Soko (Market)

      Today was market day! Linda, Jelena and I walked through the market on the edge of town and it was full of rice, spices, fruits and vegetables and clothing shops. It reminded me a lot of a flea market only way cooler. Jelena ended up getting a nice scarf there. It was full of people and I've learned how to get good pictures with the camera around my neck without people knowing :P (a lot of people don't like getting their picture taken in Tanzania). The market was a pretty big maze and once you get off the main paths through it it's really easy to get lost but it was fun to walk around. There are shops all mashed together under tarps but a lot of people just lay tarps on the ground and lay whatever goods they're selling out on them, which is neat to see.
      One thing that I've noticed that happens everyyyy day is that the men especially are SO persistent to try to get you to buy things or get in a taxi or something. We ran into quite a few "charming" Tanzanian men today and it goes one way or another - they speak all Swahili or try to speak all English to us that's broken and kind of confusing but a little bit funny. Everywhere we went in the market I could hear people saying "mazungu something something something..." and in shops they call to each other to tell them that there are wazungu in their shops (at least thats what I think they're doing... it sounds like they're warning other people so they know to raise their prices lol). Some people start reeeeally high then lower their prices for us when we bargain but others are dead set on charging more. Overall it was a really interesting experience trying to shop.
      I ended up getting myself a cool necklace and earing set that's made of beads - some of them that look hand made, and a scarf that was made here as well. I got a dress too but I have to take it to be tailored so there will be pictures of all that tomorrow :P. Enjoy the pictures!

I added a few from today when we got home from the market - Robert's friends Saidi and Nasa were over and we took some pictures. They're soooooo funny all the time.

Part of the market when we were first going in.. Under the sheet metal roofs there are all kinds of shops that twist and turn into a big maze.

Walking through the market with the mountains in the background.

Some women with a shop set up on tables on the ground. There were tons of these kinds of tables set up on the bigger streets in the markets.

One of the tarps laid out like I said... this one had beans on it.

More of the market.

Part of our walk through town... This is one of the less busy parts of town (my other pictures were blurry so I'll get more next time of all the pikipiki guys sitting around and the busy streets).

This is the Daladala stand we go to to get our ride gome. 300 shillings for the ride (20 cents for a bus ride.... beat that Transit Windsor!!)

Some Daladalas sitting around waiting to fill up... it's usually MUCH busier in here than this I was actually pretty shocked today... Our daladala only had about 20 people in it and only like 3 of them were standing today... that's VERY rare lol)

Me and Saidi :P he's hilarious and I cant even understand him most times!!

Me and Nasa... his sister wants me to marry him so the running joke is that he's my husband :P (btw... you can tell we hardly eat anything every day... i'm not sucking anything in in this picture!!!! lmaooooo)

Linda and Nasa... cuuute!! hahahaha