama Canal days.

The Chinese came to the Soconusco to build the railroads and their progeny stayed to open and run really bad Chinese restaurants. Life is cruel.


----------



## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> The name of this fabulous place is the "Asian Grocery" and that name understates what they have in stock for you if you like to cook Korean or Chinese or other Asian foods. There are also a couple of Korean restaurants in the area open in the afternoon. Ask where they are of the proprietors.
> [...]
> The Chinese came to the Soconusco to build the railroads and their progeny stayed to open and run really bad Chinese restaurants. Life is cruel.


In the same vein, there is another asian foods place in Guadalajara, this one with a more Japanese flavor, but carrying all kinds of asian foods. It is called Toyo and is connected to a restaurant with the same name. It is located on the south side of Avenida Mexico, one block west of Chapultepec. The restaurant is on the corner and the grocery is across the side street. I don't know the name of the side street and google maps doesn't even show the street. 

Regarding the quality of the Chinese restaurants... It seems like every country gets the quality of foreign food that it insists on. Foreign food restaurants in every country seem to water down the original cuisines to make it more compatible with local tastes. The food never improves in the process. 

Memo


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

TundraGreen said:


> In the same vein, there is another asian foods place in Guadalajara, this one with a more Japanese flavor, but carrying all kinds of asian foods. It is called Toyo and is connected to a restaurant with the same name. It is located on the south side of Avenida Mexico, one block west of Chapultepec. The restaurant is on the corner and the grocery is across the side street. I don't know the name of the side street and google maps doesn't even show the street.
> 
> Regarding the quality of the Chinese restaurants... It seems like every country gets the quality of foreign food that it insists on. Foreign food restaurants in every country seem to water down the original cuisines to make it more compatible with local tastes. The food never improves in the process.
> 
> Memo


Well and appropriately said, Memo

The food never improves in the process. No ****!


----------

