Belizean Market Tour in San Ignacio, Belize!

Today is our first full day in San Ignacio and we're starting it off at the Central Market. Here we're gonna be experiencing Mayan culture with locals. I'm starving, let's not delay this any longer. Let's go. Today we're starting off at the Farmer's Market. This is the Central Market of San Ignacio. We're gonna see some fruit vendors, we got vegetables, we have coconuts, and street food. So Peter, what are we doing here? Okay, we see here they have oranges in bags, we have some chips, we have some sauce here, and as we look around, across to my left, right, we have mangoes, they are peeling coconuts. I love this, it's a real authentic market. Coconuts? Woo! Don't chop that hand. You guys don't think, so you guys keep saying that. Oh, can I have some of that? That looks good, that looks good. Do you sell this? The inside, yeah? You want one? Yeah, yeah. That's a spoon to get the coconut, right? This is good stuff. Oh, I love it. This is what I call breakfast champion. There we go. Coconut jelly. She cut it there, by taking out all the water, and then she cuts out the jelly, right? So the jelly's separate. It's a source of life, right? You guys should try it. How much is the coconut water? How much is all that for? I think it's a super deal. You guys gotta support her. I have a fresh orange juice too. Fresh orange juice too? So it's $1? Yeah. $2.50. $2.50? $2.50. Fresh orange juice. It's gonna go. You do the outside first, then you do the inside top. Got it, so outside first, then you do the inside. It's going to life, right? Earlier in the morning, it's like 8.15 right now. Yeah. We have non-stop coconut vendors over there. This is called the one shop coconut city. One shop. If it's orange juice, super fresh. Here we have three more coconuts. So there's three different coconut vendors. One, two, three. So you won't run out of coconut water or coconut jelly. Just come buy some. Look, they're selling in packets like that. This is a food. This is a sweet named Tableta. Tableta. Yes, made from the same coconut, the dry ones, right? We grind them and then they put some sugar and then that's how they make them, right? I got 10, I got five, I got 50. So it's $1 Belize, so it's 50 cents for this. Let me try this. So again, this part of Belize, you can speak Spanish. Todo mundo habla muy fluido. Oh, I can't wait to try this. So I'm all about coconuts, right? Coconut jelly, coconut water. Orange juice has got me energized. All right, it's like rice crispy treat. Grated coconut. So, so sweet. Yes. Sugary, condensed sugar, compressed. Oh, wow. These are corn that grew naturally, fresh here in Belize, right? We have big farmers like the Mennonites, the armies, the progressive Mennonites. But we have local farmers who then plant their corn, harvest their corn and brought them here to sell at the market. So finally, inside the market, we went through five different vendors outside. We finally inside the farmers market here in San Ignacio. See, these are pineapples, naturally grown here in Belize. So this is the corn here that we see here. These are all green corn, right? Green corn, this is the one that we place the corn of the granule, place it in there, rough it, put it in a pot with some water and boil it. We get locally. This is what they use to make every dish. Corn is king in Belize. Fresh pineapple, we have lots of vendors. It's never ending watermelon. What else? We got carrots, we have onions. Broccoli. As you can see, we have lots of tropical, exotic fruits. We have chilies, these are like scotch bonnet, right? Super spicy. We have bananas, but we also have, this is extremely exotic watermelon. It's something different, right? And over here we have, oh, look at this honey, Cayo honey. So Cayo is the district or the region we're in. There's seven regions from my understanding in Belize, but this is our sixth Cayo honey. This is one of the Mayans in here, also known as Pacaya. Pacaya here is the soul of the mosque in San Ignacio. First time seeing that. Thank you, thank you. Got some ginger. This is Pacaya, that's naturally grown here in Belize. What we have here is cocoa, do you see that before? Cocoa, right? We have cocoa, we have green beans. White carrots, naturally grown right here in Belize. I've never seen a white carrot. Yeah, me either. It looks like an alien. I was like, what is this? Melone, nice melon. So juicy. This side of the market, it's basically the same thing over and over and over again. All vegetables, exotic tropical fruits, that's it. And in the next area, see already, there's a lot of food vendors. So, lots of tortillas, lots of garnachas, you know, that type of stuff, good stuff. Is that his pet? It's a little lamb, no? Yeah. Baby lamb. So cute! So cute. After this, I'm never eating lamb again. Really? I'm like, so sad. You have a lot. So these are local, right? Yes, they are local. It's part of my cuisine, right? Ricardo paste. So Ricardo, it's hard to explain what it tastes like, but this is almost like a tomato paste, right? The way they condense it. This is dried red pepper here that I can try. Here we go. It's hot. I don't