To Market To Market To Buy a Fat Pig . . .

While the senior missionaries shop at The Palace, at Maxx Mart, and at Shoprite many of the local people go to market. We went to market today. The primary market downtown is the Makola Market which has had an air of mysticism about it ever since we arrived. There are long term personnel, missionaries and others who have never been to Makola Market. Others will not go without Beatrice, a local member, to guide them. Recently Deanne and small groups of others have ventured into the Makola Market which gave her the courage to venture there with Bob on a sunny Saturday morning. There is limited parking near Makola Market so we parked a couple of blocks away and walked. The gunk you see on the ground near our parking spot is old coconut husks which have been discarded after the seller sold the contents.


I mentioned that we bravely ventured into this unknown land. During the two hours we were in this huge market we only saw two other obrunies (white people). The merchandise was varied. Here Deanne stands next to smoked fish. There is a lot of smoked fish in the market. It looks as though it was over cooked by about ten minutes but it is clearly not intended to be snacked on as you walk down the aisles.



Another favorite in other markets are the large snails. We only saw them once or twice on this trip to Makola Market These are about the size of your fist.



We didn't eat the snails but did have a drink of coconut milk freshly prepared before our eyes.



The breadth of the merchandise available is seen by these two pictures. Most of the merchandise we didn't get to photograph because the merchants are adverse to having pictures taken of them and their stuff. We didn't get to photograph the cows' feet cut off about at the knee and being carried on the butcher's head into the market skinned all the way to the toe nor did we get a picture of the small plastic bags of raw meat chopped into one inch squares and being presumably sold to flavor a meal.



There was every variety of vegetable and petter available in Ghana but less fruit that we are used to seeing at the stands along the road. There were open 50 kilo bags of rice rolled down at the edges to be scooped up for the buyer with a tin can. One favorite in one corner of the market was shoes, used shoes. Another favorite was multiple fabric stores which intrigued one member of the party.



This fellow is either coming or going on market day.



Most of the merchants were content to wait for prospects to show some interest in their merchandise. This man was actively solicited a crowd with his herbal remedies. He had gathered the large crowd of people who were apparently interested in being able to cure with seeds and leaves every malady known to man.



On the wall out of the market were numerous posters. A good number of them displayed the Ghanan religiosity.



The market is one of the wonderful experiences which reflects the adventure of Africa. However, at its heart, the Makola Market is literally no different than markets we have seen as we have walked through Korea, Portugal, Thailand, Seattle, or Salt Lake. People selling and buying and looking. It is a great experience everyone ought to experience.