When we first moved to the new apartment, the landlady told us there was a "tianguis" every Friday the next street over. I got out early enough this morning to have a look for the first time.

A tianguis is an open air market or bazaar that is traditionally held on certain market days in a town or city neighborhood in Mexico. This bazaar tradition has its roots well into the pre-Hispanic period and continues in many cases essentially unchanged into the present day. The word tianguis comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire.

You can have a breakfast of fresh made, hand made gorditas with a wide variety of fillings washed down with atole:

You'll find a selection of clothing and personal odds and ends:

Household items:

A nice mix of fresh fruits and vegetables, a convenient way to avoid an extra trip to WalMart or the market downtown.

There are two "corner stores" within a block of the house.

They are almost literally "holes in the wall."

The sign over this one is actually for a law office which takes up most of the building.

This is the "little store" which is an alcove off the entrance and no more than 20 sq. ft. big.

There's a bakery in the same block,

And a unisex salon. The sign says "about hair."

There's also a tortilleria a block over and a block up the hill. Fresh and hot out of the machine and they reheat soft and chewy instead of dry and hard like most of the prepackaged ones do. Sorry, no photo, got plenty of tortillas in the house and am going to be in Mcallen most of next week.

I have to admit that I have back slid because thare isn't a whole lot of incentive to get roam any significant distance from home. My appetite has come back in spades. If I'm awake, I'm hungry and have gained around 10lbs. since getting out of the hospital. I'm going to have to find filling snacks that are low cal, low sugar, fat free and salt free. Is that even possible?