A STROLL DOWN MAINSTREET

We actually don't do much shopping here in Roatan, but when we do we typically don't go downtown.  This is where the people come to shop and to supply their daily needs.  These markets are open seven days per week from dawn until dusk and the streets are typically crowded.  Driving through this market is a pretty precarious affair. 

These little stores sell basically everything that a person could need.  Some stores carry only new things, but most of them sell things that are already used.  The shopkeepers are friendly, and welcoming.  Bartering here is a way of life.  There are two prices for every item - the one gringos pay and the one the locals pay.  And, there is a huge difference between the two.

Food, of course, is the main reason people come to the market.  The staples of life here are rice, eggs, beans, bananas and tortillas.  However, they do have wonderful fruit if you can afford to purchase it.  The green oranges are actually quite tasty.  We very often finish our day with a fruit smoothie of pineapple, papaya, bananas and orange juice.  It doesn't even need sugar it is so sweet. 

Ninety percent of all clothing on this island is used clothing from the USA.  They purchase it by the 1000 pound bale.  Sometimes you will see it all nicely hung up like the one above.  Other times you will simply see an open bale with a sign advertising that every piece of clothing costs 10 lempira = 50 cents.  There are actually only a few stores on the island that carry new clothing. 

In the middle of the market there is an outdoor, public laundrymat.  For just a few cents you can do your laundry at one of the cement pilas.  They actually do quite a business here.  They wash everything here, their food, their clothes and even themselves at these pilas. 

Trinkets abound!  For a couple of bucks you can buy almost anything.  There are no Walmarts or Costcos on the island, but the people get by because they know which stores to go to.  We needed fabric, they told us which store to go to.  We needed a battery for LaRae's watch and sure enough, they knew exactly where to go.  It is an amazing little maze of shops. 

What they can't buy at these little corner shops they send away for from the "big city" - La Ceiba.  A phone call to Ceiba can get  you delivered just about anything by way of The Galaxy Wave - the local ferry boat.  Boxes, bales, letters, suitcases... anything, comes to Roatan for a couple of dollars each.  This is how we get our mission supplies.  We haven't decided what to give each other for Christmas yet, but when we do... well, this is where we will shop.