Tuesday morning (February), myself and a few friends, headed out to a Nigerian market (an actual locals market). I know many of you are thinking I've been here for months and haven't gone to a market? Well that isn't exactly true, I frequent a market almost weekly. The one near our area is mostly frequented by expiates and wealthy Nigerians, so it is very very different. They sell a lot of things for your home, masks, wooden sculptures, beads etc etc. But let me tell ya they see you coming and don't really like to bargain. Anyways, the market we went to on Tuesday was a "locals" market, and I thought it was amazing! We first arrive and parking is an issue, because most people with cars don't go there. Then we walk through garbage, ditches, more and more garbage ditches and you name it to get to the market. When we get there, smells of cooking mystery meat, naked babies, some putrid smells, and loads of people. It was great! We passed by a lot of people and they kept shouting "AWEEEEBO.... ...A..WEEEEEEE...BO!", through the market. Aweebo means "whitey" in Yoruba. It wasn't meant in an offensive way, they were just surprised to see us there. So we pass the meat "department", then the JuJu area (full of monkey heads, skulls, other dead animals, and herbs for voodoo potions) and went to the fabric area. I was able to obtain loads of amazing fabrics for dirt cheap (a yard or two for less than 50 cents) of hand woven things. It was a breath of fresh air for me, to interact with locals who were interested in interacting with you. They were very kind and easy to laugh, and would bargain fairly. One of the drivers helped translate, some people at this market only spoke Yoruba. A bunch of the women selling fabrics would respond to our polite thank-yous with an "I love you!". It was a gas. I would just say "i love you too!" Here are some photos I took with my phone. There aren't very good as I don't have a flash, but I am definitely going back with Ryan.
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