Every sunday there is market in the old capital of Teguise,
right in the center of the island. And here comes everyone. And a
lot more, too.
Never have we seen that many buses at one place
before, and all those coming in their
own, or hired car, are making long rows way out of the town..
And there is thousands of people during the short period market is
open. It all starts
sundag morning after breakfast, and closes about one o'clock.
Funny, but outside the church, whcih is situated
right in the middle of
the market place, there is a sign telling you that the church is closed
during the market.
It won't open till all the hucksters - and the tourists - have left
the show.
And show may well be the right word. It's almost
like a theater, or may be
a cirkus? with all those colourful marketbooths and people. Salesmen
and women
are often africans from the mainland, from previous Spanish Sahara
- or from Morokko or
perhaps Senegal. In any way they are all making a destinctive show
out of it.
And so, what to buy on the market? If money
is no problem, and you are here for the first time-
then noone can tell what you buy.. You can have almost anything..
But of course, there are
things showing up. The most beautiful handmade tablecoths, mostly
priced about
1.000 Ptas or £ 2.00 each. So there is leather. Lots of leatherbaskets,
leatherjackets
and all other leatherproducts..
(Photo: Toralf Otnes)
One important thing we wish to mention (and
we are quoting our guide) you MUST haggle.
over the price. - It's not difficult, because its always the seller
that takes first step.
At once you show your interest in something, he is showing up and
gives you a
'special-price-for-you'. So you start haggling. And at the time you
turn around to
leave the place, he gives you his last offer. And if that is a reasonable
offer -
you have made a deal. Reasonable enough - According to our guide,
that has to
be close to half of the first price. If you comes down at exactly
half price
you ought to have made a very good buy.
We have also been told that when you buy leather
from the Moroccon salesmen, that
will be cheaper, as labourcosts in Morocco is so much lower that in
Spain. The
quality is equal, and the animals from which it comes, are the same.
What you should not buy(again according to our
guide) are watches.. You will be offered
all the wellknown watches, such as Rolex and what else they are called.
So, if you are lucky they will tick-tack till you get on board your
plane homewards.
(That is when you buy another one on the airplane instead...)
Gold are all over, and the jewellery are exquicite.
But the gold is only outside..
But - it IS real gold. So as long as you are aware of that fact, you
might as well go along buying
- of course if the price is OK that is.
(Photo: Toralf Otnes)
A story at the end: One sunday morning when leaving
Puerto del Carmen by bus for Arrecife,
the bus had a sign saying it was headed for 'Costa Teguise'. Costa
Teguise is just north of Arrecife,
the capital, and out by the coast. The city of Teguise, where the
market is, is in the middle
of the island, and in another direction.
So, at every bus-stop in Puerto del Carmen, lots
of tourist were waiting for their bus to
Teguise Market. Many of the travel-agencies have their own busses,
and several other
companies arrange bus-trips to the market also. So when our bus stopped
at a bus-stop,
everyone tried to come onboard. The busdriver, a friendly local man,
could only speak
spanish, and even if he told them that this bus was going to Costa
Teguise, and not
to the market, We still don't know how many tourist we brought to
the wrong place....
We believe the bus-driver later took the rest of the day off....
(All opinions above are our own, and should you
disagree, or have other comments, feel free to send us an e-mail!)
|