Crowded, Hot, Sweaty, Scary, Cheap Shopping

So after about four years of living in Nicaragua I went to the #2 out of 81 things to do in Managua (so says Lonely Planet)...shopping at Mercado Oriental! Mercado Oriental is the largest open-air market in Central America, although "open-air" is not the way I would describe it. It is basically a huge collection of stalls, most under zinc roofs. It is cramped and disorganized, and basically just keeps growing out and out without any planning or supervision. My second day living in Nicaragua, the market had a huge fire, which could be seen from where I was living, which is quite a ways away. I believe the fire was electrical, just showing how the market is completely unregulated. Ivan has always tried to avoid going to the market because of the dangers that can be found there, and Mercado Huembes is much closer to us, and much safer. But the time came where we needed to go to buy a couple new faucets that cost $50 each at the hardware store and we wanted to find a better deal. Before you go, you need to make sure you are dressed right. You shouldn't wear anything that makes you stand out, or look particularly nice, just plain jeans and t-shirt are best. All jewelry should be removed (I forgot to take off my silver necklace which I always wear, but luckily no one snatched it off my neck). No purse or bag, just the money you need stashed away in a pocket or sock, and I brought my cell phone, in case I got lost, and it isnt really worth much anyway. And of course we called David, our favorite sidekick that is always down for anything, to come along! Along the perimeter of the market there are some nicer stores, which are big and clean. Once you enter into the market, it gets dark and hot pretty quickly. The walk-ways are narrow and there are always people coming through this big carts selling different things and you need to try and get out of their way, and hopefully you wont back up into one of the open-fire grills cooking baho (a nicaraguan beef stew-like dish, which David and I enjoy later in the journey). The market does have some sort of organization, all similar products are together. So there is a hardware section, a fruit section, shoes section, etc etc. I would think it would be better for business to be spread out, but I guess they do pretty well. It took us awhile to find where the hardware section was. We walked through mostly clothing and shoes. We found the faucets and were able to buy them both for about $30, much better than spending $100! After, as we tried to find our way out, David and I stopped to enjoy some baho and I bought lots and lots of coconut water to make my coconut-papaya shakes every morning! Ivan took some picutes, luckily, he didnt get robbed! There are varying accounts about how dangerous the market is. Certainly since nothing happened to us, and we didnt see anything, it is easy to say, "aww, no big deal". But of course, we took precautions and were probably lucky. I have read some accounts that there is a stabbing every nine minutes in the market and heard of many people being robbed, even as far as people being kidnapped and never heard for again. Of course, I guess that could happen anywhere. Although we only saw a small part of this gigantic market, it is possible to get just about anything there, from car parts, to shampoos, wedding dresses, and furniture. Its all there, even many black market items, like guns, protected animals, you name it, I am sure it can be found there. I don't think it will take me another four years to go back to Oriental, but I do not think it is the #2 thing to do in Managua!