Market Walks

No matter what city I'm in, my favorite places to visit are the markets. The vibrancy is palpable. People yelling, haggling, jockeying to attract customers. It is the rare place here where I am not the sought for buyer. After all, what will I do with 50 kilos of coconuts? Or a recently decapitated goat?

The markets are generally bisected into smaller zones of produce. In one corner fruits, another vegetables, another dyes and pigments. The other corner has the fresh goat heads. And chicken feet. Sticking together the sellers don't need to advertise--everyone knows where to find the banana sellers. The nice thing too, is it's very easy to compare prices this way. In the larger markets the vendors are dominantly men. Frequently however as the wares move down from wholesales to individual sellers, there is a change from men to women. The smaller street vendors frequently are women, walking along carrying fruit in a large basket on their hips heads hands.

Sweet and fresh the markets are by far the best smelling places around. The flower markets burst with color, and a wonderful floral scent pervades. Around the fruit vendors a toothsome air follows you around. The mango season smelled particularly wonderful. Among the vegetables there is an earthy smell from heaps of potatos and yams. The spice sellers have beautiful mounds of masala, saffron, cardamom, tikka masala, red and yellow curry, which all have their own pungence. All these smells mingle with the beautiful colors into a sensual feast.

Malodorous and fetid the markets are by far the worst smelling places around. The only times I have nearly bent over retching has been walking through the markets. The meat markets specifically. Terrible smells. Terrible. We have passed plenty of open sewers too, but those don't make me gag. No one washes away the scraps from butchering the chickens fish goats. When it rains a brown bloody water runs out from below the markets, bringing feathers and entrails with it. The flies are rampant, over and on top of everything. They cover the goat carcasses. The heaps of fish need no explanation. Neither does the reeking compost of rotting produce.

I love the markets. In effect they are the life blood of the community. Rice, bananas, lentils, fish, incense, potatoes, it all is found here. Stinky and sweet it is beautiful and horrifying.