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The La Merced Market is a traditional public market located in the eastern edge of the
historic center of Mexico City The historic center of Mexico City ( es, Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México), also known as the Centro or Centro Histórico, is the central neighborhood in Mexico City, Mexico, focused on Zócalo or main plaza and extending in all direction ...
and is the largest retail
traditional food Traditional foods are foods and dishes that are passed on through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Traditional foods and dishes are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national dish, region ...
market in the entire city. The area, also called La Merced, has been synonymous with commercial activity since the early colonial period when traders arrived here from other parts of New Spain. At one time, nearly the entire neighborhood was filled with market stalls and in the 1860s it was decided to build a permanent market on the grounds of the old La Merced monastery. In the first half of the 20th century, this market was the major wholesaler for the entire city. This ended when the
Central de Abasto The Central de Abasto (Supply Center) is Mexico City’s main wholesale market for produce and other foodstuffs run similarly to traditional public markets. It was constructed to be the meeting point for producers, wholesalers, retailers and cons ...
was opened in the 1980s, but La Merced remains the largest traditional retail market. The market area is also known for flagrant prostitution in which women can be seen soliciting at all hours of the day and night. It is estimated that about one third of these prostitutes are underage.


Location

La Merced is located east of the main plaza or Zocalo in several very large buildings, and is the city's largest traditional retail market. Metro La Merced has openings both just outside the market and inside one of the buildings. Outside the buildings, the unofficial market or “
tianguis A is an open-air market or bazaar that is traditionally held on certain market days in a town or city neighborhood in Mexico and Central America. This bazaar tradition has its roots well into the pre-Hispanic period and continues in many cases e ...
” continues on the sidewalks and streets between this market and the Zocalo. This kind of commerce is illegal, but laws against it are only intermittently enforced as unemployment is high, and peddlers pay bribes to local bosses who in turn pay bribes to local officials. This means that both inside and outside the market, pedestrian traffic jams are frequent, making pushing and shoving necessary and socially acceptable. The market area also generates about 450 tons of trash daily.


History

The name La Merced is synonymous with commerce in the city. The market and neighborhood is located on the far eastern side of the original layout of Mexico City after the
Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
. Here many traders arrived with wares from near and far. The market is named after the neighborhood, La Merced, which in turn was named after the monastery Nuestra Señora de la Merced de Redención de Cautivos established in 1594 and simply called the monastery of La Merced. Most of this monastery has since disappeared, leaving only its cloister with its
Plateresque Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in ...
decoration. The neighborhood is an old one, and stories and legends, such as the whispers of Doña Esperanza Goyeneche de Ruiz Garcia who died here. Another involves an indigenous chief who received money for being a spy for the Spaniards and was found out. It is said that when this happened, he sat still never moving until he died of sadness. By the end of the 18th century, almost the entire neighborhood was one great market, which became bigger when the markets of the Zocalo area were banished around the same time. In the 19th century, the famous Circo Orrín with the first Mexican clown Ricardo Bell of
Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...
regularly stopped near this market. In the 1860s, it was decided to put the market under a roof, and the buildings were constructed on the old monastery grounds. In 1863, the first permanent buildings were constructed. By the early 20th century La Merced was the major wholesale and retail market of Mexico City, especially for foodstuffs. It continued to be the wholesale market for the city during the post-Mexican Revolution period until about the 1960s. At that time, the Central de Abasto market was created in the south of the city to take over and modernize the wholesaling of foodstuffs, especially produce and meat. La Merced continues to be the largest retail traditional market of Mexico City for a wide variety of everyday products such as fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, toys, clothes; flowers, candy and more. In 1988, a fireworks stand in La Merced exploded, which killed more than 60 people. In 1998, a major fire destroyed two-thirds of the main hall of the market, along with 572 stalls selling dried chili peppers, fruit, vegetables, shoes and piñatas in the early morning hours of 4 May. No one was killed or injured and the cause was suspected to be faulty wiring. It took over 100 firemen more than three hours to get the fire under control.


