To Market, To Market...

There is a market here in St Louis that is open whenever it is daytime, and generally only closed friday afternoons which is when people go to mosque. It is located just before Fedherbe Bridge and has two main components, the stalls all along the main road, and a more out of the way, off the beaten path section not for the faint of heart.

Yesterday my friend Krista were on the hunt for fabric to take to her tailor. Krista had had a dress made for Tabaski and I thought it would be fun to do the same (though she went with an african style dress complete with head piece and I chose something more western). The tailor-man has a little shop with two sewing machines and two plain wooden benches where he sits and sews all day. One only needs to look at his catalogue, print a picture off the internet, or draw a simple line drawing and have him take your measurements, and he will sew anything you ask him to.

The market is an interesting place to go and in the same breath it is a hard place to describe. In a way, the market caters to locals who are looking for groceries, clothes, electronics and many other things. There are several entrances that are quite dirty with an offputting amount of flies there to greet you. The alley ways are numerous, winding, covered in tin and any other thing that will keep out the sun and heavy rain, and the pathways are just wide enough for you to navigate around the bowls of fish and other wares. People offer you up their (eggplants, okra, pinto beans, tiny cabbages...) but don't push too hard, which either means they don't think you're there for groceries, or they are more laid back than some of the other vendors.

The stalls or 'stores' are each about 5 X 5 in size and utilise every inch of vertical space to their advantage. Trying to look at all the stuff up and around you can only lead to you tripping over a hungry cat or a bag of rice.

We found a tiny booth with a good selection and haggled the lady down to 1000CFA per metre, which is about $2. After talking to the tailor, we negotiated 3500CFA for his work (complete with zipper!) and all said and told the dress should cost around $10. I can only hope that his friendly, interested demeanour bodes well for the dress actually fitting me properly. Pick up is set for tomorrow at 6:30... until then I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed!