The Largest Market in Africa.

Today we went to Onitsha. It was part market-research, part cultural-shopping-adventure.

Anytime we leave our cloistered oasis, there are multiple steps involved. It is not arduous, so much as it requires a fair amount of organization. So sometime mid-morning, we boarded a wooden boat bound for Otocha where we docked at the ferry landing. The boat is best described as a long wooden canoe powered by a motor and bamboo pole. The captain drives the boat from the back with the first mate giving gestures and occasional verbal cues indicating upcoming obstacles - water hyacinth, fishing nets, driftwood. Once we docked at the landing, kids began to gather. White people are not a common sight, I suppose, and staring is socially acceptable. The kids were generally smiling and entertained by us, although only a few of them spoke english so communication was limited to body language and eye contact.

Otocha has a market that runs every day, with a large market rotating every four days. It is an interesting cycle based on the four days of the Anam calendar. You have to find out when the last big market was and calculate when the next one will be in order to figure out when to shop. Today was not one of the larger days so we got oriented while someone collected the cars and our vigalante escorts. The vehicles are now stored in Otocha since they cannot be stored at the site due to the wet, muddy road conditions.

We then drove for about an hour to Onitsha where we took in the market. We started with the food sections and then traveled to the heart of the market. It is said that if you cannot find it in Onitsha, you cannot find it in Africa. The scope of the market is expansive and quite ordered. There are separate sections for food, meat, clothing, books, electronics, construction goods, etc.  This gives you the opportunity to comparison shop as well as take in as much sensory stimulation as you can handle. We had wonderful escorts and trying to maneuver seven interns and a number of staff through narrow stalls of goods is an adventure on its own.

After an afternoon of shopping and exploring market organization in the hot sun, we piled back into the van for the drive back to Otocha. It started to rain as we were driving back, which is not optimal when you still have a significant boat ride home. We tried to wait it out for a short period, but between the sun setting and the rain clouds darkening the sky, we needed to collect all of our groceries that had been purchased and head home. For this we needed a bigger boat. One of my favorite things about the ferry is that you just park your wooden boat and it will stay there. There is no security, nor any patrol of the boats. People generally know who's boat is who's (they are also labeled) and it brings bad fortune to you if you steal someone's boat. So it just doesn't happen.

Anyhow, we made it home in the cold, dark rain with food to feed 12 people for a week - 4 chickens and 8-20L water jugs included.