souk |soōk| (also suk, sukh, or suq)
noun
an Arab market or marketplace; a bazaar.
ORIGIN from Arabic sūḳ.
Wednesday is by far the greatest day of the week. The reason is simple. Wednesday is Souk Day, and on Souk Day anything is possible! On Souk Day a small town comes alive with the bustle of commerce. Piles of fruit stand beside tables of trinkets. Empty streets become clogged with denizens from the outlying dwars, bringing their goods tens of kilometers to market and stocking up on supplies for the week. The desolate post office becomes unbearably full. Sleepy restaurants become crazily crowded with those too far from home to make it back in time for lunch. Banter and bargaining flies amongst friends who haven’t seen each other in a week and merchants seeking to unload their wares at the best price.
It is hard to believe that the streets, normally barren with nothing to look at, are suddenly so full of wonderful things that one needs five pairs of eyes to be able to look at everything, all the while avoiding getting run over by the hundreds of donkeys, dozens of old Bedford trucks, random hand carts, motos and the ever speeding grand taxis. And this transformation all takes place overnight and is a memory by the next night. All that is left is muddy tracks, crushed fruit and an empty litter-strewn souk. Until next Wednesday that is.
This week’s souk purchases were:
Two rugs
A keychain
A Wallet
A Carabineer
A pair of headphones
A pair of slippers
Hummus (aka steamed garbanzo beans)
Half a kilo of Oranges
Half a kilo of Bananas
A bag of popcorn (free!)
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