Fish Market
These fish are drying out.
Typical Angola Dish.
Beautiful Church that we visited
It's my birthday! Thanks for the cake Geisa!
Then, there is the other market that they call the Plaza, where you pretty much can find all necessary items new or used. This is an outdoor experience with many people running individual booths. Let me talk you through this experience:
As I parked the car, I had to be careful not to knock over the boys waiting for business, whether it be to guard our car, wash it, sell me bags to carry my produce, or carry my bags. About four of those boys will follow me throughout my shopping experience. Then I'll pass a shoe booth, then jeans, then hair beads, then a pig sty full of squealing wiper-snappers. They don't even bother to cage the chickens, they have embraced their roll here in the food chain. Then I go through my favorite part, but sadly very small part, the hand crafted items reflecting the artists African roots. (One must always be careful not to bump into a lady carrying twice her weight in merchandise on her head, or the baby on her back.) Now we come to the grain, in huge open bins, that if you want to buy any of that they just scoop it up with their bare hands into the bag. We have all kinds of fruit and vegetables, beans, dried fish (don't ask me how to cook that), laundry soap, music, furniture, cell phones. . . as long as your willing to elbow your way through the crowd, you can find it here.
I like the plaza, but I haven't gotten up the nerve to go with the boys, and probably won't. I have much more to tell, but will save it for another day. Someone go enjoy an air-conditioned grocery store for me.
This completely takes me back to my experiences in Africa! I know what you're going through...it will take some time to adjust, but it will happen. We pretty much lived off of fruits and starches the whole time. And did I ever tell you about the church who gave us a live chicken as a thank you for visiting? All of us girls had to take turns plucking the thing before we threw it into a pot to cook. And we had chicken curry for dinner...and later found out that our curry powder was just turmeric, so it was a little bland. But great memories! Thanks for keeping us updated and can't wait for the next installment!
ReplyDeleteLove-- Christina and George
haha...that market story is a pretty accurate description of markets in Zambia! =) hope you're settling in nicely. we need to try to visit you guys one of these days!!! =) or you can come to Zambia. blessings...and happy belated birthday! =)
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