A De Go Bay-Bay (I’m Going Shopping)

Post by Lara

October 17, 2012

Thursday is market day here in our town, which means that vendors travel from all the neighboring villages as well as the other towns and cities within a day’s travel, converging on our market which overlooks the river and goes all the way down to the riverbank.  The market has a number of sellers who are there daily, but Thursday is a whole other animal- personal space is nowhere to be found, and you have to learn to be assertive in order to get anywhere, all while carrying on broken conversations in Mende and Krio.  Beyond that, Kevin and I happen to be 2 of about 5 Americans who have frequented our town in the past 10 years, so we’re fairly recognizable and we’re expected to greet all of our friends and ask how they are doing.  Also, if either of us ever goes anywhere without the other, we spend about 50% of our time explaining where our spouse is [and/or explaining that no, that is not my brother. He’s my husband. Yes, husband. Yes, I know you think we look alike. No, we don’t have any children…etc.] 

Needless to say, Thursday is a busy, crazy, hectic day, but I still look forward to it every week. It may be the only day of the week that I can buy a coconut or some cherry tomatoes, or that the man from across the river comes selling his delicious “machine bread” (not sure what machine they use- I’ll let ya’all know if I find out), or that I can buy two yards of fabric to have window curtains made for our wash room.  Kevin is usually teaching until 2 on Thursday, but I have just one morning class and then I’m done for the day, so I generally head down to the market around midday to see what’s being offered.  This is also serendipitous because Kevin hates crowds, and I tolerate them. Thus, Gbessay goes to the market each Thursday.  Below is a photo of one especially awesome market day:

On this particular Thursday, I was able to score two dried lobsters for Le 2000 (that’s about 50 cents, my friends. And that was for the pair—though you may notice they’re missing their claws), a handful of dried shrimp, some okra, 15 limes, 3 “plums” (don’t ask me what they are. They’re delicious, but they’re not the same fruit we call plums in the states), a coconut, and a large hunk of pumpkin. I believe the total bill on this particular day was about Le 30,000 ($6.81).  We made gumbo with the okra, lobster, and shrimp and served it with rice and “machine bread” [see photo below and be jealous!], and then made fried pumpkin pies and pumpkin bars for dessert.   The one trouble with market day in Salone is that much of the food you buy has to be cooked and eaten within a day or two, so we tend to eat a lot of fresh things on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and by Tuesday or so we’re eating a lot more dry goods.  For instance, tonight, Wednesday, we made fried rice and sweet and sour sauce- the only produce needed were two cloves of garlic, two onions, and some hot pepper. 

That’s market day, in a nutshell. Someday I might venture to the market with my camera and snap a quick photo of the stalls, but so far not a whole lot of people in town are aware that I own a camera and I’m ok with that.  If I have any more awesome market days in the future I’ll post another photo so you can see!