In our last post, we covered the many delectable delights one can find while wandering the streets of Cartagena’s Historic Center. Throughout the area, many vendors use carts to sell fruits, vegetables and other food items. Because of the variety of offerings, we decided to focus now solely on those carts.
Food carts are often pushed like giant wheelbarrows by their human caretakers. Some are powered by part of a bicycle, mounted either in the front or the rear. Once in a great while we saw one that had been rigged with some type of motor. The carts frequently have a bottom shelf that provides extra product storage.
The carts are found throughout the Historic Center (Historico Centro) and the neighboring regions such as Bocagrande. What can you find on the carts? Just about anything. Want an arapea or empanada? Sure. How about a slice of melon? Easy. How about a beer? Uhh, you have us there — we never saw alcohol sold from a cart.
Here is an assortment of some of the carts we found along the way:
A fresh fruit-by-the-cup vendor
Another fruit vendor selling melon slices outside of a supermarket
A row of “fruit to go” vendors. For some reason, purveyors of like products tend to flock together.
Ice cream vendor on the Bocagrande beach
Vegetables, anyone?
Pineapple by the cup, for a snack on a hot day
An embarrassment of mangoes
Juice and arepas for sale
The fried plantains must be good, judging by the number of women waiting for them
And just a few more mangoes
Our personal favorite — this cart has a pulverizer to extract cane juice from sugar cane.
Next up, we figure out ways people can pay for this food we keep talking about.
Two Who Trek 