2025: Carbon the Market

Hello hiver friends 😊

This draft has to be out and photos out of the gallery. Let me take you to the market this time.

I wonder why its called Carbon, growing up, its been called like that. Lets explore the gem of Carbon Public Market here in Cebu downtown.

I could still remember how it looked before. It was chaos and unorganized. The smell was not very nice coming from the sewers from the wet market. I could describe soundly negative but it was the way it was. The market could be like that because of fresh meats and fishes. The best part was the Freedom park where the fresh flowers were wholesaled. It was blooming and got all kinds, I wonder where they are now. It is totally different today.

Carbon stands today as the the 'bagsakan' or the biggest farmer's market I have seen. Farmers directly display there produce down here. Anything and everything. Retailers from the nearby City's come here to buy in bulk.

The Tamarind tree chopping wood ranges from 80 to 300 each depending on size.

The local ginger.

The turmeric.

The 🍅 tomatoes.

My eyes glittered with excitement. I couldn't stop myself from appreciating the early display of abundance right before my eyes. From left to right, there are vegetables and fruits. I say early though it was already 9:00 pm. The market is open at night time and usually buyers comes at dawn.

I came there unintentionally. Attending novena mass was my goal there but after the mass, all I could think was food. The carbon market today has changed. It became not only as a farmer's market but a food haven. Right before the entrance lies the food stalls where you can order and they cook and serve mostly barbecues, seafoods and meat. I was full but the waiting of the barbeque was not very nice
It was a long queue. Waiting while already hungry made it agonizing. Can it be done quick? But I remembered I was not in a fast food store.

After eating dinner, it was time to explore the market and bought some to take home. Exited from food stalls and headed to the back its back part where the display were. Lucky it was the way to the ferry going to the Islands City where I currently reside.

The street was filled with lots of goodies, freshly from the farms, some may came from the mountains. My eyes could not stop from roaming left to right, as if I was like a kid in a toy shop or candy shop. I could only hope I had bring a budget for to buy what I needed. Shame my wallet was not ready. Next time I had to intentionally go there and prepared some cash. As for that stroll, looking and observing was enough.

This trading place is special to us here. It is life to the farmers, vendors, retailers, wholesalers and to the local shoppers. Seeing the abundance right before my eyes gives me hope. Fresh foods are available here and its in high quality. This is the core of the City I believe.

As for the Carbon name, digging by its etymology thanks to Carbon Market- Wikipedia ,came from the word carbón, Spanish for coal, since the area was said to be close to a coal depot used for the trains of the old Cebu Railway that ran in Cebu from the 19th century up until World War II. Railway, what a history, no traces of it today. Trains could be an amazing sight here if it was preserved and running.