Saturday at the Market with a Million of our friends

Today was Saturday and we decided to go "the market" to look for a few essential items. The first being new shoes for Sarah and the second being a functional hair dryer for Norma. The second item included an argument as to the need of its inclusion as an essential item but the one without hair lost the argument. For some reason Brian had more experience in the market than any other member of Team Bolivia (Ivan was out of town) so I lead us into the "heart of the beast". For those of you who have been overseas on vacations you can understand the concept of the typical outdoor market. For those who haven't, imagine an open air market the size of West Edmonton Mall (including the parking lot) with about 100 times as many stores. Ok, make that 1000 times as many stores and it also includes the equivalent of a 10 Superstore produce sections and 5 food courts spread out throughout the whole area. I know a picture is worth a thousand words but unfortunatley a stolen camera is also worth 1000 Bolivianos so the market is a camera fee, cash only, no hand bags, area like most other busy markets around the world where professional thieves practice their trade.

The first aisle I was able to locate was the shoe aisle. Now for all you ladies, imagine going to your favorite shoe store to look around and then imagine one of those every 5 feet for 100 feet. Oh yes, did I mention that this is only one side of the aisle. I can say I have never seen so many shoes and I was shocked Norma didn't have a siezure at the sight of this shoe nirvana. We found Puma runners for Sarah for less than Wal-Mart prices and moved on to try and find the electronics section. Well, after receiving two sets of directions we wandered around and found an alcove of electronica but not the motherload. We were growing tired of the chase and decided to make our exit. We headed out of the market and found our way through the crowded weekend streets to the main square where we stopped for a necessary hydration and caffine break before walking back to the Baptist Center. All in all it was a successful trip but still a little overwhelming for some. We will venture back again someday soon but next time it will likely not be on a Saturday.