Shopping at the mercado

Today Susan and I went to the market that is just a mile or so up the street from here. Here is a picture of some of the stuff we bought, and everything in the picture cost us $6.30. The two pineapples were about half of that, at $1.50 each, four avocados for a dollar, chard for 20 cents, and the two heads of broccoli for 40 cents each. I got all the bananas for a dollar. I picked up the larger bunch, and asked how much. The lady said a dollar, which I thought was great, but then she picked up the smaller bunch and added them in, still for a dollar. Although you can't count them in the picture, there are 31 of them. The two garlic bulbs were 30 cents, and I am sure I got ripped off, but I decided not to lose too much sleep over it. And just in case you were wondering, we are eating well, and enjoying it. At the same time, I am gradually losing weight here, probably as much due to my increased physical activity as to the food.
Yesterday Susan and I bought a cell phone. We have been feeling the need for one here, both because everyone expects you to have a cell phone so they can reach you, and also so that we can communicate between the apartment and anyone who happens to be away from the apartment. Anyhow, we went to a store where they had all these models to choose from, but when we explained to our representative what we really wanted - as cheap as would meet our needs - he recommended that we go a block down the street and buy a used phone. We did, and picked one up for about half the price of a new one, and it works great! We have to buy a card with more minutes if and when we use up our $3.00 that comes with the phone, but I doubt that we spend a lot more on it.

This evening we went back to the church and Susan and Ben spent about 1.5 hours practicing on the piano. They feel deprived not having one in the apartment, but it's just not practical. Also, they have been asked to provide accompaniment for the Christmas program tomorrow evening, so it really was important for them to go practice.