Flea Market Free-For-All

Flea Market Free-For-All

With the change in weather I have realized that I don't have much in the way of warm clothes. The biggest gap in my wardrobe is in the line of dress shorts and sweaters. I hate shopping for clothes and I am more comfortable swimming underwater than breathing the fetid air of a department store. If wish I could buy clothes online but Spain isn't really equipped for that. Every Monday there is a flea market in the streets in my neighborhood. You can buy just about anything in one of the stalls, everything from underwear to pet supplies to shoelaces. I had great luck this summer buying athletic clothing so I thought I would give the flea market a shot at revamping my fall/winter wardrobe.

Walking past the market stalls you hear the barking of the individual merchants hawking their wares. “Un euro, un euro, todo por un-eurito (one euro, everything for one little euro),” being the most common thing heard. Some vendors are a little more creative in their sales pitches. I heard one guy this morning shouting at an old woman walking past his stall selling curtain fabric, “ Hola guapa. Ven a abusarme (Hello, beautiful! Come over and abuse me).” I always make a point of walking through the market even if I don't want to buy anything. It's pretty entertaining.

Today I found a stall selling men's clothing. They had a big table piled high with shirts, sweaters and jackets. Everything was going for 2€, or 3 for 5€. I found a shirt I liked so I decided to try it on over the shirt I was wearing. It was a little cool this morning so I was wearing my leather sport coat. I took off my jacket to try on the shirt. I laid the jacket on the table and pulled the shirt over my head. It fit perfectly and as I was admiring my new shirt I noticed that a guy next to me was trying on my jacket. I was laughing so hard I had a hard time telling him that he had on my coat. I did tell him that it looked great on him. He didn't seem to be particularly impressed with the leather spor coat he was about to buy for 2€.