Adventures in the Open Air Market

Family and Friends,

Day 108 of our Haiti Adventure!

We have written briefly from time to time about visiting the market (see post from Dec. 23 for example) but thought it might be fun to describe what it is like in more detail. Our supporters who read this blog seem to enjoy hearing about our everyday life, and the market has found its place as a regular part of our weekly schedule in Haiti. Markets in Haiti are organized chaos at best, and shopping there is always an adventure.

The two markets I visit the most are in Valer and Les Cayes. Valer is a small village, but it is closer to home. The prices are higher and the variety is limited, but it is more convenient. Les Cayes has a great market, but you have to drive about 40 minutes each way (and pay for gas at about $5/gallon) or ride tap-taps for 60-90 minutes each way to get there and back. At both places you are limited by how much stuff you can carry home. As I have mentioned previously, Valer has market days on Monday and Thursday, and Les Cayes is open for business at all times.

Another nice thing about the market in Les Cayes is that you can find several dozen permanent little shops that get locked up overnight and therefore can offer bulk items such as big cases of spaghetti, oil, canned fish, flour, sugar, etc... The smaller markets like Valer are basically filled with vendors who buy bulk items in Les Cayes, set up a little stand or blanket, and then sell the items for a little bit more money. People talk about Haiti having an incredibly high unemployment rate, but many people can scratch out a living doing something small like this. They just have to find their niche and build up a regular clientele.

When I visit the market, vendors always hope that I become their client, so they call out to me to come and stop by their stand. They say "Blanc" (white guy) or "Mezami" (friend) or "Cheri" (Darling).  I arrive at the edge of the market by tap-tap or with Chelo on motorcycle, and I begin walking through and seeing what is available. The markets are made up of both big areas of stands and also many vendors lining the streets leading up to the bigger market area. You have to kind of scope out the scene, because each day it is different. If you stop at one stand and buy your vegetables, you might walk a little further and see some nicer ones down the road for less money. Sometimes I feel a little bit ornery and will negotiate for awhile with the vendors, more for fun than anything because it is usually over twenty-five or fifty cents US or so, but other times I just pay the normal rates for things and finish up quickly. When I am buying food for our family I rarely spend more than $10 or $15 US at the market. It is pretty affordable.

You have to be prepared to get hassled from time to time by vendors and beggars, especially if you are white. Just the other day a beggar came and grabbed my foot and untied the shoelace. He has done this before. He wanted to tie my shoe for me and get a tip. I told him “No thanks”, but he wasn't listening. I tried to pull away from him and say “Excuse me”, but he kept grabbing me and wouldn't let go. Finally I pulled away and he started hitting me a little bit. The vendor where I was buying something almost went ballistic on him, and Chelo started telling him to go away too. He was pretty mad. Usually it isn't like this, though. I get asked for money a lot, but rarely do they get that pushy.

Some people have a stand with a whole variety of items, but others will sell just one thing. For example, you see boys walking around with just a handful of little baggies with dry Clorox. They call out, “Clorox! One dollar!” Their whole job is to sell Clorox in small amounts. People do this with coffee, freeze-pops, water, bananas, thread, and any number of other items. So the aisles are clogged with shoppers but also with vendors on foot.

Something else I like to do from time to time at the market is to look for something new to try. I will see some vegetable that I have no idea what it is called or what you do with it, and I'll ask the vendor how to prepare it. They get a real kick out of those conversations and my bad Creole, and it probably breaks up the monotony of the day for them. Sometimes I even buy some of what we are talking about and take it home and try it. Most of the time it isn't that great when we try something like that, so we usually stick to regular potatoes and tomatoes and onions and various fruits, but stretching ourselves a little bit with new foods is part of the fun of living here. Maybe I should just take the vendor home with me, too, and have her really show us how it is done!

It doesn't take you long to learn how to ignore the open sewer and mud and garbage right next to the produce you are buying in the market. I remember visiting Haiti for the first time and driving through Port-au-Prince thinking, “How could you eat food off of a table whose legs are literally submerged in sewage?” It all comes down to being hungry enough, I guess. Some of the food we eat here seemed kind of gross a few months ago, but now we gladly snarf it down. Its all about your perspective. As Dr. Doolittle once said, “Enough is as good as a feast.”

The same is true for the market. Yes, it would be nice to go to a Hy-Vee and not have motorcycles and trucks rushing by you and honking, but you can get what you need from the market here, and you can go home and enjoy it with your family, just like back in the States. If anything it makes you appreciate food more and waste it less.

There is definitely a social aspect to the market as well. You would think everyone would be in a hurry to get rid of their inventory and head home, but that doesn't seem to be the case. People enjoy sitting around and talking with the other vendors nearby. A lot of times they buy from each other as well and go home with what they need for their own families. Chelo's mom works there selling coconuts, and she is surrounded by her friends and good conversation all day. How many of us would enjoy saying that about our jobs?

If your Adventure ever takes you to Haiti or some other developing country, be sure to visit the open air market!
 
-The Grimm Family Adventurers