recommend doing that. All right. I need milk. This is the Ricardo paste. It's spicy and it's pro-calorie. Oh, Peter, thank you so much. Horchata. Rice. And like that, you feel the spice. Horchata and spice, perfect combo. So what's the name of this one again? Chuchu. So chuchu's like a vegetable I've never seen before. It feels very, very dense. Exotic, right? Let's go. Thank you so much, bro. Hey, gracias, gracias. This is known as a Costa Rafa when I was a kid. Growns on tree locally in the yard, and when they arrived, you could feel it. It's very soft. That means it's sweet inside. Costa Rafa. Yeah, it does feel like a fig, bro. Exactly the same. So much. That's the seeds. Huge seeds. I didn't know it was gonna be like that. That was gonna be more meaty. Oh, and the sides. Oh, it like dissolves in your mouth. Super, super soft. It's like one of these small figs, right? But the same thing. I think it's sweeter, though. Sweeter than a fig. My problem is, those huge seeds. Look at this. Right here's nice. It's hard. Too many seeds. And right here, we have some of my favorite fruit of all time, red fruit. Tried it in Trinidad, Barbados, Dominica. Dominica. Amazing. Love it. Definitely gotta try it roasted. It's the only way. Let's keep going this way. I need to eat some food. I need something like a real substance right now. The one thing I haven't seen on this trip are the beans. Look at this. Nice, red. These are the kidney beans? These are the beans you're gonna get in Rice and Beans. Right? Every time. It's a little different. In Cuba, they use the black beans. They use different, right? So, frijolos negros. So, there's black beans. You have a little darker, like a burgundy red bean. It's a little smaller, though. Slate. Oh my gosh. Look at this, guys. Monster slate. So, they use a piece of rock, and they carve this out of it. How you doing, man? You do this? Yeah. Yeah, yeah? Wow. So, when you come to San Ignacio, this is the souvenir you should take home. One of these beautiful pieces of artwork. It's the Mayan calendar, and then they have always a different animal. This one has monkey, stingray, turtle, more monkeys. And then over here, you can see, this is the jaguar, right? Beautiful. Bean heaven right here, right? That's what it is. Beans, beans, beans, beans. This lovely lady has a cashew fruit. Cashew fruit. Yeah, it's amazing. I love cashew fruit. It's not as sweet. Dude, I like the skin, actually. It's good, but it's not very sweet. Is it too sweet? No. It's awesome. Well, look, I owe you something for this. Nothing, nothing. Thank you. Check this out. I found a butcher in the market. This is Gordo, and he's cutting up chicken, pork. Got lamb in here as well. So what are you going to do now, Gordo? I'm just going to slice a beef shoulder. Shoulder steaks. Seven bone steaks in just a minute. Wow, look at that. Oh my gosh. The lamb, the entire lamb. That's beautiful. Let's put that one over there. Ooh. What is this? This is a shoulder. That's a shoulder? That's a beef shoulder. Oh, la vaca? Yeah, this is the pie de frente. Oh. This is a shoulder, and this becomes the shank, beef shank. So we use this beef shank to support, and we use this for steaks, the shoulder steaks. We do brown steak. It's like 90-10 lean, lean beef. So this is what it comes out like, brown steak. Fresh, the fresh liver. Fresh liver. Yeah, freshest as you can. This is from, like, off the farm. It's like, this morning, this was, like, making some noise, but he's in the market now. So you gotta eat it off the farm, very fresh, as fresh as you can get it. This is a beef tongue. Oh, it's a beef tongue? Yeah. It's funny, I came in here, and Gordo was like, how much you paying me? I'm like, yeah, come on. He's bringing something for me this morning. That's okay. Oh, this is gonna bring you business. For sure, thank you very much, appreciate it. This is too much. Thank you so much for letting us see your place. This is great. And this is, cow foot is one of the dishes, favorite dishes in Belize, cow foot soup. Oh yeah? If you come to Belize, you must have a cow foot soup somewhere. People say, oh, you guys eat later, because the cow foot is like, this is later, right? But that is one of the best dishes that you can have in Belize. Good for the back. This is the head of the pig. This is what we do for my fifth generation. Whenever we kill a pig for Christmas, we'll take a knife, and we cut it like that. We make some thin strips around, then wash it, place some salt on it, and then put it over the fire, we smoke it. Very good for eating. When you come to San Ignacio, visit Gordo. Thank you so much. Thank you. Welcome always. You're too kind. This is too awesome, man. This is too awesome. Thank you, bro. Thank you, appreciate it. What she's making right here are small, super crispy empanadas. They have stewed chicken. As you can see, the stewed chicken's right here. She flattens the tortilla. You know, basically tortilla dough, right? She fills it up with the chicken and puts it into the fryer. And then after that, it's done after like three minutes. Super easy. So three for one Belizean dollar, right? That's a great