Orchha today is a small town in India but in the past it was a capital of the kingdom of Bundelkhand, therefore there are royal palaces in that place. There is also a famous Rama temple, which attracts pilgrims. A market around the temple clearly caters for pilgrims. One can buy there powder to paint signs on the forehead (as Hindus do), flowers to offer in the temple, brass figures of gods to take home.
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Friday, 14 November 2025
Fes market
The market in Fes is actually two very narrow and very winding streets. They are called Talaa Sghira and Talaa Kebira, both wind through the Old Town (or Medina) They are so narrow and so crowded that no mechanical vehicle can enter there, all transport is by mules.
Monday, 13 October 2025
Dar-es-Salam market
Dar es-Salam is a big city, there is more than one market there. There is, for example, a big fish market by the sea. On markets farther from the sea one can buy things other than fish. For example rice or beans or chickens.
The chickens are sold alive but have the tip of their beaks chopped off and are kept in cages. Some cages are actually self-made from twigs, others are with wire mesh, stack one on the top of the other. Judging after the smell, the chickens don't sell very quickly. They do have enough time to poo.
Sunday, 24 August 2025
Masai cattle market
There is a place just outside Arusha in Tanzania where the Masai buy and sell livestock.
You can see modernity entering the Masai world there. One can see some people wearing shoes and others wearing sandals made of motorcycle tyres.
Friday, 18 July 2025
Tefé marcado
Tefé is a small town on the shores of the Amazon river, upstream from Manaus but still in Brazil. Nobody comes here in a traditional dress but many people (most, I'd say) do look like Indians.
One can buy here farinha, or granulated manioc, which Indians have produced since times immemorial. Perhaps not always it was sold in plastic bags, but it has always been added to any meal, like rice in India or China.
Of course one can buy here fish straight from the river. Some can even be consumed on the spot.
Monday, 16 June 2025
San Francisco del Alto
In the mountains of Guatemala there is a town called San Francisco, although not to confuse it with its better known namesake it has an addition del Alto. There on a market one can buy oneself a pig.
One can also buy there an elaborately woven huipil. A huipil of Guatemalan ladies is shorter than in Mexico. The Maya ladies wear it with a corte, wich is worn like a skirt.
Thursday, 15 May 2025
Oaxaca
The market in Oaxaca is dominated by ladies fashion. This fashion is clearly different than on the other side of the Atlantic. It seems that in most cases the garment sold (or at least exhibited) is huipil, an Indian tunic, made with two rectangular pieces of fabric, woven in colourful patterns. Some seller ladies wear a huipil, others are engaged in producing a next one (it seems a perfect occupation while waiting for customers).
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