Driving
into Pleebo from Harper the first day at site, we drove past a rather lively
market just before reaching our house. I
immediately grew excited, thinking how lucky we were to have what looked to be
an awesome market in our community and so
close to our house. During our walkabout
with Bessie, the PTA chairlady, I learned that there is another market that
sits about 20 minutes from our house, aptly called the small market. There are not as many items there, but it has
all of the necessities. So look at that
– the big market and the small market, making lives for Peace Corps Volunteers
easier since the 1960s.
We
have not taken much time to check out the small market, however. One day, I’m sure we will, but we are rather
spoiled with the big market so near our house.
The first few weeks traversing the aisles of the market were rather
overwhelming and, frankly, miserable. We
did not have a good grasp of fair prices of goods, no one could understand us
very well, and we were still the shiny new toys of Pleebo.
Thankfully,
everyone is used to us these days and almost every market experience is a
pleasant one. We have learned who to buy
from and who to avoid, and our regular vendors know us and what types of things
we typically want to buy. One Ole Ma, in
particular, is our favorite. She sells
the typical assortment of “small-small things,” and she is always so friendly
when we visit her. There, we are able to
buy onions, garlic, tomato paste, spaghetti, salt, baking soda, and powdered
pepper that we use almost every day to cook with.
Further
back in the market lays the meat market portion, and this is a veritable
cornucopia of animal parts for sale. My
personal favorites include chicken feet, turkey necks, pig feet, plenty of bony
(smoked fish), and if we’re lucky, a chicken thigh or two. On Saturdays, there is also a lively fresh
fish portion of the market, and Sarah and I are working towards tackling that
one day soon.
Along
the walk to the back of the market, we are always passing women selling plenty
of other things, including sugar, oil, rice, beans, lentils (!), pot scrubbers,
iron soap (lye soap we use for washing dishes), and most importantly, rubber to
catch the fire. Additionally, there are
guys selling all sorts of goods out of their wheelbarrows; for us that means we
are always able to find our washing soap for laundry days! (Look for another post on wheelbarrows to
come.)
Walking
into another part of the market, you are quick to come across women selling
many different types of things. Here,
you can find sandals, jewelry, underwear, towels, lappa (African printed fabric
that everyone wears here), bed sheets, buckets, bowls, silverware, stationary,
and the most common item – plenty of used clothes (most often, it’s children’s
clothing). While this all sounds like a
lot, the most exciting part of the market is yet to come.
Walking
down the road small, you will come across the produce area of the market. Here, you can find almost any type of fruit
or vegetable that grows in Liberia. We
are so fortunate to have a great produce section, and we are slowly working on
tackling all of the options available to us.
Included in that bounty is bananas, plantains, oranges, mangoes (locally
called plums), apples, coconuts, pineapples (when they’re in season), cabbage,
greens, green beans, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes (locally called Irish
potatoes), eggplant, okra, squash (locally called pumpkin), and avocado
(locally called butter pear). I’m sure
the list is longer, but that is all I can remember now.
Something
that Pleebo has plenty of, and that some sites don’t see at all, is bread. There are always people selling bread in the
market, and we even have a bakery in town that makes great bread. The bread from the bakery is a little more
expensive, but every now and then, it’s a nice change of pace :) Eggs are also an almost-constant in our
lives, and for that we’re always grateful.
The trucks come from Monrovia pretty often, bringing boxes and boxes of
eggs, all of which are shipped here from the Ukraine. Interesting, I think. Sometimes there will be a gap of a few days
during which all the eggs have sold out and the entire town is waiting on the
truck to make it from Monrovia. That has
happened twice while we’re here, and though it can be inconvenient, it’s
definitely not the end of the world.
The
final boost to our market is the row of amazing shops that sits across the
street from it. Here in Pleebo, you can
find almost everything in the shops. We
are continually surprising ourselves by looking in the shops we walk by every day. Don’t get me wrong, we have our favorites,
but it’s always fun to explore new territory :)
The
shop we frequent multiple times a week is our favorite for a few reasons. We were introduced to the owners on our
walkabout with Bessie, and from that day, we just kept going back. Three brothers from Lebanon run this shop –
Saad, Amadou, and Bailo – and they are always happy to see Sarah and I. Here, we buy canned kidney beans (a staple
for us), canned vegetables, oats for breakfast, flour, butter (for baking),
biscuits (cookies) if we’re treating ourselves, and most importantly our 50kg
bag of rice. We buy other small things
from here now and then – matches, paper, bleach, tea, etc. – but it is more of
a staple place for us.
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| The shops across from the big market |
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| A "gas station" typical of Pleebo |
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| Bananas by the bunch! |
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| Our first pineapple! |
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Yep - cucumbers are huge here.
Great in tuna salad sandwiches... One of our favorite meals. |
From
other shops, we buy things like oil, toilet paper, Rexoguard (something we add
to our bath water to insure any creatures in the water are dead), powdered
milk, paint, rat poison, ketchup, a hot water thermos, and one of our most
fancy finds – olive oil! There are
plenty of shops in Pleebo, and who knows what else we might be able to find
during the next two years or so.
Needless to say, we’re definitely not wanting for anything here. And for that I’m grateful.
