Our first trip to the market was slightly embarrassing as we’d just been to the exchange shop to get some local currency, Vatu (158 = £1), and although we thought we’d asked for small money, actually we had the equivalent of £20 notes when trying to pay for a pound of tomatoes and as it was early morning, the stallholders didn’t have that much change. Stupid foreigners!
Anyway, it’s beautiful the way they sell the sweet potatoes in hand woven baskets, just to carry them to the market. Different villages bring in their products on different days, and they’re all women. There was also a woman giving a long speech with strong religious overtones and praises to God, the government and the local council etc. When she’d finished the listeners, again, all women, had a fantastic buffet lunch with generous piles of food. So given the setting, it’s clearly understandable why two of us there heard her preach against prostitution, whilst the majority heard her praise the constitution. Easy mistake to make! And in fact it was about setting up a legal constitution for the stallholders to deal with continuing issues around the facilities in the market.
Food was the same sort of prices as in Sainsbury’s (surprised?) and everything had prices written on them. We were told there’s no bartering and no tipping – suits me!