Abundance in the market

Today is a beautiful day here in Soyo.  It is still cool and the sun is shining, sky is blue and although it is humid, it is still quite pleasant.  I went to the market with Jan, one of the other ladies here.  We found fruits, veggies and nuts.  Quite nice....actually.  I wanted to show you how beautiful the veggies look....except for the carrots.  I'm not sure what the issue is with them.....they are always moldy looking and soft.....so I don't buy them and get some from the capital, Luanda, when I can......grate them and freeze them for future use.

Interestingly the woman who was selling the vegetables told me it was ok to take her picture.  Usually this isn't allow as many of the people in the market are from Congo and do not want to be photographed here for fear of being sent home.  Most of the fresh vegetables come from the Congo to Soyo across the river.  The rest is trucked in from the capital, Luanda.  There is not real agriculture here and the soil is very sandy so hard to grow things.


You will note there is a little paper with each of the groups of vegetables and this tells you the price for that group....so the tomatoes on the left are 100 kwanza (about a dollar) for 5 tomatoes.  Same for the smaller green tomatoes and then you see.... five green onions which are sold by the stalk.  Another place they sell preshelled peanuts for a can for $2.50.....about a pound of peanuts....and these we roast in the oven with salt and chili peppers......a good and healthy snack.  I think I need to stock up so I can make my own peanut butter.....

Our garden now has one cucumber, 4 okra, the tomato plants are growing but no fruit yet.  When the plants are large enough we have the upside down planters to use as the rains will soon be upon us.

This about catches you up on what is happening here in Soyo except there are more and more people coming to town...buildings are going up and traffic is becoming an issue.  The roads are one car going each way and although there has been quite a time since the rains stopped and areas of the road paved with some composite material, there are still areas that look like they might wash away when the rains do come in earnest.....  We will see.

Surely am enjoying this cooler weather....and the relative quiet of this place.