I took another stroll through the market today hoping to find some avocados, or pictures, or both. I struck out on avocados but here are a few pictures that worked for me. Leah described the market in one of our previous posts, but I want to emphasize again that the pictures alone do not do this market justice. I was there in the heat of the day and the smells were intense. The best analogy I can think of is that walking through the market is to your sense of smell what watching a Stan Brackage film is to your vision. Raw meat, raw fish, smoked fish, cheese, and body odor all contribute their perfume. The market is definitely an impressive place – you can find just about anything you might need there. Our guidebook describes Ghana as being economically vibrant which I think is accurate – it seems like everyone is busy either buying or selling something. I’m not sure how anyone can stop to buy anything in the market though – I felt like I was always being pushed along by whoever was behind me. I found that after about a half an hour I was completely overstimulated and had to get out. I have a similar experience with Las Vegas, but I can last for about a day there. A white man with a camera generates a lot of protest from the market vendors, especially the women who preside over the small fish (below left), although I did have quite a few people ask me to come photograph them, as the woman below-right did.
Tags: Africa, Ghana, Kejetia Market, Kumasi
