Apples and Oranges and Pears, Oh My!

Today was the day for our first official Pixel Chick field trip. We rode out to the vegetable/fruit/fish market on the edge of town. It was a huge market under canvass where individuals have small booths selling, what else but their fruits and vegetables. I have to mention, this poor market will never be the same...five American women piling out of an SUV with cameras in tow, a sight to be seen...it's not like we blended into the scenery. My photography "eye" was not what it should have been as I was quite distracted by all the hustle and bustle around, coming mainly from my Pixel Chicks! You know, I'm not a shy person, but when it comes to stopping someone and saying, "Hey, would you hold this eggplant? No, not there, but here. Wait, wait, your hands aren't just right. Ok, perfect ", I'm just out of my element. It's not like they weren't welcoming and friendly, as the picture plainly indicates...naughty, naughty, Kim! (the one person in our group least likely to get herself in this situation). Maybe if you give me a few months, I'll be right there in the mix. Check out the scales in the picture, is that cool or what? After making a complete spectacle of ourselves, we moved onto the fish market, which smelled just like roses. What an experience that was. What's your fancy, shark, barracuda, hammour? Most of the fish they had to offer, I had never even heard of. Next stop, the chop chop shop. I'm not sure if this is just my friends' nickname for it or the "official unofficial" name for the fish cleaning room. Talk about some action going on in there. Nothing but scales and guts flying around. I felt like I was in a Japanese steak house with all the tools in action. Note the cost of the fish cleaning and filleting on the sign...1QR per KG. That equals 27 cents per pound of fish and YOU NEVER have to touch it, but you do have to watch it! I'm including a video of all the cleaning in action. We then went out on this patio where they would clean the shrimp that you purchased. No tools necessary. The gentleman charged our Chick 2QR (55 cents) to dehead and clean her big mess of shrimp. The picture on the left is a pile of squid that was dumped at my feet. Hmm, maybe we'll order from "Hot Chicken" tonight.