A funny thing happened on the way to the .... street market

I have discovered a great street market that is held only 20-min walk from my apartment every Sunday. They mostly sell fruits and vegetables, although several stalls sell toiletries, powdered juice mixes, laundry detergent, and toilet paper. Several weeks ago I found a great used hammer, two screw drivers, and two tv cables. I've decided that going early in the morning is best, because I can get the pick of the fruits instead of hoping for whatever is leftover (it opens around 10 a.m., although at 10 only about half of the stalls are setup; the others are still being setup) .

Today, about 2 blocks south of the start of the market, I passed by 3 young guys (probably 18-20 yr olds) working furiously with a pile of shellfish. They spotted me and made a few jokes that I didn't really understand (my spanish is improving, but it's still definitely not up to the level of "street understanding", which is actually harder than the other types ... newspapers, seminars, one-on-one conversation, etc.), but I replied with a smile (probably "Hola, amigos!") and asked them what they were doing. Of course they immediately beckoned me back to their doorstep and told me they were removing clams & oysters from their shells to make a kind of "seafood salad".

*** NFL update *** The New England Patriots just scored, and now it's 7-3. Fox Sports Mexico is showing the game here, so no great US commercials, but I get to learn some of the football lingo in spanish... for example, 1st down is "primera vez", which is directly translated as "first time").

While explaining what they were doing (and really within 2 or 3 seconds of my coming back to their doorstep), they insisted that I eat some. Now I am not a big fan of restaurant-served raw shellfish, so you can imagine my internal chagrin of having to slurp down oysters served raw to me on the streets of Santiago at 9:45 am! But several years ago, when I began this stint of cross-cultural traveling, I decided that wherever I was, whatever I was doing, if someone offered me food, I would not turn them down (unless politely two times only to accept on the third time, which is of course the cultural normal in what, 1/3rd of the world?). So they squirted some fresh lemon juice in the shell and I slurped down the oyster (not even bothering to chew!) They were greatly amused (I've never been good at concealing emotions, so I have no idea what my face was "saying" during all this!), and then insisted I eat the clam. So again, lemon juice, a scrinched-up face, and ... wait ... clams are bigger than oysters! I have to chew this one! Yikes!! So they definitely got a show as I struggled to chew and swallow their clam.

In all actuality, the food didn't taste terrible, but I think my internal safety net was screaming "Brad, what are you doing? Raw shellfish on the street? This violates so many health guidelines!" I thanked my friends for their generosity and made my way to the market. I actually stopped by after buying my fruits (2 kg of cherries, 1 kg of strawberries, and 1 kg of red grapes... mmm.!!!), shared some strawberries and grapes with them, and had a few more tastes of their now-complete "seafood salad", which had lots of lemon juice, chopped onion, cilantro, and oysters & clams. This time it was actually tasty (minus the still-strong internal resistance, "what are you doing??!!"), and am not sick. A funny thing indeed happened on the way to the street market!