all this for under a $1

off to market we went today, including a trip to the famous arugula guy to see if he had arugula. we've heard so much about him from our friend Jenny and then yesterday Haudy reminded us of him too. he's a farmer located close to kite beach on the street to la cienaga , which is basically a barrio that floods everytime it rains because it is built right on top of the lagoon. the arugula guy isn't near the lagoon though. he has a small patch of land on which he grows arugula, lettuce, basil, and a few other extraneous things. by small, i mean the lettuce/arugula area is probably 150 feet by 100 feet. maybe he has more land in the back where he's growing something off trees but that was unclear as our goal was strictly arugula. there's no sign out front or anything denoting it as a farm. it certainly does not look like a farm stand either. next time we go, we'll have to take a picture of him and his land.

so he asks us how much arugula we want. we say, "i don't know, i guess a pound." he starts plucking away and away at the arugula. we're both thinking that's a lot of arugula so he can just stop with what he has in his hand. we ask for a head of lettuce too, and he uses his machete to cut one out of the lettuce patch. back over to his little house we go where his wife is inside watching TV. some guy pokes his head out from a corner within the house and hands him a scale, which the farmer proceeds to hang up from the ceiling of the little covered outside area we are standing under. he says "tres cuartos de una libra" (3/4 of a pound). we say "cuanto es" (how much?) he says treinte pesos (about 90 cents). full of guilt at this unbelievably low price, i pull some coins from my pocket and hand them to him. off we go - both feeling like we just robbed the guy because we think that the produce is worth WAY more than that. i wouldn't have been surprised if he had said 100 pesos. in boston, i think we'd have paid something like $6 for that all.

some things are cheap here, especially when you get away from the tourist areas. still though, how much time does he have to spend tending to that arugula? i feel a bit guilty....!