Market day!

Thursday we went out on another outing- Phom (sp?- pronounced Pomme), one of the main movers & shakers here at the park, goes to a nearby market on Thursdays to get food for the park and the elephants, and she took us with her, where we met Darrick & Lek. The food market was what I was expecting the Spice Market in Istanbul to be (but was disappointed): large quantities of bulk grains, spices, ginger, garlic, onions, fresh produce, in addition to some fried foods for sale.

I love market life, I love going to places where you can see lots of people, life, and how people really live. It was quite an extraordinary experience, actually- Lek is quite a barterer, so she went from vendor to vendor and purchased gigantic quantities of food- we would come along, pick up the bags and carry them to the truck, and go back and there would be many more large bags of produce ready for pick-up. Squash, tomatoes, greens, potatoes, ginger, and so! much more was purchased. She bought a large (say, 5 pound bag?) of spirolina- for half a dollar! Two pick up trucks full of produce cost less than $150 US- incredible! I loved this adventure, and appreciate the fact that they invited us to join them.

 On our way home, Lek wanted to stop by some property really close to the market- some property that was for sale- I can't remember how many acres- maybe 27? In any case, they were considering purchasing it, for agricultural land where they could grow all of the food for the elephants. I'm pretty sure that Lek bought it (verbal agreement) while we were there, but I have misunderstood other things that have happened here thus far.

Darrick & Ian looking at the plans for the prospective property.

the boys!

I love how they are striving for self sufficiency for both the animals, and for people here at the park- and I believe they'll arrive there. They are both really ambitious, and Lek seems to be a really killer businesswoman, so together, I think most anything is possible for these two.

So, thanks to Darrick & Lek for this most exciting trip to market!

Lek was showing Isaac the cicadas that are for sale- mmmmm, yum yum!

O love this hat!

Many vendors, all colourful, all lovely

Ginger....!!!

Right back to Haiti!

The whole family comes to market

I love this shot of Lek with the family in the background!

Oh, even more ginger!

OK, I'll fess up- I really wanted a photo of the person who wore their PJ's to the market, so I asked the clan to pose there. Cheap, I know!

Not anything to do with our outing, bur a very cool spider that Isaac spotted in a web right by the dining room. It looks as though it's on that building in the background...

The beautiful woman from whom Lek bought the spirolina.

Lek, doing some hard bargaining from the knife guy. Who also sold many lethal (and banned at home) weapons!