Countries in this part of the world rely on markets so much more than the average American can understand. I guess they can kind of grasp the idea of markets being like Wal-Mart in a way, but I would never want to degrade the market in such a way. (Wal-Mart is an evil of the modern world.)
But, in most cases, there isn’t much you can’t find at a market. In fact, to go back to the Wal-Mart reference, you can usually get MORE at the market in greater volume and higher quality for a cheaper price than you can find at Wal-Mart in the world.
The major market is Muscat – there are two of them – one is out by the seaside. The fish market is right-out-of-the-Arabian-Sea fresh and the spice variety is just extraordinary.
On this day, our aim was coffee – considering that’s what this whole sojourn is concerning in the first place…
So, what variety would you like? They had everything from the Ethiopian varieties to the Indian and Indonesian blends to the ones grown a few hundred miles away in Yemen. But their variety was nothing compared to the shear volume you were able to buy at once.
By the 50lbs bags, actually.
There’s everything else under the sun, though. Literally.
And the famous dates:
Anyways, there are also two very different kinds of markets. This first market was quite a bit more “local.” Real people went there for their every-day needs. In fact, I don’t think I saw another foreigner the whole time.
On the other hand, I saw MANY foreigners at the other suuq.
This other market is a little different. Some of it, I would just consider absolute junk.
“Yes, in fact, I WOULD like to buy a sterling silver purse that weighs more than anything I could possibly put in it!”
Anyways, Oman is pretty freaking cool – even though its 110ºF usually – but alas, we only have a few days here. So…
…for that, stay tuned.
-Noah D.
PS: Is this not the weirdest-looking cat you’ve ever seen!?
