market morning

I thought I would post a couple pictures and talk about going to the market.  There is a good market in our neighborhood, about a 10 minute walk from the house.  This is an open outdoor market, kind of like a "farmer's market" in the states.  I went this morning and bought a lot of stuff.  Although everything adds up, the prices at the open market are good, this is where the average Malian gets all of their food.  I get a few things at a supermarket, but things there are pretty expensive and the average Malian never sets foot in there, it is catering to rich and expat clients. 
Sometime maybe I'll take pictures in the market and post them, but here are just a few pics from after the shopping was done.

 Carrots are a seasonal item here.  Sometimes they are in abundance and pretty cheap, sometimes they are few and expensive, and sometimes they are not to be found.  I bought 3 bunches of carrots this morning, each bunch was 200 francs (.40 cents American).  I get excited to find good carrots and I eat a lot of them when they are available.  I never thought much about carrots in America.  Usually I would just buy the bag of baby carrots because that is less work.  Nothing is less work here.

 I took this picture just outside my gate (I asked the guy to wait a minute while I ran inside to get my camera) and you see my groceries in bags sitting in the cart.  Usually I just carry my bags back home from market, but today I bought a lot of heavy stuff and it was too much for me to handle.  In the past I've brought a backpack so I could be stubborn and carry everything home myself, but I've come to realize that it is really worth the .40 to .50 cents that it costs to pay a guy to push my groceries home.  We chatted about the new year's holiday on the walk home. 
Some of the heavy things I bought which are not pictured are:
5 kilograms of flour, it comes in plastic bags of 1 kilo each (about 6 cups each) and costs 450 francs a bag (.90 cents),
6 kilos of wheat - the way to get whole wheat flour is to buy wheat, then wash and dry it and bring it to the mill to have it ground ($6),
1 kilo of sugar for $1,
a big bag of plantain bananas that will be fried up for JP's birthday party tomorrow ($3),
2 kilos of potatoes ($2),
a jar of peanut butter (or peanut paste really, natural pb with no sugar or salt) $1.50, I bought my own container to the market to have a lady fill it up, otherwise they give it in a plastic bag,
a small papaya ($1),
SO, that's at least 35 pounds already, and that doesn't take in to account the vegetables I bought, not all of which are pictured. 

 

This is pumpkin-like squash.  It is possible to buy whole squashes, but it is also sold in wedges.  It is a much bigger job to process a whole squash, so I get about 3 big wedges (you see 3 that have been cut in half) every week and cook it.  I eat it like that and use it for different recipes and then I freeze some too as it is also a seasonal item that isn't always available.  Each wedge sells for .20 cents. 

 

Here are a bunch of veggies that get used all the time at our house.  On the left are small red hot peppers, these go in sauces (1 at a time) and JP actually eats them, I just enjoy the flavor they add to the sauce.  If I eat them my face turns all red and tears stream from my eyes.  Anyway, this size cost 2 for .05 cents.  Green peppers are .20 each.  Tomatoes are sold in piles of 4 and the pile I bought was .40 cents.  The cabbage was .40 cents, same price for the big eggplant, and garlic is .10 cents each.   I also bought a big cucumber for .40 cents (they are expensive right now) and a bag of lettuce for .60 cents.  All of the vegetables have to be soaked in bleach water so that we don't get typhoid or anything weird like that.