Mercado de Bazurto is Cartagena's main working market — vast, chaotic, loud, and completely removed from the tourist circuit of the walled city. It sprawls across several blocks in the south of the city, selling fresh fish and seafood, tropical fruits, vegetables, live animals, hardware, clothing, and everything else a large city needs. The fish section, in particular, is extraordinary — barracuda, red snapper, lobster, and species of Caribbean reef fish are laid out in profusion.
It is not a comfortable place to visit for the uninitiated — the market is densely crowded, the ground is wet, and vendors are persistent. But for anyone interested in how Cartagena actually feeds itself, rather than how it presents itself to tourists, it's an essential stop. Go in the early morning when the fish is freshest and the light is good for photography.