Vendors At The U.S. 1 Flea Market in Elkridge

On weekends, the U.S. 1 Flea Market packs in crowds to buy clothes, art, CDs, purses, mortgages, soccer jerseys, and on and on and on and on.

It's a Hispanic crowd, and you can eat your way across Central America at the food vendors who work from 8 to 4. This is foraging for the adventurous. I ate tacos at the metal cart outside. Not as stupendous as the "Taco Truck" (Pupuseria Lorentia) down U.S. 1, but I also got a horchata that matched any that I had ever had. That Mexican soft drink made with almonds and cinnamon was worth my entire afternoon.

Around the corner was a Salvadoran truck selling pupusas. Inside is a food court with individual stalls for tacos, seafood cocktails, pupusas and "platos tipicos." The special offering was Frutas de Mexico, a stand in a side shopping area that sold an array of cut fruits and even cucumbers in plastic bags or plastic "clamshell" bowls. For $3.50, they sold a fruit salad mixed with coconut, mango, melon and cucumber. People were squeezing lime juice -- four, five,

six wedges on a salad -- and dusting the top with salt and ground pepper. It looked delicious, but the salads were large enough to share -- and I was already stuffed with grilled meat, tortillas and horchata.

I couldn't even order a snow cone at the stand at the far end of the outdoor stalls near the rug vendor. The truck advertised frozen treats from eight countries -- "Snow Cones - USA, Nieves - Honduras, Frio-Frio -- Rep. Dominicana" -- and people lined up as long as I shopped.

If you are going to be near the flea market, consider checking out the Pupuseria Lorentia just a little farther south on U.S. 1.

U.S. 1 Flea Market

7540 Washington Blvd (U.S. 1)

Elkridge, MD 21075

Open 8 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday

NEAR: On the west side of U.S. 1 north of Rte 175. The flea market is several interconnected buildings with large signs. You can't miss it.