Last minute Christmas shopping

Here it is Christmas Eve and no Christmas posts from me! Shameful. So in finally getting into the spirit of things, here is a little taste of the holidays around Soroti.

I promised that I would help Betty give her grandmother (and only caregiver) a chicken for Christmas.  Little side note here- a chicken is a great, appreciated gift to give. It is a “ready” meal. Or you keep it fresh, aka alive, and it produces eggs for a while or, in Beckie and I’s case occasionally, you can re-gift it easily.

Anyway, yesterday Betty and I headed to Arapi market to pick out a nice fat chicken, which for them will be Christmas dinner. Arapi market is market held every Thursday about 8 kilometers out of Soroti town. For those who live in surrounding villages it is THE PLACE to get anything you could need for the week from soap and vegetables, to cows and dishes. That being said, this past Thursday was like the last shopping day before Christmas and the  market was the fullest I’ve ever seen it. Here a just a few pictures to give you a taste of holiday shopping Soroti style!

Here is some passion fruit, honey and tamarind for any of you holiday cooking needs.

Many in Soroti eat turkey on December 25th (but good luck getting one around November 25^th!) 

The market was over flowing with people. Even at 10 am the sun was pounding down and the dust was thick in the air. But that wasn’t slowing shoppers down at all. 

This woman was selling fresh cold passion fruit juice. I was really tempted until I remembered it could possibly be made with swamp water. Then I also saw it was sold by the cup. You purchase, she fills the cup and hands it to you. You drink it down and hand the cup back. Then she fills the same cup for the next customer. “Mam, it looks really nice but I’ll need to pass this time.”

You could get a basket to carry all of your good deals home in. 

You could get a fresh water pot.

You can get “new” Christmas clothes.These and so many more wonderful things could be yours on Soroti’s black Friday. 

Just for any who were wondering, Betty picked out a very fine roster that will easily feed all of them and me, well, I came home with all of these pictures.