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Sunday, January 01, 2006
Market scenes
By Stella A. Estremera
Goin' Places
WHEN deadline is ticking fast and so is New Year and there is not one place you can think of to rush to just before 10 a.m. when all snooty places are still closed, then there will always be the public market to go to.
And that's what Gigi and I did, Saturday morning, in between rushing for a before-noon deadline.
The target: Agdao Public Market.
But Gigi had other ideas, she wants some place where there is some peace--an impossibility in Agdao and so we walked toward the Fountainplace along Dacudao Avenue where everything was still closed, then rode the tricycle further into Dacudao to Kuilan's (the other Davao siopao place aside from Tevanj) in the hope that they have some eating space (which of course they didn't have), and then rode a Multicab back to Agdao to end up where I first planned to go--Agdao Public Market.
Ann-ann Fastfood to be exact, that very first turo-turo at the bulaloan building if you are approaching from the length of R. Castillo.
There, right in front of us, was an array of turo-turo food guaranteed to drive any "puti" to his doctor in anticipation of a heart attack and to make a typical Pinoy grin from ear to ear, smacking his lips in delight.
We ordered lechon kawali (with more taba and balat than laman as is typical of public market turo-turo fare), chicken liver with carrots in dark brown sauce of whatever, well-cooked ampalaya with egg, shrimps (that really look like kreel and not shrimp), and beef soup.
The beef soup was a scene to behold. It had at least half a centimeter deep beef "sebo" which soon made my lips shine and pucker up. Lip sheen au naturel.
The others tasted like turo-turo fare--everything well-done.
The more interesting part was the goings-on around you.
There's the torotot vendor blowing a sample horn right behind you head, just in the exact area where your ears are picking up the strongest soundwave.
Then there's turo-turo "tag-iya" (complete with dyed blonde hair, tattooed eyebrows and what looked like permanent eye shadow [if there is such, I wouldn't know--it's just that it seemed painted on there, not fading nor running despite the heat]) directing her "katabangs" about what has to be done amid very appetizing conversations like, "Ness, tan-awa daw nang tiil sa baka kung naa pa'y balahibo (Ness, check the beef leg if it still has hairs)." And that's right at the time when you were puckering up your lips to partake of the fatty beef soup. Bon appetit!
Then there's the beggar woman with her baby making eyes at you but not quite approaching making it difficult to look at the "feast" you are trying to sample; your guilty conscience pricking and taunting and giggling within you. Merry Christmas to you, too.
And then the beggar man with his young daughter approaching the table nearby only to be told not to disturb anyone because they're still eating.
"Balik na lang unya pag human na 'mi (Come back later after we are done eating)," the chinky-eyed man on the other table said.
The "tag-iya" then pipes up, "Ugma na balik (Better come back tomorrow)!"
Followed by the loud muttering of the beggar man, "Balik ugma sa imong mata!" (Errrr... I need some interpreter here, this is just way beyond my Bisaya powers).
Right in front of us is the kitchen maid washing mounds of greasy dishes in a stained, wet sink. Yum!
But no one seems to mind. Everybody's either eating, serving, selling or begging. It's the market place, what do you expect.
Right outside, the "laray" vendors are just waiting for buyers with their vegetables and fruits and condiments all arranged in "tapoks" on a sack or plastic laid out right on the road.
Our early lunch done with, we head on off out of the market crowd, dodging vendors and beggars and marketgoers both on sidewalks and roads, and sweating out all the bad cholesterol we have imbibed to head back to the office where there was peace at last. Happy New Year!
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (January 1, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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