70 ~ Mallorcan Straw Baskets

I'm so pleased that I found this little market stall last Sunday where Beatriz, who is from Andraitx in Mallorca, was selling Mallorcan straw baskets. I used to live in Mallorca and I carried one of these baskets everywhere.

Called cesto de esparto in Spanish it was one of the first items I bought when I arrived in Spain so many years ago.

It was then the custom to have this carryall filled with life support items such as the local English newspaper (The Mallorca Daily Bulletin) , a bocadillo de queso (a cheese sandwich) in case you were hungry, your bathing suit, towel, a bottle of Trinaranjus (a non-carbonated orange drink), sunglasses and whatever else you felt you needed to survive an afternoon on the beach, a day of shopping or driving around the island.

In another lifetime, in Mallorca with my basket.

The only inconvenience was that the rope handles were scratchy and left red marks on sunburned shoulders when one wore a sleeveless blouse.

But the new models now have soft leather straps as well as short grip handles so you can fill your basket at the market if you wish without ending up with sore shoulders. Other models were lined with plastic.




How they looked way back then, full of fruit and vegetables from Palma market. (photo below)


Next year plastic bags will no longer be given out in supermarkets and I think it's a good and long overdue measure, given the statistics on the fish and marine animals who are being killed by tons of plastic floating in our oceans.

So now is a good time to find your alternatives. I know from experience how useful these big straw baskets can be. I chose the one on the right in the photo below, with both the long and short handles which Beatriz models in the first photo above.


So if you are in Tenerife and visit the El Medano market on a Saturday or are in Puerto de la Cruz on a Sunday, look for Beatriz in the flea market at the Spar parking lot in La Paz, and say 'Bon Dia' (Catalan/Mallorquin for Buenos Dias) to her from the lady who used to live in Mallorca. And have a good look at these baskets which never seem to wear out.


Link to my post about these baskets on my other blog about Mallorca.

So that's all for today. Thanks for the visit and ¡Hasta la Vista!