The Baazaar

Not having the ability to include sounds & smells in this blog will not give you the full picture of what a morning in the baazaar entails but use your imagination! A teammate and I headed for the baazaar early on a Friday, thinking we'd beat the crowds & the heat but what we didn't realize is that most schools opened today in the city and everyone was in the market yesterday to buy school supplies and clothes. We also didn't realize that people are already starting to plan for their big celebration at the end of the month of Ramadan, buying food, clothes and all kinds of things for the biggest event of the year. The place was mobbed with people; we could hardly move at times. We wandered aimlessly through the alleyways, not knowing where we were going and lost half the time. We passed carts loaded with "meat" (mostly the organs of cows & sheep). They washed the meat and threw the bloody water down a trough that ran through the center of the road. You can imagine that smell on a hot day! We passed through the vegetable market and row upon row of spices & pickled everything. We happened upon hundreds of men standing around with pigeons, doves, turkeys, ducks, birds of every kind. There were birds in boxes and cars and cages, thousands of birds everywhere. We have no idea what that was all about! I guess pretty much anything you could desire, might be found in that baazaar, but how to find it??? We tried asking for different things and were sent on wild-goose chases down alleyways, only to NOT find what we were looking for. During this month of Ramadan when people are suposed to be fasting, the restaurants all put up sheets out front to show respect to the fasters; the funny thing is that the places are packed with people inside. Very few observe the fast in this city, though we've heard in other cities it is very strictly followed. It was an exhausting morning and I think my friend now knows who NOT to invite next time on a trip to the baazaar. But at least now I can say that I've experienced it and who knows, I may just venture down again sometime when the weather is cooler.