A day in the life: shopping for dinner, but not MY dinner...
When I was in Port-au-Prince, I stopped by the Marche de Fer... the Iron Market. It took about a year, but this was the first major reconstruction project to be completed in PAP. As for the Digicel umbrellas, it's a telephone company here. It's owned by, I think, an American company.
The Marche de Fer isn't just an iron market though. Everything is sold here. You can see what's on tap for dinner:
Although it didn't shock me, I collected turtles when I was kid. And I still have a soft place in my heart for them. Seeing them on the dinner menu never makes me happy. But maybe even worse than turtles is... see what's tied to the top of the crate?
I lived in Vietnam for three years and the Vietnamese eat pretty much everything. And I mean everything: beef, chicken, pork, pangolin, bear, tiger... it was all for sale in restaurants and in the market.
And imagine a pig roast with a spear thru the pig -- from mouth to tail, legs pointed toward the sky -- over an open pit fire. I once saw a street vendor with such a thing in Ho Chi Minh City, except the pig was a dog, maybe 30 pounds.
At least where I lived (southern Vietnam) though, they didn't eat cat. That was more of a northern thing where feline was considered a delicacy. Anyway, that's Tabby tied to the crate and she won't be eating Fancy Feast for dinner... she'll be Fancy Feast tonight.
Like the turtles, the cat didn't make me happy either. But it's Haiti... not Connecticut.
And as for what's inside the crate... quelque lapins... bunnies.
Tim White
2 comments:
Hey Tim, enjoying reading your blog. Here's the story of the Iron Market and some good photos from another blog. Digicel is Irish< IIRC.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Haitian-Winter-Part-Six--by-Mac-McKinney-110324-258.html
I remember those turtles fondly. We have painted turtles as neighbors here and every time I see one, I think of the ones you used to keep.
Would it be horrible of me to say that with your shorter hair, you're looking quite a bit like your dad? ;) I guess 22 years will do that.
Your old neighbor,
Jackie (Sharp) Lauseng
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