Kimironko markets

 Last Saturday Rosine took us to the Kimironko markets to buy some fruit and veges. It was quite an experience and I have to say that on my first visit I was glad to have a local with me.

It's the largest market in Kigali and is on the eastern side of the city. The central covered area is all fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices, dried beans etc. One side of the covered area sells shoes, hardware, fabrics (quite good ones) clothes (new and used) and a few crafty items. Outside the covered area there are meat and fish stalls and stalls selling mobile phones.

When we drove into the car park the car was mobbed (literally) by a group of five or six young guys offering to watch the car while we were in the markets, and another group of younger kids wanting to carry our bags and show us around the market. This latter group generally work for particular stall-holders and I understand are pretty good value. However Rosine just opted to have her car watched - from what I understand this is a very sensible precaution, otherwise bits of it will go missing. The young guys took great pains to point out that they were wearing the yellow jackets indicating that they belonged to the market and could therefore be trusted. Standard price for this service appeared to be 500 RWF or about 85 cents.

Inside the covered area of the market is a labyrinth with dark narrow walkways through which you have to squeeze single file. We wandered first through the fabric and clothing area and I even bought a pair of shorts to wear around the apartment. This was an experience in itself - attracted quite an audience and eventually the stall-holder found an old pair that he insisted would fit - even producing a tape measure to support his argument - and even sewed on a missing button.

We squeezed our way over to the produce area and the range and amount of produce was pretty staggering. Again, we had to run the gauntlet of the bag boys and the sellers who are very very pushy. It wasn't helped by the fact that at this moment the heavens opened and everyone squashed inside to escape the pouring rain. The space betwen the stalls was even smaller than in the clothing area so it was a bit of an effort getting around. We settled on one stall who seemed to have everything we wanted and if he didn't the stall-holder would run off and find it for us. We bought ample supplies of potatoes, tomatoes, beans, celery, carrots, bananas, pineapple (have I mention that the pineapple here is to die for?), pawpaw, passionfruit and tamarillos. All for just over AUD10. Rosine did a bit of haggling and saved us a little bit of money but it appears that they are less willing to haggle than they used to be and may be heading towards a fixed price system.

When we got back to the car it appeared the young guys had done their job as it was still intact, even though there was a bit of heated discussion about (apparently) whether the agreed price was in fact 500 or 1000 RWF. However we got away with the 500 and escaped unharmed.

Being my first time there I confess it was a bit daunting. But if we go back I'm sure I'll be better for knowing what to expect.

The shorts turned out to be about four sizes too big, but if I wear a belt I can keep them up. Won't be wearing them outside the front door though.