Mexican Flea Market

We took in a Mexican flea market just down the road from us and it was quite an experience.  It was huge...stall after stall, row after row.  Felt like we were at the State Fair, sort of.

Lots of produce stalls with such a variety of fruits and vegetables.  Cantalope, watermelon, apples, oranges, grapefruit, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, avocado, cabbage, all kinds of chilies, things that we didn't know what they were.

Stalls of used things...clothes, tools, tires, electrical equipment, TV's, stereos and speakers, toys, you name it and they had it.

Stalls of new things...clothes, shoes, sunglasses, jewelry, hair bows and ties, toys, pinatas, all sorts of things even all kinds of birds.  Lots of leather...belts, holsters, saddles and what would a Mexican flea market be without Cowboy hats.

The sights and sounds were amazing.  The mix of Mexican music coming from both boom boxes and a live band, with the mingling of the rapid Spanish language floating through and the occassional English snippet heard. Our senses were bombarded with the cacophony of sound.

Across the street was a different type of market. This one had all types of animals for sale. Horses, ponies, chickens, roosters, chicks, ducks, geese, pigeons, doves, puppies, goats and sheep. They were either tied out or in cages.  Also along this market they had hay and straw for sale and from the looks of it some of the hay had just been cut.

At the flea market, as with any carnival or fair, they had tons of food stalls. Packaged snacks as well as freshly prepared food.  Huge big plastic kegs of many different kinds of fruit punch, bottled water or sodas. So many things were offered to eat...but, not being sure whether it had been prepared on this side of the border or the Mexican side of the border, we didn't partake of anything edible.

Oh, and as a side note, we stayed away from the $5 colored contacts!

Click here for Flea Market Sounds

Mexican Flea Market

We took in a Mexican flea market just down the road from us and it was quite an experience.  It was huge...stall after stall, row after row.  Felt like we were at the State Fair, sort of.

Lots of produce stalls with such a variety of fruits and vegetables.  Cantalope, watermelon, apples, oranges, grapefruit, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, avocado, cabbage, all kinds of chilies, things that we didn't know what they were.

Stalls of used things...clothes, tools, tires, electrical equipment, TV's, stereos and speakers, toys, you name it and they had it.

Stalls of new things...clothes, shoes, sunglasses, jewelry, hair bows and ties, toys, pinatas, all sorts of things even all kinds of birds.  Lots of leather...belts, holsters, saddles and what would a Mexican flea market be without Cowboy hats.

The sights and sounds were amazing.  The mix of Mexican music coming from both boom boxes and a live band, with the mingling of the rapid Spanish language floating through and the occassional English snippet heard. Our senses were bombarded with the cacophony of sound.

Across the street was a different type of market. This one had all types of animals for sale. Horses, ponies, chickens, roosters, chicks, ducks, geese, pigeons, doves, puppies, goats and sheep. They were either tied out or in cages.  Also along this market they had hay and straw for sale and from the looks of it some of the hay had just been cut.

At the flea market, as with any carnival or fair, they had tons of food stalls. Packaged snacks as well as freshly prepared food.  Huge big plastic kegs of many different kinds of fruit punch, bottled water or sodas. So many things were offered to eat...but, not being sure whether it had been prepared on this side of the border or the Mexican side of the border, we didn't partake of anything edible.

Oh, and as a side note, we stayed away from the $5 colored contacts!

Flea Market Sounds

South Padre Island

Took a trip to South Padre Island and ate in this little place on the water called Dirty Al's.  Not much to the place, just mismatched tables and chairs with a bait shop on the premises, but the food was fabulous. Nice and fresh, just out of the water.

We shared this basket of "crab fingers".  Small claws of crab deep fried with a tangy dipping sauce.  Very good!

Gene had fried oysters (of course!) with fries.  He said they were the best he'd ever had.  I'll take his word for it since I don't "do" oysters!

I had the fried shrimp that were DELICIOUS, so fresh, and fried fish.  I'm not a big fish eater unless it's catfish or buffalo, but this white fish was SO good.  Gene helped me finish it so we didn't leave any behind.

Outside of Dirty Al's was a charter fishing boat slip.  While we were eating, a charter came in and proceeded to clean the catch of the customers. Pelicans and some gulls showed up for the free meal of fish scraps.

At one point there were probably 7 or 8 pelicans vying for the free meal.  By the time we finished lunch and got around to take pictures lunch was just about over and just a few pelicans remained.

We payed $4 to park our car in a lot so we could get to the beach area of the Gulf of Mexico.

The sand was so fine and soft.  Felt good between the toes!

The water was beautiful although a little cold.  Would have loved to get in for a bit but will have to wait on that I guess.  Don't know if it ever gets warm enough to get into during the winter months.  Beautiful anyway!