If
it’s
bigger
than
the
one
in
Morocco,
I
have
no
idea.
If
it
is
something
like
a
boisterous
exotic
Persian
street
market,
I
can’t
truthfully
say
either
because
I’ve
been
to
neither.
But,
one
thing
I
do
know
for
sure:
The
Caruaru
street
market-fair
is
or
probably
should
be
the
largest
of
the
kind
in
the
whole
world.
It’s
even
bigger
than
the
one
at
Feira
de
Santana,
in
the
state
of
Bahia.
A
respectable-sized
collection
of
people
and
things,
spread
over
an
enormous
asphalt
square
and
confusing
mess
of
old,
run-down
buildings
downtown,
and
totally
engulfed
by
an
unbelievably
noisy
Babilonian-style
orquestra
of
deafening
sounds.
Above
all
the
others,
The
Caruaru
street
fair
is
worthy
of
my
deepest
respect.
It
even
tops
the
big
one
at
Teresinha,
in
Piauí
The
street
fair
of
Caruaru
sort
of
resembles
one
of
those
Chinese
New
Year
dragons,
covered
with
colorful
drapes
or
whatever.
A
monstrous
serpent,
sinuous
and
wriggling,
that
carries
on
indefinitely
because
it
has
no
beginning,
and
it
has
no
end.
That’s
right!
A
Chinese
serpent
or
dragon,
brightly
colored,
twinklings
of
a
thousands
crystal
prisms
and
sparkling
forms.
In
other
words,
a
fantastic
living
kaleidoscope.
The
Caruaru
fair
has
the
deafening
power
of
the
Amazonian
pororoca
mixed
together
with
the
geometry
of
Serra
Pelada,
a
restless,
dancing,
boiling
cloud,
staggering
crowds
coming
and
going
with
the
final
objective
of
buying,
selling…and
performing!
To
see
and
be
seen.
The
Caruaru
street
market,
before
all
else,
is
a
maelstrom
full
of
life,
enthusiasm
and
dreams.
So
much
is
done
at
the
Caruaru
fair!
There,
you
can
buy
or
sell
pumpkins,
a
thousand
exotic
varieties
of
tropical
fruits,
small
monkeys,
big
monkeys,
chickens,
dry
meat,
cassava
and
coco
flour,
beautiful
hand-made
woven
baskets,
stone
and
ceramic
pottery,
coités,
tapioca,
big
antique
bronze
house
keys,
lithographs,
home-made
rugs
of
cotton,
palm
fiber,
just
about
everything
under
the
sun!
Do
you
need
your
watch
fixed?
How
about
a
haircut?
Or
tattoo?
Perhaps
you’re
in
the
mood
for
a
little
depilation?
Would
you
like
to
try
on
this
new
three-day
lipstick?
Do
you
want
some
sewing
done,
maybe
repair
some
old
damaged
embroidery,
you
can
fry
a
few
pieces
of
beef,
if
you
get
hungry.
Are
you
looking
for
a
yellow
macaw
feather
for
your
carnival
fantasy?
You
can
even
find
miniature
models
of
the
Apollo
and
Sputnick
spacecraft.
Have
no
doubt!
Visit
the
Caruaru
street
fair
to
find
out
for
yourself,
because
there,
you
can
find
anything
you
want.
Bedclothes
and
tablecloths,
ceremonial
clothing
sets
for
baptisms,
marriages,
and
any
other
imaginable
celebration,
leather
cowboy
pants
and
spurs,
dental
floss,
women’s
brassieres
and
underwear
of
all
sorts,
brilliant
glossy
hair
ribbons,
belts,
socks
for
men,
socks
for
women,
socks
for
babies
and
little
kids,
all
this
and
more,
exposed
in
thirty
thousand
different
stands
to
be
admired,
examined,
haggled
over
and
finally
sold.
At
the
Caruaru
fair,
you
can
eat
and
drink,
take
a
restless
nap
in
a
hammock
and
dream,
have
a
shower,
walk
or
run…
You
can
even
stand
still
in
one
place
if
you
feel
like
it.
It’s
an
absolutely
huge
space
to
be
seen
and
felt,
composed,
read.
Listen
to
the
popular
street
poetry
or
get
chummy
with
the
poets
themselves.
Are
you
a
devotee
of
Father
Ciço?
There,
you
will
be
among
tens
of
thousands
of
other
devotees
because
everyone
at
the
street
market
is!
Depending
on
the
season
of
the
year,
the
Caruaru
fair
even
offers
instant
flashflood-rainstorms,
water
falling
from
the
sky,
a
miracle,
a
great
miracle,
to
contrast
with
the
scalding
year-round…century-round
sun.
How
fascinating,
beautiful
and
delicious
is
the
Caruaru
fair!
