American in Davao

From smallest to largest are first Sari-Sari stores. These are neighborhood stores built on the property of a residence. On some streets there are so many, you think every house has one. There are also some alone the main roads. These stores sell toiletries, dry goods and some food items such as eggs, bread, and small packages of things like sugar. They also sell cigarettes loose. The prices are a few centavos or pesos over store prices since they buy most goods at the big markets and sell them from home.

Next are Connivance stores. These are small markets that sell most items.
There are also many fruit stands alone the main roads

I will now jump to the largest which are the markets. These are like the Super Markets in the States. These are located in the malls and owned by the mall as is the department stores.

Now to the main part of my story.

There is Public Markets called Palingke or also known as Wet Markets. They are individual stores under a roof. In there you can buy most items including cooked foods and some dry items as soaps, detergents and even flip-flops but most of the market is made up of stalls selling produce, meats, poultry and fish.

With fish, you pick your fish or in the larger fish as tuna, you pick a piece, it is weighed and then cleaned, de-scaled and even fillet. The vendor we use is amazing. Anyone who has had Bangus, also known as milkfish knows there are so many bones, some as thin as hairs. Well he can fillet a bangus so well you cannot find a single bone.

At the stalls for pork or beef, you point out the piece of meat you like, tell them the cut and weigh the amount you want and then cut it up it for you.

From going there for our weekly shopping each week, I receive a smile and sometimes a hand shake from the stall workers/owners. Most everyone is nice, smile and say hello.

When vendors saw I had a camera, they all smiled and posed for the photo.

I actually enjoy going to the Palingke more than the market in the mall and look forward to that day each week.