Questions
Describe an open-air or street market which you enjoyed visiting. You should say:
- where the market is
- what the market sells
- how big the market is
- and explain why you enjoyed visiting this market.
Answer
There’s one particular street market I remember visiting a few years ago. I was traveling with some friends in Mexico and we stopped off in a town called Cuernavaca. We went to explore the center of the town one morning and it was literally mobbed with people, I think it was a Tuesday morning if I remember correctly. Anyway we asked one of the locals what was going on and they explained that it was ‘market day’ which apparently is a big event for them. We strolled down the street to see what all the fuss was about.
When we arrived at the market it was really impressive, it spanned about 5 blocks and there seemed to be all kinds of different things you could buy. We saw clothes, food, shoes, jewelry and many local crafts for sale as well. I think we must have spent a couple of hours there just exploring all the market stalls and some of us bought some souvenirs for friends back home. It was a great experience because there were people from all over the region who had come to set up their stalls and sell their goods there.
After we had finished looking at everything we stopped at one of the food stalls to have some lunch, some spicy tacos and a nice refreshing beer, it was excellent. I think it’s one of the biggest markets I’ve ever been to, and it was certainly one of the most colorful. They even had buskers there performing all day. As i said, we spent at least a couple of hours looking at all the offerings, but apparently it goes on well into the night as well. They run it for 2 days back to back once a month. I began to realize why it was such a big event for the locals, it was really amazing and I’ve certainly never seen a market like it since then.
Market day is a big tradition for the town and the locals always look forward to it each month. Apparently it used to be quite a small affair when it first started hundreds of years ago, but it’s grown and grown, and when we were there it was almost like a supermarket, but out on the street.