Assault Your Senses at Cartagena’s Maze-like Bazurto Market
A visit to Bazurto Market isn’t just a peek inside local Cartagena life. It’s a head-first dive into the messy and magnificent cultural fabric of this eclectic city.
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Anthony Bourdain called it “extravagant.” I call Cartagena’s bustling Bazurto market a scene straight out of your wildest travel dreams. It’s a whirlwind of labyrinthine lanes crammed tight with vendors selling everything from exotic fruits to electronics, clothing, party supplies, and even herbs to cure that head cold. Rapid-fire Spanish fills the potent and stagnant air around you, while shopping carts miraculously weave their way through the narrow alleyways. In short, visiting the Bazurto Market is an assault on the senses, one that leaves you with an undeniable feeling of “This is Cartagena.”
Some Background on Bazurto
Bazurto is the people’s market, and until recently, the only one of its kind in the city. Cartagena’s lower-income families rely upon it for whatever their closest corner tienda doesn’t have in stock, while the chefs behind many of Cartagena’s finest restaurants can be found here every morning bartering for fresh corvina, plantains, ñame, and other local ingredients. Outside of these two groups, it’s only wide-eyed and camera-toting tourists you’ll find, and not many at that.
This sprawling public market wasn’t always situated at the backside of the modern and air-conditioned Caribe Plaza (a juxtaposition if you ever did see one). Bazurto Market used to live where the Convention Center now stands, right in the thick of Cartagena’s historic center. A 1965 fire shut it down and inspired the move to its current location 4 kilometers from the city center, bringing with it many of the market’s original vendors and their loyal patrons as soon as it reopened in 1968.
How To Experience the Bazurto Market
The Tour Option
I highly recommend that you do a tour for your visit to the Bazurto Market. I went with Cartagena Insider Tours, a responsible and sustainable tour operator that specializes in bringing tourists to communities often excluded from tourism. Not to mention their entire business was created to fund the human rights non-profit FEM. I loved the way the tour incorporated a nice sampling of everything Bazurto has to offer, from food and music to local artists and even a medicine man. Every stop on the tour included a little gift, be it a bottle of medicinal herbs, a CD of local champeta hits, or a poster by the famous poster designer “Runner.” The tour wrapped with a filling lunch at the very same market restaurant Anthony Bourdain dined on turtle egg soup in that No Reservations episode. You can book their Bazurto Market Tour here.
TOUR DETAILS
Who?: Cartagena Insider Tours, a 100% locally-led tour operator created to fund the human rights non-profit FEM
Duration: 4 hours, tour departs at 9am
What's Included?:
- Local and bilingual guide
- Food and drink samples throughout the tour + a full lunch
- Transportation to and from the market on a local bus and/or taxi
The Do-it-Yourself Option
Hop on a local bus at the corner of Carrera 11 and Calle 30, on the Getsemani side of the bridge. For 2.200 pesos, it’s a straight shot along Calle 30 to the market. You’ll know it’s the right bus because it will have “Mercado Bazurto” listed on the sign in its windshield. Alternatively, you can take a taxi (8.000 pesos) or TransCaribe (4.000 pesos for the refillable metrocard + 2.300 pesos for the ride) from the Centro station to the Mercado de Bazurto station. If you’re taking either of the buses, just ask the driver or a passenger to let you know when you’ve reached “Mercado Bazurto.”
Once at Bazurto, let your curiosity guide you. There’s no wrong turn and if you lose your sense of direction, just ask anyone around how to get where you need to go, or better yet what they recommend you see. The must-visit sites, however, include a stop at Runner’s stand where you can get a hand-painted poster reading whatever you wish, a wander through the fruit and vegetable aisles, and a meal of fried fish, yucca, and agua panela at the comedor.
Again, I highly recommend booking a tour. The market is massive and maze-like. It’s a far better idea to have an expert guiding you to all its hidden gems, not to mention the area around the market can be a bit dodgy if you’re not careful.
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What to Read Next
For a satisfying sampling of street art and stop-you-in-your-tracks graffiti, beeline it for Getsemaní, a colorful neighborhood on the fringes of Cartagena’s walled city.