Photo Essay : From Birds to Bananas, a Latin <i> Mercado</i> Has the Goods

El mercado, the market, opens at dawn in Central American towns and cities. The morning sun fills the stalls and burnishes fruits and vegetables arrayed on cloths spread on the ground. Farmers who have brought their produce to the market, like this one in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, settle in for a day of bargaining.

The wealthy and many of the middle class shop at American-style supermarkets, but the mercado attracts the poor. Prices are lower, and a good bargainer can drive them down even further. “He visto bananas mejores” is a familiar gambit. “I’ve seen better bananas.”

In the labyrinth of stalls, displays of leather goods, clothing and other manufactured products get the attention of shoppers. But most of the business involves food--in bewildering variety. Here in Costa Rica there are bananas in abundance, coffee beans, vegetables, rice and a welter of tubers and beans.

Some stalls sell songbirds, and the butchers sell chickens, necks wrung on the spot.

San Jose’s Mercado Central, typical of many in Latin capitals, also provides herbal remedies for a variety of ailments--from colds to asthma to cancer. Tourists are welcome, but advised, as they would be in an open market anywhere, to be wary of pickpockets. As a local businessman warned, “It is an interesting place for tourists, but they should not go in there wearing their Rolexes.”