We've been staying in Quito the past few weekend, which means we have time to go to the market and buy food for the week. In our effort to spend as little as possible on food, we've scouted out and found what we think are the cheapest places to buy things.
There's a few different options in Quito for getting groceries. One option is the tiendas. All around Ecuador are little shops that all sell pretty much the same thing. They have snack foods, dry goods, and basic fruits and vegetables. One of our neighbors said they have survived off the tienda near our house for a month or so. Because of the limited options, and often high produce prices, we don't go to tiendas for weekly groceries.
Another option is a supermarket, specifically SuperMaxi. I hate SuperMaxi. Shopping here is as miserable experience as shopping at Wal-Mart or Target, and like Target, SuperMaxi stinks. However not of dirty carpet, stale popcorn, and sweatpants but more sour, like someone spilled a jar of olives and never cleaned it up. The stench seems to emanate out of the deli section. We tried to go 3 months without shopping at SuperMaxi to see if it could be done. It can, but like Wal-Mart, they really do have the lowest prices on certain things. So we now go to SuperMaxi only for some basic items like milk, sugar, juice packets, and oatmeal. We never get produce from SuperMaxi because it's expensive and not ripe. There also is MegaMaxi, which is twice as big and twice as awful. It's like a Wal-Mart Supercenter. There's electronics and furniture and crap, in addition to food.
The other option is the indoor/outdoor food markets. There are many of these scattered around Quito and Ecuador. They sell lots of different fruits, vegetables, meat (we never buy meat), and dry goods. Some are open every day and some only once a week. There's even just covered trucks filled with produce that stop near our house once a week and sell from their truck. All these places sell the same thing, but they don't charge the same. Often, if the market is in a building, it's going to be a little more expensive. Two markets near the center of Quito named Iñaquito and Santa Clara are nice indoor markets, but we never shop there because we know where to find cheaper prices. One exception to the indoor rule is a market in southern Quito named San Roque. It's cheap but smelly and dirty. Also, when we told some Ecuadorians we were going there, they all said that it's dangerous and there's robbers everywhere. We were fine, but I doubt we'll be going back.
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| This doesn't show the whole market. This will be and empty lot on Sunday |
So where do we go for the lowest prices and nicest shopping experience? Only to the market that's farthest away from our house. It takes a 25 minute, hilly to walk to then catch a 40 minute bus to our market, but it's worth the effort. It's located in the north of the city in an area called Cotocollao, near the Ofelia bus station. It's a huge open-air market where good deals on food can be found. For example, we got 15 small avocados for a dollar last week. We also just like the atmosphere at this market. This is how we spend most Saturday mornings when we're not traveling. Going to the market is one part of living in Quito we really enjoy.
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| Here's the other half. |
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| The meat isle |
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| Most things in piles sell for a dollar |
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| Avocado ally |
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| It gets busier the later it gets |
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| Fish stand |
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| Bags of rice, beans, corn and flour on the left |
Interesting Fact: We all know of Orson Wells' broadcast of War of the Worlds and the panic is caused in the US, but Quito did panic one better. In 1949, a Spanish version was broadcast in Quito and it caused police, fire officials and citizens to rush out and fight the aliens. Once the people realized they were fooled, they then rushed the radio station and local newspaper and set it ablaze. 6 people were killed in the War of the World Riots in Quito.