Inside the market

The largest building of the complex is dedicated mostly to the sale of fruits and vegetables. Other buildings sell household items such as juicers, tinware, spoons, cleaning supplies and much more. There is constant movement of people here, with many shouting out to potential customers. Work begins here in the very early morning hours and ends in the evening. The market is filled at all hours with truck drivers, sellers, buyers, butchers and cooks. Basic Mexican foodstuffs is the backbone of this markets selling Mexican spices such as
epazote ''Dysphania ambrosioides'', formerly ''Chenopodium ambrosioides'', known as Jesuit's tea, Mexican-tea, ''payqu'' ''(paico)'', ''epazote'', ''mastruz'', or ''herba sanctæ Mariæ'', is an annual or short-lived perennial herb native to Central A ...
,
chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...
s fresh and dried of just about every variety,
nopal Nopal (from the Nahuatl word for the pads of the plant) is a common name in Spanish for ''Opuntia'' cacti (commonly referred to in English as ''prickly pear''), as well as for its pads. There are about 114 known species in Mexico, where it is ...
s (cactus pads), pig skins fried whole, corn, and uncommon items such as wild mushrooms including a variety that look like chantrelle but denser. One of the few places to find truly authentic Oaxaca cheese in the city. Vendors can be seen tying stacks of banana leaves, cutting spines from nopals, and selling “secret” herbal remedies. La Merced, like most Mexican traditional markets, is a favored place to eat Mexican street food, called “antojitos” (lit. cravings). Two specialties here are
quesadilla A quesadilla (; ; Mexican diminutive of ''quesada'') is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a tortilla that is filled primarily with cheese, and sometimes meats, spices, and other fillings, and then cooked on a griddle or stove. Trad ...
s and tostadas. Quesadillas can be had with a variety of fillings along with the cheese (typically
Oaxaca cheese Oaxaca cheese ( es, queso Oaxaca) ( ), also known as quesillo and queso de hebra, is a white, semihard, low-fat cheese that originated in Mexico. It is similar to unaged Monterey Jack, but with a texture similar to mozzarella or string cheese. H ...
) such as stewed pork stomach, pickled pork fat,
huitlacoche Corn smut is a plant disease caused by the pathogenic fungus ''Ustilago maydis'' that causes smut on maize and teosinte. The fungus forms galls on all above-ground parts of corn species. It is edible, and is known in Mexico as the delicacy ''h ...
(corn fungus) and squash flowers. The quesadillas sold here are typically long and cooked on a
comal COMAL (''Common Algorithmic Language'') is a computer programming language developed in Denmark by Børge R. Christensen and Benedict Løfstedt and originally released in 1975. COMAL was one of the few structured programming languages that was a ...
, often from
blue corn Blue corn (also known as Hopi maize, Yoeme Blue, Tarahumara Maiz Azul, and Rio Grande Blue) is several closely related varieties of flint corn grown in Mexico, the Southwestern United States, and the Southeastern United States. It is one ...
dough. It is topped with red or green chili peppers that have been blended with onions and salt into a watery paste. Like the quesadillas, tostadas have a wide variety of toppings and the crunchy tortilla sometimes has unusual flavorings such as sesame seeds and chipotle.


Prostitution

Merced is considered to be a “tolerance zone” for prostitution, meaning that police generally do not intervene. Prostitution exists in just about all parts of Mexico City but it is most obvious here. At almost any hour of the day, scantily clad women can be seen walking around. Many of these prostitutes are underage. Prices can be as low as US$15 for an “encuentro” (encounter). Many small hotels are near here, some of which charge as little as 30 pesos for an hour or about 200 for a night. Many of the customers are truck drivers who have time while their vehicles are being unloaded at the market. In 2007-2008 several prostitutes were murdered. Nearly all of the murders have gone unpunished. It is estimated about one third of prostitutes here are underage. Bribes to officials to keep the industry running are estimated to be about US$450,000 a year.


References

{{Venustiano Carranza, Mexico City Retail markets in Mexico City Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City Red-light districts in Mexico Historic center of Mexico City