Dragonfly Photography

The Market

Today we went to the market. Now it is not at all like the nice, organized farmers market in Mt. Pleasant. This market is located somewhere outside of the village. We went by ‘public transportation’…. Which here means you cram as many people in a Landcruiser as you possible can. If it means people sitting on each others lap, no problem. It is cheap, Tsh 500 (Tanzanian Shilling) so less than $0.50. And you get to enjoy the real thing, right? The smell and dust and being thrown around in the back of the car….Luckily the trip was only about 10 minutes so not too bad.

The market is quite large. You can buy a lot of stuff. Lots and lots of shoes. Lots of used clothing, from Europe and the US. Masaai blankets, fabric, knives, medicine, jewelery and food. We ordered barbeque first before we started to walk around so we could have some food and drinks after the shopping spree. Ofcourse people were staring at us, this group of 7 white people with our guide Clement. We were suddenly the main attraction. Forget about the snakes, forget about the chicken and cows and bulls. Seven white people walking around in the red dust. And with money. You really start feeling guilty  that you are this rich westerner and really do not want to bargain the price they ask. But then it is the culture to do so.

After our ‘shopping spree’ we had lunch. The barbeque meat was placed on sticks in front of us and with a knife you were supposed to cut it off. Now I could easily be a vegetarian if it was not for the fact that I really like a hamburger from FiveGuys once in a while. To see the meat here kind of gave me the willies but you don’t want to be a partypooper so you just join in. Plus having a Kilimanjaro beer helped somewhat since the bottles are twice the size of what I am used to. And I am still a cheap drunk…Until the guy that prepared the meat blew his nose in his hands…..not so good. So maybe I will become a vegetarian after all….

So enjoy the pictures I took. It was quite an experience. It’s a shame you cannot put sounds and smells on the pictures because that is something I really do not know how to describe If the pictures are not showing up have patience, the internet is not as fast and reliable as you are used to there in Europe or the US.