09 November 2011

Tuesday in Tsevie: First, to the market.

We woke up in Tammy's pleasant, quiet "complex". She gathered breakfast for us, including biking to get baguettes, although sometimes she could get them from a vendor as he biked by. The bread here is much better than the sliced-from-square-loaf bread in Ghana. In Togo, luckily because of the historic French influence, "bread" is often "baguettes". She had a kind of room temperature cream cheese to spread on them, along with jam. And we had real, brewed coffee!

Tsevie has a "market" each day in the center of town. Monday is the biggest market day, but I found the Tuesday market to be just fine! We walked along the dirt streets to the town center.

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John and Tammy walking to the market. Note the lush tropical plants, as well as the piles of trash. The red clay streets turn into a gooey mess when it rains, and it rains often, although we were not there in the rainy season.

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John and Tammy on the streets of Tsevie.

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Tammy is using a piece of charcoal to write a note to her friend on the doorstep of her friend's shop. She hasn't been able to contact her by cell phone.

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Close-up of trash. Sorry, but I want everyone to be very, very thankful to our own government for being able to provide us all with a structure for trash pickup. Please be nice to your local trashman, it's a very important job.

And now for the good part. The "market" reminded me a lot of the "farmer's markets" that we have in the US. Locally grown produce and fish, as well as foodstuffs brought in by truck. The market is where the locals get the ingredients for dinner. Since many people do not have refrigerators in Tsevie, they shop each day. I am an admitted foodie, and I was in foodie heaven, just looking at all the interesting foods. I wanted to put down the camera and touch everything instead, and ask what it was! Oops, we are in a French speaking country. No quick easy answers to my queries, and we have to be careful to wash everything before we eat it. So look, but do not eat (yet!).

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Containers of beans and corn at the market. Tammy bought some dried corn that she later had ground up to make a dish called "pot".

I have a lot more pictures to show of the market - click on "read more" so you don't miss them!

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Corn laid out to dry on tarps. Little lizards sprinted across the corn from time to time.

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Aaah, now, this is gorgeous. Look at all the brightly colored food, and the brightly dressed people, and the cute little kids. This is nothing like the hustle of noisy, big city streets.

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At the market.

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At the market.

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At the market.

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At the market.

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Look at that fish! Tammy got some for dinner.

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At the market. On the left are some greens.

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A stove.

Eventually we are quite loaded down with bags of food. We also had some bright fabric that we bought at some stands adjacent to the food market. We begin the walk back to Tammy's complex, but that's another story!

Next: The walk back to Tammy's complex.

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