Monday, December 6, 2010

Outdoor Market

On Saturday we decided to venture off the island.  There is only so much walking around and going in and out of gift shops one family can do!  There is a bridge that everyone walks across to get to the other side of the interstate.  We were told when we got here that the island is very safe but once you step foot off the island that theft and pick-pocketing are very common!  We headed across with Mia in stroller and backpack double knotted and tied up.  We had been told by a few other families that had gone what we might see, but until we actually walked the streets I couldn't believe it!

There were tons of mushrooms, herbs, snakeskins, etc at first, not to bad.  But then we turned the corner and there they were...lots of live animals crawling in buckets!  First was scorpions and they were in a large plastic tub, almost like the outdoor swimming pools we have at home.  They were just crawling everywhere and all over each other! 

As we walked a little further we saw a few common things such as turtles and chickens (which weren't in a cage but just walking around inside this little store, sounds clean, huh?)  Then there was a small tub of what looked like to me tiny baby pigs, but we came to the conclusion they were baby mice/rats!  I hope the picture can do them justice!  By this point I was getting a little queezy just thinking that the people actually come here to buy these things to take home and eat!  Our last stop before heading back to cleanliness was probably the favorite...at least for the males in the family.  Can you guess?



Snakes! Live Snakes!  Dawson, as you can imagine, was fascinated!  Thank goodness these were in cages.  The biggest snack and scariest was a cobra.  It had it's flat head up in the air.  I was starting to get a little uncomfortable at this point so I started to push Mia a few  yards away.  Phillip even said that if they tried to get the cobra out, he was running!  The man got out one of the snakes and was holding it out for Phillip and the boys to see.  He pushed it up to Phillip as if saying, "please hold...it won't bite".  Well Mr. Adventurous took the challenge.  From a distance I zoomed the camera in for a photo opportunity.  Once the head started coming towards him, he politely handed him over!  We went on our way and I made everyone sanitize immediately. 


What an experience!  That has been one great thing about this trip...seeing how this culture differs from ours, some good and some not so good.

2 comments:

  1. I threw up in my mouth a little on the little pink rat looking things...

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  2. Hey! Jacob was disappointed that he missed Dawsons calls, I was at work! Jacob is so excited to see all of your pictures, especially the animals! We are ready to see all of you! Please continue to be careful, your in our prayers!

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