Mercado Central

The next day Armando and his mother, Eloisa, took us (the girls) shopping at the Mercado Central ( the Central Market)..


When I was researching Fortaleza on the internet this was one thing that was talked about as a must do. I expected native craftsmanship, what I did not expect was a market that was the size of a city block and 6 levels high connected by circular ramps.

Within this area were many hundreds of small kiosks with shoes, clothing, linens, and jewelry, all managed by individual vendors with everything you can imagine for sale.

There are certain things that Brazil is famous for – cashews, hammocks (beautiful hammocks), linens – hand woven and hand embroidered, beautifully woven blouses, crinkled dresses, beads made from palm seeds and shells, if I could have prepared for this experience I would have completed all of my Christmas shopping with unique, beautiful gifts. As it was, it was overwhelming.

Eloisa helped keep us focused, pointing out especially interesting or worthwhile items. One of my first purchases was a crinkled dress of very thin cotton rolled into a twist to keep the wrinkles. Eloisa encouraged me to buy it and it has turned out to be my favorite thing to relax in when evening comes, cool and unrestricting. I don’t even bother to crinkle it, I just love the feel of the light cotton on my skin.

Armando helped Madeline barter a good deal on a hammock. Madeline also stocked up on some beautiful beads to take home to friends.

Armando was a saint, putting up with four women shopping. Eloisa was there to find the good deals, Armando was there to translate and help barter. Notice Rhonda’s purse, made out of pieces of polished coconut shells. It was beautiful.

I was not sure if Brazilians bartered until I was literally pulled into a shoe store, a pair of (I will admit) very comfortable sandals put on my feet and encouraged to make an offer. While I anxiously eyed my own shoes, the vendor offered me the sandals for $45 rialys (about $25 US). They were comfortable, but I was not thinking of new shoes. As I fought my way out of the store, he reduced the price to $40,… $30…, $25…, $15…, at that point I just wanted my own shoes back.

That gave me a false sense of the Brazilian barter game. Armando tells us that they expect you to barter for 5 or 10%. The deep discount that the shoe vendor tried to thrust on me was not typical.

We ended the afternoon with a stop at a juice bar. The drinks were made strictly from the fruits, no additives. Most of the fruits were unfamiliar to us, so Armando got the juice vendor to give us samples of the different fruits. There was one that was Armando’s favorite that he strongly recommended. It had a white flesh and was a little slimy, but very tasty. We all went with that. The fruit was blended into a smoothie consistency and was probably the most refreshing thing I have every tasted.

The green cactus-y looking fruit in the foreground is what we drank. It is called Graviola and it is only grown in a limited climate in Mexico, Central America, parts of the Caribbean and northern South America. It is not a common fruit, even in Brazil. If you ever get the chance to try it – do so!