YAY! I see little tiny streaks of blue sky and a lightening of the clouds! The rain has stopped! The wind has stopped, the snow is still coming down on Grand Mesa, which means it can still freeze here.
The Swallows are back! 🙂 That’s a good sign…warmer weather can’t be far off now. (I hope!)
Anyway, I was reading a very interesting blog post about street shopping from Uncle Spike.
I have always thought I would love to shop in all the open-air markets around the world. The fruit and vegetables have to be outstanding.
Anyway—here is his post:
East African Shopping by Uncle Spike
On the whole, shopping malls leave me cold. In general I have little desire to trudge my way around endless corridors of glass, dazzling white marble effect floors and endless rows of glass-fronted shops all selling the same stuff as the mall we probably visited the day before. Fair enough, for the purchase of a certain item, these places serve a purpose, but for me, shopping is a sport best served outdoors.
Here in Türkiye, outdoor markets are part and parcel of everyday life, be it out here in the rural areas, or also in some residential parts of our large cities. So when I travel, the roadside markets and entrepreneurial purveyors of foodstuffs are always of a certain fascination to me. East Africa, of course, is a case in question.
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The selling of foodstuffs always seem that bit more enterprising, and banana selling seems king of them all; from two tonnes in the back on a minivan…
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…to a whole roadside…
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…or hanging outside the local butchers, which also sold honey too 🙂
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But harping back to the blandness of modern shopping malls, how refreshing would it be to see the top names in gentlemens outfitters merchandising their pure cotton two-piece’s like this?
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There’s one thing for sure when travelling in a place like Kenya, one is never faced with the dilemma of “shop closed”, or having to think what day it is… every hour of every day, there is food sold along the roadsides.
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Of course, the sad truth is that for many parts of the continent, this is not always the case. The harsh reality is that terrible wars, and devastating crop failures have brought about unbelievable suffering. The even sadder fact is that some parts of the world still don’t get it, and readily moan about the unavailability of a certain model of Nike trainers, or the price of a 6-pack of Oreo’s, or a 32-oz steak, whilst members of our own species are left to starve.
Uncle Spike
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Your friend,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
How interesting. Reminds me of the time we went to Mexico.
We were down to 24* yesterday morning! Ugh! My poor little flowers looked kinda pathetic!
It’s been sunny and somewhat warm during the day. Welcome to spring! Ha! Where you experience all 4 seasons in one day! 🙂
Cheri
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Oh, gosh. It seems your weather heads our way…we really need warm temps to come and stay awhile. As I’m sure you do too, Cheri!
Linda
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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That was very interesting and I too so enjoy the open air markets and was happy to see our Farmer’s Market start back up this past weekend!
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Way to early here for Farmer’s Markets. But they really are a source of good food.
Linda
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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Awesome post.
I’m not much for shopping, regardless of where it is, but what a great opportunity to immerse yourself into a culture. There are many hallmarks of specific cultures, religion, customs, laws, etc., but food reigns king among them all. Not everyone subscribes to the three former. However, without fail, everyone eats and their culture defines their food.
I’m truly envious Uncle Spike. What a wonderful story you must have to tell.
Just steer clear of the bush meat 🙂
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You will enjoy his site, BoomerBob!
Linda
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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Thanks Bob… Love especially love all my travels in Africa (and India). However, living in Türkiye is pretty similar in terms of outdoor food vending, so I’m kinda somewhat spoilt 🙂
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What An interesting guest post. Wouldn’t that be fun to go there! Uncle Spike writes so well, to make those of us who’ll never be there understand better what it is like. I actually have a food market post ready for later posting, but certainly nowhere near as exotic as this one.
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I think it would be fun to travel to different worlds and experience all their different foods. Sort like Bizarre Foods, only I don’t think I’ll go for the too way out there things.
Linda
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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Thanks Sallie…
My favourite ‘tales’ are often from the sub-continent, such as the one below. Not trying to ‘push my blog’, honest, but just that you might like this one based on your comment.
Regards, Spike
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certainly a dose of perspective.
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It is, truly!
Linda
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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Very fascinating, and such truth at the end. Sad that us Americans are so spoiled we cannot see the needs of others in the world.
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But you do. You do lots of kind things all the time.
Linda
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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It’s all about perspective Meg. I too have have much more than many, for which I am very grateful, and equally much less than many, for which I am also very grateful, Perspective is the key to happiness in many ways I think.
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We have a once a week outdoor Farmers Market that is such a great place to shop. I agree about the indoor malls.
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Nothing like real food!
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We drive all over looking for outdoor markets, what we call flea markets and farmer’s markets.
What a fascinating post. Thank you for sharing. God bless you all.
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It is very interesting!
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Thanks Linda – plenty more where that came from, as they say.
Spike
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You really need to write a book, you know.
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Very interesting markets. I appreciate the look into a place I can never visit.
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I will probably never visit myself, so it’s terribly fun to share blog posts!
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