Premeir Mai Market

I just got through my second weekend in Algiers. The weather was beautiful but very windy. I could hear my window shutters shaking on their hinges. I have been told by locals that in Algiers you can experience all 4 seasons in one day! I can now attest to the truth of that statement.

The weekend began on Friday. It started out very nice and warm with a pretty blue sky that you could see right through. Then by the early afternoon the clouds got very dark and it began raining. The rain was light, but the strong winds made it feel very heavy.  After a couple hours the rain stopped and the sun came out again. The temperature climbed up to make it feel almost hot. But as early evening approached, it started to feel as if winter was just beginning. It got very cold, very fast. So I would say we experienced a good 3 seasons that day.

I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but I referred to Friday as the weekend.  I know many of you classify Friday as the beginning of the weekend, but here Friday actually falls on the weekend. The work week in Algeria goes from Sunday to Thursday. That means Thursday night in Algeria is a Friday night in the states. The weekend here is Friday and Saturday. Most Algerians are Muslim and Friday is their holy day.  Typically the majority of stores are either closed this day or opened at very odd hours for a short length of time.

A couple of American employees at the embassy befriended me and asked if I wanted to go along with them grocery shopping this past weekend. They have both been here for nearly 2 years so they’re very familiar with the local markets and grocery stores. Therefore, although it was Friday, they knew the places that would be open that morning. A driver was scheduled to pick us up at approximately 10:00 a.m. Fortunately it didn’t start raining yet. Our first stop was Premier Mai Market in Central Algiers. Before leaving I was told to dress in clothes that were not nice, wear shoes that I didn’t mind throwing away, and wear absolutely no jewelry. I thought to myself, “Am I going to the market or to the prison yard?” The people told me the market is very dirty and sometimes there are thieves who go there to target Westerners. Well now I’m thinking, “then why the heck would I want to get my food from a place that is so dirty or go somewhere in which I’m a clear target?” I was so confused, but out of curiosity and having not much more to do that Friday morning, I obliged and left the house wearing workout clothes and something similar to mountain climbing shoes. I was ready to go!

The market was just 15 to 20 minutes from the embassy. As we pulled into what appeared to be the smallest parking lot ever, I couldn’t believe this was the place. The parking lot could fit approximately 10 cars and even that was a tight squeeze. I wondered how a market that looked so crowded could only have about 10 cars in its lot. I later found out that lot space was for Diplomatic vehicles only. All other vehicles use a separate entrance on the opposite side of the market and there you will find various levels of parking.

The market is held under a number of very large tents. Upon entering I noticed a lot of items were similar to that of U.S. markets, but here the appearance of most things were quite old. I must apologize upfront for not having photos to go along with my descriptions of the market. I have received mixed views about taking pictures here. Many people have told me it’s not wise to take pictures in the city unless you are on a guided tour or in a smaller area. Also, it can be offensive to take photos with other people in it. Since I’m not 100% clear yet about it all, I opted to air on the side of caution and not pull out the camera for this trip to the market.

We began walking pass stands that had a variety of clothing, jewelry, bags, pottery and other items tourist might find interesting. The dresses were very nice, but looked quite small, and I’m no tiny girl! I noticed a stand that sold beautiful baskets that reminded me of those in Charleston, South Carolina. The baskets are often used for the people to carry their groceries in as they shop. I have already decided that I want to go back there and purchase one. I still wish I had purchased a large bread basket in Charleston at their popular Market place, but they are so expensive there. I didn’t get to check the price of these baskets, but hopefully they are not nearly as expensive.

As we walked further throughout the market there were more and more people that we had to work our way around. To me it was pretty early for such a large crowd to already be out. The people carried large recyclable bags or baskets to store their groceries. You definitely could not fit any kind of cart inside. After just a few minutes this strong, alarming smell hit me. I could tell it was some sort of food, but it smelled raw. We turned the corner and there was the meat market. I have been in meat markets before, and I never noticed the smell to be that strong. I guess it just caught me off-guard. But then I looked to my right and there were all kinds of fish spread out on tables for display. They even had a huge swordfish laid out for purchase. If it were in another place that fish may have been a great find. When I say it was fresh, I mean it was probably caught at the wee hour of that morning. However, the only problem was it didn’t appear to be on much ice

(if any) to keep it cool. The fish were just laid out on tables where the sun shined right on them. The last time I checked aren’t fish and all other fresh meats supposed to be stored in a cool environment of some sort? The two people I was with told me if I thought the smell was bad then, I should smell it in the summer time. Apparently it doesn't get better. The smell of all the fresh meat and fish permeates throughout the market leaving an awful smell. They say you must get there very early in the morning, like 7:00 a.m. early, to get the best selection and avoid the horde of people. I’m thinking I just need to find some fish and meat in a different market that is stored in some kind of cool temperature environment and looks a bit more sanitary.

