The farmers’ market, Puerto Ayora.

Another early morning, this time to visit the weekly farmers’ market in Puerto Ayora.  What a feast to behold.  First off, You can  buy a chicken or a cockeral if you are running low on farmyard animals! and eggs come in different colours!  Not since about 1982 have I seen anything other than a brown egg.  Here you can get white and blue as well.

My phone won't set to Galapagos time, and I haven't got an alarm clock. COuld this be the answer?
My phone won’t set to Galapagos time, and I haven’t got an alarm clock. Could this be the answer?
Brown, white and blue (and colours inbetween).
Brown, white and blue (and colours inbetween).

The fruit and veg are amazing.  Fresh and it all looks tasty.  Such variety that I miss in the UK.  The strawberries are enormous.  There is citrus, grapes, apples bananas and plantains- cooking bananas. As we walked into the market there was a woman making a sort of doughnut/fritter from plantain.

Who will buy my wonderful plantain?
Who will buy my wonderful plantain doughnuts?
Strawberries the size of a tiny person's fist
Strawberries the size of a tiny person’s fist
Lots of variety....
Lots of variety….
I have a pen, I have an apple..... Pineapples cut very fresh, still on their stalks
I have a pen, I have an apple….. Pineapples cut very fresh, still on their stalks
red bananas ( the green ones just aren't ripe yet)
red bananas ( the green ones just aren’t ripe yet) and Galapagos guavas
soon to be yellow bananas
soon to be yellow bananas

And the variety of food available didn’t end here.  There was all kinds of meat and fish.  In Britain a red snapper is about 25cm, if you are lucky! Not here, really huge.  The pork was cut for you however you want it, ans there were lovely plump corn fed chickens too!IMG_8100

Snappers nearly 45cm long!
Snappers nearly 45cm long!

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Slap a (side of) tuna on the barbie!
Slap a (side of) tuna on the bar-bey!

Delicious street food was available being freshly cooked from scratch.  The ‘sugar cane’ empenadas looked amazing, unfortunately the diet is still part of life for me, and they had no Aspartame/sugar replacement empenadas.  It is a lovely market with produce grown on the islands and in Ecuador.

For some reason a 'sugar free' sugar cane empenada wasn't available today. I shall have to try next week...
For some reason a ‘sugar free’ sugar cane empenada wasn’t available today. I shall have to try next week…

The islands are small, the population size ‘controlled’ but growing, and these islands are currently 97% ‘pristine’.  In order to keep it that way, the Charles Darwin Foundation is working on a project, Galapagos Verde 2050.  Its aim to make the islands’ farming  sustainable by 2050.