Market & Veggies

I left the house today at 6:45 a.m.  As I ventured out to a local market, the scene was very different from what we were used to in Chile.  In Chile, it was hard to find any place open before 10:00 a.m.  In Arica, the streets were densely populated early mornings except for school children.  Here in Tacna, the streets are full of people beginning around 4:30 a.m.!  Now, I haven’t left the house that early, but the people we know who have businesses leave for work at that hour.  Yolanda, the missionary here, has been telling us about a food market we needed to go to.  We actually went there one day, however, it was around 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon and Yolanda advised us to go early in the morning, thus my leaving the house this morning.  (She is very sweet to help us find the places that are the cheapest to buy our food.) 

Other than pastries or bread, it is difficult to find pre-cooked food – well just about impossible.  It is scratch or nothing so I have to be on top of the grocery list because everything has to be prepared!!  From my homemade tomato sauce to baking from scratch, I have to be organized in order not to spend all my time in the kitchen.  As our date for moving gets closer and the mission base is established, time becomes more precious as we have several opportunities in an area close to the base where we will be working.  This is a picture of what I bought today:

 The cost of this mess of veggies is really unbelievable.  While some things are expensive here, veggies are not! 

This is what I paid: spinach, 71¢, eggplant 51¢, tomatoes $2.13 – 6 pounds worth, green beans 88¢ - 2 pounds worth, parsley 17¢, mandarins 71¢ (forgive the misspelling in the picture!), carrots 53¢ - 2 pounds worth, I already used some of the before the picture.  A bargain just about anywhere!  OH, and I forgot to include the potatoes in the picture – 8 pounds of those were only $1.42.

I can remember the sound of my mother’s pressure cooker growing up.  It is a familiar sound around here too.  All those years of watching my grandmothers and mother, peel and snap beans are paying off.  The Lord intricately prepares our lives in such a way that He doesn’t let one detail in our lives go unused.  Although I didn’t like snapping and shelling beans, and even if I most likely tried to get out of doing the work, I learned some very valuable things, which I use to now serve my family and others.