I’ve always enjoyed shopping in the open air food markets. By shopping there you are buying local, supporting small businesses, and sometimes you even get to know the person who produces your food personally.
On a recent trip to Loreto, I was sharing a small boat with a woman who had hoped to buy watermelon at a community I was visiting. She was disappointed when the community had none to sell, but had a change in fortune when we came upon another boat filled to the brim with watermelons.
Without stopping we pulled our boat alongside theirs and I watched, impressed, as the whole transaction played out. Watermelons were chosen, money and fruit exchanged, and even a knife to cut one open was borrowed all while floating down the Amazon. The small outboard motors never even turned off.
The best part was that we all got a piece of watermelon to accompany us on the rest of our trip!
-Ian