deal. 50 cents, you get a nice snack. Three is just a little appetizer for me, right? Or else you get the sabutas. Yeah. Yeah, so right here, she's flattening the dough to make the sabutas. These are a little thicker, so it floats up when it goes into the fryer. The sabutas is almost like a small little puri made out of corn dough. So they throw it into the fryer, and as soon as they throw it in, it puffs up like a huge puff. So when it comes out, it just pop that hole, let that exit, and that's it. That was great. That chicken. It even looks like fanny puri. Wow, it really looks like it. Bro, it's the same thing. Oh my gosh, look at this plate. It's for us, bro. So we got the empanadas, and we got the sabutas. Sabutas, just like this. Super nice. It reminds me of the Indian puri on the plate. Amazing. So she added, what is it? It's a salad, tomatoes, we have the chicken on top, and here we go. Got a little taco, tiny. That's some good stuff. I love the fluffiness of the dough. It's still very, very soft. It's delicious. Sabutas, empanadas, everywhere. Cabbage is great. You have the cabbage salad, and next to it, you have the spice. The empanadas here are very, very different from the empanadas I'm used to in Miami. I grew up with the Cuban community, the Argentines. These are different. These are nice and crispy, very, very small, compared to the other ones that are nice and fluffy. These are fried, not baked. This is insane. It's too hot. You know, the heat's good. If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen, man. This market's awesome. This is the hottest, this is like one of the hottest sauces I've had. Want to try that guy no more. So affordable, nice snack. After this, I'm having pupusa. Too good. Come here, have their food, support them. You also have other things, right? Stuffed jacks and burritos. So, fried jack, right? But stuffed. I'm okay. I'm gonna have a pupusa right here. El Salvadorian pupusa. Almost like Venezuelan or Colombian arepa, but instead of adding things later, they stuff them. That is meat. This is beef fried. That's what they say in India. In India, this is called beef fried. I think a little bit funnier. Here we have the pupusa. Like I said, it's almost like an arepa, but it's stuffed, and then put on the platter, and on the side, you always get the recollo, right? So recollo is cabbage. So you get this. So I went for the first time to El Salvador back in 2012, and then I went there like six months later for a wedding, and I ate so many pupusas. Back then, they called me the pupusa king. Right here, guys. It falls apart. It's a different type of experience. It's a mess in my mouth, but it's good. I love pupusas. I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying this stuff, by the way. I love this market. Everyone's really friendly. Pupusa. Must try it. When you go to El Salvador, try this. Also, you can try it here in Belize. Seen a lot in this city. Most that we see in San Pedro as well, we saw. The number one pupusaria. And they also have juices. So I got a tamarind juice. Tamarind for the win. And right here, we have some orange juice. So all fresh, natural juices. They also have horchata. They have some orange juice, tamarind. Jamaica. Jamaica is a, I think Jamaica is a flower. Yeah. Right? Jamaica. Hmm. Jamaica. Jamaica, not Jamaica. How much does one pupusa cost? Two dollars. Oh, it's right there. Okay, so two dollars. And two dollars for this. So one U.S. dollar, one U.S. dollar. So we spent four U.S. dollars for all this. Good deal. And this place is called Pupuseria Damaris. My friend, what do you have there? Homemade ice cream. I'll take one. Yes, sir. One billion dollar. It's homemade ice cream. Oh, man. It's very nice. There is fruit in it. Wow. It's like fruity, vanilla. It's creamy. Yeah. It just melts in your mouth. This texture's nice. This is the better ice cream than what's out there. It's not too healthy. Brain freeze. This guy has soursop. Soursop flavor. Soursop flavor, yes. Amazing. It's all homemade ice cream. Oh, wow. It looks so good. I can't wait for this one. I know I was gonna be having ice cream for breakfast, but it's all good. Very tasty, huh? This is the best ice cream of all time. Holy smokes. It's like whipped, like hardcore whipped. Soursop flavor ice cream, my favorite. My favorite. Especially now. It's real. It's that. I like it. Incredible. How much is it? One as well? One dollar, yes. One dollar. Very affordable. I'll have like five of these, man. Ha ha ha. Even for breakfast. Ha ha ha. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. No problem at all. Thank you, thank you. And that's basically it for this market, guys. So we saw everything from fruits, vegetables. We saw the butcher. We had a bunch of food. We saw some of the clothing. That's what you can do here. Get here early. We got here eight in the morning. Took us two hours to tour the whole thing. Definitely support the community. Buy some souvenirs, eat some food, and drink some juices. Hope you guys loved the video. If you did, thumbs up, comment below. Subscribe for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next one. Ciao.