There’s a market in San Isidro called the Feria. I think it happens on Thursdays and Fridays. For the expat community here it’s something of a meeting place. Most people drop by the market at some point on Thursday, mostly in the morning. That’s when all the best local organic, macrobiotic, vegan, raw, etc, food is found.
Last week, Ruben had the idea to create a community space at the market. The market serves as a central point for the community here, so we decided to create a space to foster that. We bounced a few ideas around. We have a blender, we could let people bring fruit and then make them smoothies. We also wanted to make tea and maybe coffee. I have a camping stove so we’d have heat, we already have pots and the equipment to make coffee. What we needed was furniture. Rugs, pillows, blankets maybe. Noe, our up the hill neighbour, kindly lent us some blankets and pillows.
Noe drives to the market around 7am on Thursdays to collect food for his rabbits and sheep. He digs through the garbage bins filled with discarded food pieces, cabbage leaves, stalks, and so on. He fills 7 to 8 large bags with food that was otherwise destined for the rubbish pile. Then he drives home, drops it off, and goes back to do his weekly food shopping. This works out great for us because we have 2 options to catch a ride into the market, one early and one a little later.
Yesterday we tried our first community space. We packed the blender, bowls, cups, a knife and cutting board, laptops, speakers, extension cables and other paraphernalia. Ruben set off with the stuff and Carina and caught a ride with Noe to the market. Caitlin and I were going to take the bike. After a couple of hours working on the bike she started with a roar and then died. Another hour or two later she was roaring proudly once more. We arrived at the market about 4 hours after Ruben and Carina left. Motorbikes are not always quicker! 
After a slightly wobbly start, we busted out the blender. Rain pushed us around a little, but we endured. The market is covered, but the roof is very high and the walls in our corner are both open. I’d say our first day was a successful step forwards. Andreas from El Gato sin Dueno kindly made a huge fruit donation. He gave us a pineapple and a bag of mangoes to blend and share. We worked our way through two pineapples and most of the mangoes.
The response from nearby vendors was really encouraging. Elena lent us a table, Lesa is working on a donation box, Sam invited us to move into her drier space, the list goes on. I think people are receptive to the idea of a connection space within the market. Let’s see how we get on next week…