As we moved on through tables and tables of fish, I looked down and noticed there were cats all over the place. I did catch a glimpse of a few cats as we first entered, but I thought, “Oh, maybe someone brought their cat with them.” It’s unusual, but possible.” I remember while living in California I went shopping at The Grove. It's a shopping mall not far from Beverly Hills. While I was in Nordstrom’s I looked around and saw many pet owners had their dogs with them. Now I thought that was the oddest thing ever. I am from New York and have lived up and down the East Coast but had never seen anyone in the mall with their dogs! So I just chalked that scene up to being a West Coast thing or to the upscale people who resided in that area and felt it was appropriate to have their poodle or pit bull beside them as they shopped. Except this time was very different; I was in a market! Not exactly a place you expect to find a bunch of stray cats.  

This market is vast. I had already forgotten the way we came in due to the many turns we made. As we went further back into the market it only began to get more and more crowded. Then I felt the bottom of my pants leg was wet. I looked down to find that I was walking through spaces of dirty water. Some areas of the market were on concrete and others were simply on dirt. I had to lift my pants legs up slightly so they wouldn’t get soaked by the muddy water. No wonder my friend had capri workout pants on; duly noted for next time.

We finally made it to the produce section. This had to be the largest assortment of fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs that I ever saw. It was a healthy person’s haven. This market had what appeared to be every type of produce ever grown. The market is set up with several vendors. I spotted at least 20 different vendors in that place. Many of them sold the same thing, but certain ones had better produce than others. Near the front of the entrance most of the fruit looked okay. But towards the back, the produce looked incredibly fresh. The tomatoes were a beautiful shiny red color and firm as could be. The oranges were huge and a bright orange. And the strawberries looked like those large chocolate covered strawberries found in the Godiva Chocolate store. I was eager to stock up. I could see now why many people said this is the best place to buy produce if you can get past the dirty look of it all. Let me tell you that the quality of fruit and veggies ranked as high as the filth of the place. Hence you really have to love that produce to purchase from there.

If I recall correctly in the states when you go to markets like such, usually you pick you own fruit or vegetables and then give them to the vendor to weigh and give you your price. Instead here they feel more obliged to use their little plastic bags and select the items for you. This wouldn’t be too bad if I knew what they were saying or if they could understand what I was saying. My friends tried to explain to me how to say in French, “please give me a bag.” A couple of vendors gave me the bag with a sort of smug look on their face. I later found out the vendors like to put the items you choose in the bag for you because they will often place unripe or almost rotten pieces in your bag mixed with those that are great.

Although the fruit and veggies looked beautiful and were incredibly cheap compared to most places I lived, this place makes it hard to want to come back and shop here. The aisles between the vendors were awfully narrow and the crowd makes it feel even tighter. I dreaded walking from one section to the other. Imagine trying to maneuver your way through with bags in your hand and several people, shoulder to shoulder, walking in the opposite direction trying to move pass you or in front of you. I don't know which place was worse, the market or Uno's (mentioned in my previous post - Bonjour Algeria). In Uno's defense, at least it was clean. To top off my disgust of the atmosphere, I spotted even more cats throughout the produce section! I was going to purchase this good-looking assortment of carrots, zucchini, and potatoes, but then I saw what I can only vulgarly describe as a big ass, fury as heck cat just hanging out by the potatoes as if the covered pile of zucchini were its bed. I promise I will take pictures as soon as I can because you have to see it to believe it. I was stunned! There were cats like this all throughout the market. It’s no wonder food poisoning is so high in this country. When you have random cats sprawled out over your freshly looking produce then yeah, your produce is no longer too fresh! I quickly moved on to try and find a different vendor that didn’t have homeless cats as part of their selection. Thankfully, another aisle over we saw a vendor without such nonsense.

Carrots are one of my favorite vegetables; thus, I was happy when I saw this vendor carried them. They were colossal size carrots in width and length. I proceeded to try and explain to the man in charge of this stand that I wanted a few carrots and potatoes. Of course he did not want to give me the bag and I didn’t bother to insist. It’s no big deal anyway; all the carrots look good so no need for me to worry about finding a bad one in my bag. But the man began placing a lot of carrots in the bag. When I tried to tell him that was good, he didn’t get it. He continued to place more carrots in the bag. I then gestured to him that it was enough and he finally stopped. I now had a good 20 carrots or so and had no idea what I would do with so many at one time. I could have opted to try and tell him to put some back, except at that point I didn’t even feel like trying to find the right French words to get my point across without taking the bag from him and doing it myself. Needless to say I was done and read to go, as were the other two people.

We headed back through the maze of a congested market to find the exit. I was happy to have found some good fruits and vegetables for a great price but was very annoyed by what I had to go through and see to obtain them. My pants legs were almost wet, I felt dirty from all the flies, dust and stray cats that wandered about the market and it looked like it was about to rain. All I wanted to do was go home, remove my now dusty clothes and take a nice hot shower. However, we intended on going to two more places. Next up was the butcher store. I immediately said to the two friends, “If I see one cat in that place, I’m out of there!” They laughed and said, “Welcome to Algeria.”

To be continued in next post…