To the market! (Revised)

To the market! When you need supplies in Nigeria, the most common mode is to visit a city market. The closest experience in the US is a farmers' market, where such markets are usually in a village or city of almost any size, or along the roadside. Nigeria has the same, just on a much larger scale, and a much larger array of products and services! Everything from watch battery service to furniture. I would suspect that 80% or more of consumer trade takes place in such markets.

Roadside stands are everywhere, and tend to group up into subject areas, which is interesting - two dozen stands all selling similar products. I'm told that clientele development is still important, so that a roadside shopkeeper will develop a customer base, and can survive quite nicely among lots of competition. As in this location -

All are selling onions (purple), yams, potatoes (tan), mango (yellow), and a few tomatoes (red). and there are probably 6-8 stands in this picture. But they have lots of regular customers, and all do OK.

And here. The jugs are palm oil, an extremely healthy oil made from a palm tree fruit from which oil is easily extracted, used for cooking of all sorts. Some fruit to the right is mango or oranges - Another common roadside sales product is building materials, in this case cement blocks, made and sold from this location. There is always a van or truck going past you can hire to haul them for you.

The city markets are different - they are huge! I mean acres, and usually arranged in long rows .

of small buildings, sometimes brick or block. Again, similar vendors will cluster together, offering similar items. Aisle ways are narrow, usually, but some areas are laid out to suit a specific need, as in a wide open space for carpet or furniture. Ready made and custom made to order clothing, hairdressers (all you need is a stool!), tools, electronics, fresh fruit and vegetables, of course, and

jewelry, prepared food, new and used building materials, lots of beverages of all kinds... literally, you name it. I must admit, it can be intimidating, but it can also be very funny. Like this -


(h/t to Matthew Wentworth)
This is a load of yams, coming from the countryside. You need to know that yams run 5 pounds or more each, and I would estimate that there are a thousand or more in this van, or perhaps 2 and a half tons of yams! In a Mitsubishi with a 1.4 or 1.6 liter engine! Amazing.This is a load of all sorts of fruits and veggies, fresh off the truck -








And the contents from the back, below. Bananas, pineapples, papaya, watermelons. The boxes in the foreground may be imported fruit, but this is pretty unusual, and are pretty pricey. Imported might include grapes, apples, strawberries (though they are also grown locally), apricots, and figs.



Onions and the small red peppers used in EVERYTHING -

The yellow large "bananas" below are actually plaintain, still on the big stalk as grown in the palm tree. Also carrots, cukes, tomatoes. Miriam has her money ziplock bag out to pay for her purchases -
Snails, usually collected in the woods, are a real delicacy, and quite pricey. Two or so make a nice meal -

And you need a watch repaired or a new battery? Just stop and see this young man -

Time for a new mattress? This guy has them -



And there are probably bedroom furnishings in the car to finish the remodelling. The mattresses, made here in Nigeria, are truly wonderful. I'm not kidding - they are similar to the very pricey memory foam we see in the US, but better. They provide an exceptional night's sleep, for around $75 for a queen size, without a cover. A local tailor in the market will make a cover from the fabric of your choice, at $3/yd, for $25 or so, so you have $120 or so in the whole thing. Why do we spend $1000 for a Serta innerspring mattress? I'm tempted to try to put one in our checked luggage...


Auto supplies? This fellow has cleaners, oil, hubcaps, and probably tires in the tent. And, nine times out of ten, a good mechanic to put on your parts or supplies.
This place below has similar products, with motorbike tires over on the left. I didn't get a good picture of heavy parts for sale, but we visited an area where they were repairing engines, alternators, steering gears, rear axles, and so forth.



So it is quite an experience to go shopping. There are more conventional western style stores, but they cost more, and don't have the local stuff as much, and are certainly not as entertaining!

We leave in 36 hours... With very mixed feelings. This has been a wonderful, enlightening, and eye opening trip. Will have to write our impressions in a future entry.

Jim and Mary Ann