To the Market

I will, I think, be out of internet access possibly for a few days, as I have been told it is unsafe to walk around alone on Sundays and Holidays b/c the streets are empty & businesses are closed. Monday is a national holiday here in Guyana. It is called CARICOM Day- it is a celebration of the joint Caribbean nations. I think I am going to a "Curry Que" to raise money at the Nurse's Association on the holiday... your guess is as good as mine- it is lunch, waiting in a line for curries...

I ventured into the live action markets today thanks to my upstairs neighbor, an older British man here with his wife on VSO (Volunteer Service Organization, I believe a British Peace Corps type of two year service commitment). He goes to the boisterous, somewhat intimidating big market for fruits & veggies every Sat morning- He rides his bike & parks it right near the craziness so that he can carry lots home in the basket. So I set off late this morning with him on his wife's bike and I must say in this crazy traffic- I was very grateful for my recent beach side bike riding "expeditions" in Monterey and Georgia. (Note to Todd- I wore a helmet.) The markets are vast and there are three variations all adjacent to one another. Some booths are farmer's market style- food under a temporary umbrella-like shelter displayed for passersby, and some of the food being sold is in a more permanent type of wooden stall and then, most intimidating for the intimateness alone, is the food and other items being sold in this big indoor warehouse. I definitely would not have been comfortable delving this far into the market had he not taken me. Indoors (in the warehouse) there were rows & rows of fish on wooden slabs, grains spilling out of thick sacks, colorful, random plastic items for household use, and most noticeably, varying shades of red raw meats stretched out from hooks and hands for rows & rows. Let me tell you how appealing that was for me. No, no it was fascinating to see. I have always loved markets. I have to say while drinking my Nescafe this morning over breakfast I was fantasizing about instead making a comfortable journey on foot to the Temescal Farmer's Market in Oakland with Taylor, Heather & Jon. I was thinking I would be more than willing to wait in that seriously long line for a cup of some Bottle Tree coffee. I imagined myself people watching in the mild sun, picking out veggies for the week, and checking out the hipster moms & dads with their hipster children- seriously the best haircuts in town are on the tots... Silly me, with that imagination. The blaring heat here in Georgetown is something to be reckoned with- I have asked two people about the climate here: "Does it ever get cooler?" I ask (attempting to not sound judgmental of the unrelenting sun). I literally received the same response from both people: "Only two, sun and rain." Simple, factual, reality. 'Tropical' sounds like the term to use to allow yourself to believe it is OK.