Erasing a Local Landmark?

Entrance to the Mercado de Egipto. 

The Egipto neighborhood's traditional market has operated for about as long as anybody can remember. It provides fresh, healthful fruits and vegetables, jobs for locals, income for campesinos and location for community events (such as this Sunday's mass for the Virgen del Carmen).

A woman who has sold in the market for about
40 years, as her mother did before her.
'I'm too old to move, she said.)

But water authorities plan to close the historic market, ending a neighborhood institution, with little public consultation or concern for those affected.

According to what I've heard second and third hand, Bogotá acueducto officials - the people who manage the city's water supply - are concerned about the stability of the market, which is built above the San Agustin River. Supposedly, the river is weakening the market's foundation. The officials' solution is to shut the market and send the vendors somewhere else.

On Sundays the market becomes more active, and
campesinos come from the countryside to sell chickens
and other things. 

But the people who sell in the Egipto Market are very modest people who live nearby and do not want to pay bus fare to sell in an unfamiliar place far from home. And the alternative market I've most heard mentioned - Mercado La Concordia in La Candelaria, has barely enough customers to support the sole fruit vendor there now. Egipto's vendors would starve there.

Egipto's vendors wonder what possible danger there can be, since the market is set on soil and the
river flows under its edge, apparently inside a pipeline (the huge amount of vegetation makes it impossible to see). If soil under the market were to shift, it seems to me that it would happen slowly, giving plenty of time to evacuate or take countermeasures.

A cheese vendor.

What strikes me most about this situation is the way the city seems willing to destroy a local landmark, a piece of local tradition and culture, without a second thot - even while foreign chain stores hawking junk food sprout like mushrooms across Bogotá - most likely tax breaks and subsidies meant to encourage foreign investment.

"I'm too old to move," a 56-year-old vegetable vendor, who has worked in the market since she was fourteen, as did her mother before her.

But city authorities don't seem very concerned.

The San Agustin River's overgrown ravine behind the Mercado de Egipto. Note the probably illegally homes on the ravine's edge. 

Years ago, the market was located on the corner in front of the church. The market was located due to road work. Today, perhaps it could move back. 

Thumbs up. 

A poster nearby headlines the market's original name, El Mercado de Rumichaca. 

Cheese for sale.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Mercado de la Concordia Gets its Day

The south side of the La Concordia market. The mural was painted years ago for a soap opera filming, and for a while gave the market the name of Mercado de los Milagros. 

The Mercado de la Concordia, in the La Candelaria neighborhood, is usually a sleepy place. But these days it's come alive with an art festival, complete with sculpture, music, murals and poetry. The event began Oct. 28 and lasts until Nov. 2.

The market on a Sunday, when campesinos bring in fruit to sell. 

The Concordia market is a venerable institution. About a century old, a long-time resident says it used to be as big and busy as Palo Quemao is today. But then supermarkets moved in and the city's distribution patterns shifted west. Today, in normal times, the market contains a few general goods shops, some handicrafts stores, a small eatery and a fruit stand. The building is also shared by the informal and innovative Teatro de Sueños (Theatre of Dreams) whose performances and drum circles often revertebrate thru the building and into the street.

What the market lacks in financial flow, it makes up in tradition and local flavor. Several of the vendors inherited their spots from their parents. And the market serves as a hang-out for locals, who pass the day downing beers and telling tales.

La Garantia, one of the market's shops. 

Decorated plates offered at the festival. 

A room dedicated to art. 

Doña Carmen, who sells fruits and vegetables in the market. 

Cristian, a leader in a youth group in the Egipto neighborhood, paints a mural. 

Decorating a table. 

The market has a great view of the city, whose buildings are visible on the left. 

The market's cengterpiece, the Niño Jesus, the Baby Jesus

A stiltwalker visits from the Teatro de los Sueños. 

Inside the Teatro de los Sueños. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Traditional Markets Under Threat?

Vendors in Paloquemao, Bogotá's second-largest fruit market. 

One of the most charming, interesting and refreshing aspects of Bogotá are its traditional markets, which sell fruit, flowers and lots of other stuff.

However, throughout Latin America, supermarkets have grown in market share - often at the expense of traditional markets and family-owned neighborhood groceries. Even campesinos lose out, because they can't provide the uniform characteristics and large volumes of fruit which supermarkets demand.

Preparing fish in Paloquemao. 

Besides fresh fruit, veggies, meats and other stuff, traditional markets provide a humanness which supermarkets never do. And your money's staying local, instead of being wired off to a corporate headquarters, probably in another country.

A shopping comlpex is being completed alongside Paloquemao. 

Supermarkets are spreading in Bogotá, as well. A shopping complex, which I'm told will include a supermarket, is near completion alongside the Paloquemao market. Some at Paloquemao are confident that the complex, which will include a movie theatre, will attract more people to the area and to the market. But I wonder whether many people's prejudice in favor of products which are uniform, prepackaged and labeled with a brand name, will draw the traditional market's customers away to the supermarket.

With rising obesity rates, a decline of traditional markets also threatens Bogotanos' health. Here's an article about a U.S. city promoting farmers' markets to encourage people to eat fruits and vegetables. It would be a real pity if Bogotá let this valuable resource be pushed aside by 'progress.'

Vendors at the Mercado Las Nieves, also known as Mercado La Macarena. 

Las Nieves Market, formally known as Mercado La Macarena, is hidden between Calles 19 and 20 and Carreras 8 and 9. With about a dozen fruit, fish and meat vendors, it's much smaller than Paloquemao, but has a good variety of products and friendly people. However, there's also a new supermarket in the works on the empty lot right across 19th St. Will this market fall victim to the advertising-driven preference for prepackaged products sold in sanitized spaces?

Fruit and herbs on sale in Las Nieves. 

A supermarket and other stores are slated for this lot on 19th St. and 7th Ave.  

La Concordia Market in the La Candelaria neighborhood, established in 1933, was once a thriving market and distribution center comparable to Paloquemao, one long-time resident recalls. Today, the Concordia market's 80 year-old building is decrepit and most of its stalls are empty, except for Sundays, when campesinos bring their products to sell.

La Concordia market's empty tables. 

La Concordia Market on a Sunday, when campesinos bring their products.

Fresh fruit in La Concordia. 

Martha, and her father Jose Libero, have run shops in La Concordia market since 1939,  only six years after the market opened. 

Above La Candelaria, the poor Egipto neighborhood's market, formally called el Mercado de Rumichaca, retains a touch of the rural - particularly on Sundays, when campesinos in ruanas crowd in with their ducks and chickens. But on weekdays, the market has only about a half dozen occupied vending spots. Over the years, this market has occupied three different locations. The city is widening La Circunvalar Ave., which runs past the market, and when the work is finally finished the increased lanes and traffic will make the market much more difficult and dangerous to get to for La Candelaria residents. 

Egipto Market 

European tourists taste fruits in Egipto - a scene you won't find in Carrefour. 

Rosa has sold tomatoes, potatoes and onions in the Egipto market for decades. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours