Mounce: La Pulga (Flea Market): Big Business in the Rio Grande Valley

“Where to park?” So many cars! “There’s a spot!” So we parked on North Alton Boulevard, Alton, Texas, at Pulga Los Portales. We entered that sprawling city within a city, giddy with anticipation. This was pre-Covid, a few years ago; but the Pulga is still there, gracias a Dios. It is one of several in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and among over 5,000 in the U.S.

Pulgas are street markets where vendors often sell second hand goods, often outdoors. Pulgas are also known as swap meets, antique or collectibles markets. At one time some products in Pulgas (“fleas” in Spanish) might have actually had fleas, but not anymore.

Pulgas typically consist of individual stalls, selling new and used items, curios and cut-rate merchandise. Pulgas are often seasonal, but year-round in the Valley; they provide a source for those looking for bargains or treasures, with over one million vendors and tens of thousands of shoppers. They–this “underground” economy–constitute at least 11% of the total US economy. It may rise to perhaps twice that in the Rio Grande Valley! So, “Big Business” indeed! 

My family’s first adventure at Los Portales (“Gateways” in English) hooked us; we still return often. Portales is owned and managed by south Texas entrepreneur, Ms Michelle Vallejo and her family. 

We walked by the multiple puestos (stalls), mostly paseando (strolling); but my Mexican American son, con hambre (very hungry) as always, stopped at the entrance to a palapa (straw-covered structure) for cabeza de cabra (Bar-B-Q goat head), eyes and all.The rest of us chose to savor the less exotic, yet still delicious tacos de carne, filled with cebolla and cilantro.

Photo credit: Pulga Los Portales

The array of goods and colorful arrangements was dazzling. Stalls offering agua de jamaica, tamarindo, nieve de limón! Choices were diverse, overwhelming: further on,plants, flowers, and, at that time, even birds! Plentiful were the used, random items of auto parts–often unavailable elsewhere, especially for those of us with older model cars.

Vendors pay a set fee for their designated area. Pulgas often charge a small fee for entrance and/or parking. There is even a National Flea Market Association (NFMA), their businesses resulting in tens of billions of dollars a year. 

Ms. Vallejo, the proprietor, is now quite busy, as the Democratic Party candidate for US Congress. Her district is the important 15h US Congressional District, abutting Mexico, with its burgeoning production and search for trade, on the Rio Grande River; it extends to the north, almost to the capital of Austin.

Yet, the business continues, a unique contribution, social as well as economic. Ms. Vallejo handles both challenges–her business and the demands as a candidate–quite well. 

I love Pulgas. They are a major fixture of the Rio Grande Valley economy and culture where I live. It seems Ms Vallejo joins me in that love. Viva Los Portales and Viva las Pulgas!

Photo credit: Pulga Los Portales

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by UT-Rio Grande Valley Professor Emeritus Dr. Gary Joe Mounce. The column appears in The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service with the permission of the author. Dr. Mounce can be reached by email via: gjmounce@gmail.com.  

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