Winter Prices...

Here in Bulgaria, we have a fabulous selection of fruits and veggies. Almost all of which are organic. Almost all of which taste 10 times better than anything we could buy in the states. The flavors are richer, and the food fresher. That is my opinion anyhow. The daily pazar or "farmers market" in Stara is nothing to scoff at. We have everything from the usual apples, oranges, and bananas to carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers to mushrooms, peppers, and spinach. Sometimes we even get the exotic avocado or mango. But really gets me is how cheap everything is. You can buy sacks and sacks of fruits and veggies and only spend 5 leva (or $3). Those same sacks could run you about $10 in the states.


But like any fruit or veggie stand, prices for certain items go up depending on the season. And that is exactly what is going on now. With winter here and certain veggies out of season, the prices have gone sky high. I didn't really notice this change until recently. I was visiting a friend and we wanted to make veggie fajitas. And peppers were a must. We stopped upon a small veggie stand that had these wonderfully large red peppers. We grabbed three and put them in the bag. The man weighed them and asked for 4 leva. FOUR LEVA!!! For only 3 peppers! Was he crazy? No, we were, because we still went ahead and bought them. As we walked away sulking, we couldn't help but feel cheated as only a few months ago that would have cost us maybe 50 stotinki (or 30 cents.) My initial thought was...well, we are in a small to medium sized town so maybe some things are harder to get making prices rise. But that is just not the case. A few days later upon returning to site, peppers were just as expensive.

Oh well...you only live once, right. And those peppers were damn good too!

(*Note: The picture was taken in the fall when peppers were in abundance..and super cheap.)