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| Home :: Our Journey :: Journal Day 6: Shopping at local markets | ||||||||
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | ||||||||
Saturday, March 11, 2006 | ||||||||
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After sharing breakfast with our hosts in Makeni, we had the chance to explore the city’s vibrant heart- its marketplace. We wandered through several blocks of colorful stalls where mostly women vendors sold anything from freshly fried fish to imported plastic sandals. The scene was a feast for all senses! Smells of pepper and peanut filled the hot, dusty air. Women in their colorful patterned dresses choked the rows, and while a steady buzz of activity filled the air, I could feel the underlying pulsation of the crowded scene. Under the covered portion of the marketplace, vendors sold small hot peppers, spices, bolts of cloth, hair ties, plastic jewelry, beads, nuts and bolts, and buckets of red palm oil used in most of the local cuisine. We realized that many of these vendors came originally from surrounding villages- some of which we had visited in Makeni over the previous two days. In the marketplace and its surrounding neighborhoods, there seemed to be just about any service a local resident would need. We even passed a local doctor’s home where a hand-painted red sign outside advertised a dizzying variety of services. Among the “types of sickness cured” were malaria, yellow fever, gonorrhea, rib infection, inflammation, the worms, tooth ache, and even madness! It was startling to compare our medical facilities in any small town in the States with those available in a major city in Sierra Leone. After purchasing a few locally-died cloths, we spent the afternoon
driving back to Freetown. We arrived at our hotel, settled into our rooms,
and took a walk on the beach across the street. The weather was much
cooler on the water than it had been inland. We shared a meal of plantains
and falafels that evening (our hotel is owned by a Lebanese couple), and
slept very well in anticipation of a day on the beach. | ||||||||
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