Today is Saturday market day in La Lima. I've been here 3 years and just found the Saturday market this year. I love these local markets. Lome', Togo, was the best - complete with voodoo fetishes, but the people really hassled you to buy stuff. While I was in Lome' they opened a new market outside town. I went there once with a plan I thought guaranteed I would be left alone to wander free of a hassling helper. Lome' is about 6 degrees N latitude. With about 70 miles to a degree of latitude that is 420 miles north of the equator. It is at sea level. It is really hot most of the time. When it is not really hot, it is at bestwarm. (There is often a nice breeze off the Gulf of Benin, though.)
My plan was that whenever someone approached me to ask what I was looking for I would say, "Ice skates". My French is pretty bad, but I made sure I could pronounce ice skates correctly. As soon as I walked through the gates into the market, someone was by my side asking what I was looking for, and without a moment's hesitation after I said ice skates, he grabbed me by the hand and led me to a stall that had 3 pairs of ice skates. Thank goodness none were my size.
People hardly ever hassle you here at markets. Occasionally in the tourist market in San Pedro (Guamalito) the booth operators will try to stop you to tell you they have a special good price for you and ask what you are looking for. By now I know which person to go to for the usual Honduran gift items I like (hammocks and Lenca pottery). I've learned my lesson, though. If I am just wandering the booths, I don't ask for ice skates. My reply here is "paz y amor" (peace and love). Occasionally there is the booth operator who is pretty sure that a heavily lacquered wooden toothpick holder with the Honduran flag on it will bring me, "paz".
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