Mozambique Markets

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Markets are endlessly entertaining - at the mysteriously labyrinthine market in Vilankulo, we met the Tupperware boys. We told them that we were looking for Tupperware that didn't open easily to ensure that our food would not spill out. Then ensued the dramatic demonstration, wrapping fingertips under the round lids, square lids, blue lids, green lids, gritting teeth, flexing muscles, straining faces, demonstrating just how impossible it was to remove these lids.

In Montepuez, the underpants next to the soybean oil, George W. Bush wallets sold by men wearing Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein shirts, bike parts in the garlic aisle, irresistible heaps of red kidneys and green lentils, yellow maize and white sorghum. And everywhere perfect little piles of dried fish.

In the Central Market of Maputo, the soul of the city, we passed a vegetable stall that had a flimsy little cardboard sign with the names of the vegetables and the prices written on it. I exclaimed in Portuguese, "Oh, this is great for studying Portuguese." So we stood there for a long time pointing at different vegetables and learning their names, teaching them in English when we knew them, asking how to prepare things, getting little tastes of different leaves. They laughed when we grimaced at odd-tasting things, and smiled wide when we decided to buy thing and could use the right names to ask for it. We had such a ball with these women, and it was clear they were having fun with us as well. It has been fun to acquire enough Portuguese to have at least minimal conversations in the market. I am loving the leaning, and more importantly, I am loving having even the slightest capacity to engage with people. I said to Jonathon as we walked out of the market, "That was the most fun I've had all week!" (stl) More market photos

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Comments

[Susanna]

Great description!
Thanks for this full (and non-patronizing) description of a vibrant marketplace! I enjoyed reading it.