3 At a bazaar
We went to a bazaar in Victoria in drizzly
weather. There was a large free parking lot
at the edge of the town. On the way to the
bazaar from the parking I saw a pair of the
Madagascar Fodies building a nest on one
of the trees lining a street. The nest, made
of woven grass was hanging from a branch
and the female bird was still carrying grass
while the male bird was perched on a branch
nearby.
Downtown was always crowded with people and
particularly the bazaar. The vegetable department
was divided into small booths and people
sold Cassava, Indian spinach, Leeks, Cabbage,
Lettuce, Carrot, Watercress and herbs. Some
sold long large pineapples cut in two. Some
sold peeled coconuts. Tea, a regional specialty
was also sold and I bought vanilla tea for
myself but the vanilla flavor was too strong.
Some sold only a few spices and it reminded
me of a stall of seven-spice pepper in Japan,
but of course they made curry powder by hand
instead of Japanese seven-spice pepper. Some
sold only piles of colorful peppers. Handmade
brooms were also sold.
The seafood department consisted of a U-shaped
counter on which large gutted fish were placed.
Inside of U-shaped counter fish guts were
thrown away and were being picked up by the
Cattle Egrets scavenging inside of the counter.
Some egrets were also on the counter. I had
previously thought that the Cattle Egrets
stayed in the grasslands feeding on grasshoppers.
There were five meat shops and all were in
a small building. Several people went out
of the building eating something black. We
looked inside and found large sausages hanging
at a storefront and when a customer handed
a coin the butcher, he cut a sausage in proportion
to the amount of money. We handed him a rupee
(about 20 yen) and he cut about 3cm of the
sausage. It seemed blood coagulated with
starch and small pieces of vegetable.In spite
of its liver-like look it didnft smell and
was not too bad. The piece was still a little
warm so I assume it was freshly-made. Outside
of the meat shop, the Cattle Egrets were
waiting for a sausage to be dropped. In the
store front there were also legs, hearts,
and a variety of animal parts hanging up.
Previous Page/Next Page
Go to the Index of a Journey to the Seychelles
Go to the Index of the Bat Watching around
the World