Fabric Market

The fabric market was AFRICA! It was busy, crazy, loud, colorful, beautiful, smelly, exciting.
We got lost in all the tight aisles of vendors. I love looking at what they sell. Everything from fish to cassette tapes (still a big deal here) to clothes to auto parts. This one booth really struck me. He had a pile of new screws, nuts and bolts, and a huge pile of used ones. I thought about the hands that had searched for those small parts on discarded items. I thought about all the things we throw away because they don't work perfectly. They hardly throw ANYTHING away here - they are always finding ways to reuse and recycle. Seems like need fosters the most ingenuity, invention, and resourcefulness.
I asked a women with a fabric wrap skirt where to get fabric like hers. A man said follow me. He wove us through the middle of the chaos. It was a little scary - loud voices, loud music, poignant smells, tight alleys - like a movie. Brett was pretty freaked I think. It reminded me of the Paris flea market - guess I had some "training"! But we stayed with the guy and he took us right to the fabric alley. We bought 5 different fabrics for one of the coordinators to sell in a fund raiser in San Fransisco. I'm ho ping Mom will agree to make some place mats for me with some of this cool fabric! It is so bright and beautiful and only about $2.50 for 2 meters.