To market to market for buy a fat goat?

Hey! Lucky you! I just found a couple of pictures that will work for my post today. Hope you're not hungry. Well, if you are, you may not be for a while. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the nice responses. Nice to know that someone besides my kids 30 years from now, are reading this now and then. The computer I usually blog on seems to have totally died, I had some pictures uploaded for posting from recent travels in the Middle East, so hopefully I can find them again and figure out how to load them on here, Peter's laptop. Until the, I'll just tell this story for now. Photos later.

Last year my older boys and Peter went to what we refer to as the Camel Market. Later, we all went together. We went when the weather was warmer and there were a lot less vendors and general hub-bub going on. So THIS year we decided to go at the height of our cool season. Meaning that it's about 70 degrees at mid day right now. It's what I consider the perfect weather and I love living here this time of year. It's kind of travel season for everyone, which is one of the reasons we have been out so much this month. Anyway, off we went. (notice Tiff's comment about me dissing her phone call to sleep because we had to go the market) I got up at 5:00 a.m. to shower and run to the commissary for snacks and supplies for the day. We got the kids up at 6 and were on the road by 6:30. Sorry, Tiff. You know I love you. And after you read this, maybe you'll forgive me. :)

The road is REEEEEEALLY boring to the camel market. Basically, southern Utah looks nicer than this. Or Peter's two hated places, the Idaho desert and between Yakima and Ellensburg. In either case, it's not pretty. (link to last years photos) This year we got there nice and early and the market was buzzing. First stop was to stop at the tent sellers and ask about prices and what not. Peter really wants a big Bedouin tent. I'm okay with it, and after the day we spent, I'm totally on board. So then we stopped at the housewares and and clothing market. We got a few things we've been eyeing. Sleeping bags and what not. (nothing fancy - think those big ugly furry blankets with lions of them that are sold in parking lots by immigrants and then put canvas on the back.) The boys got some fold up trench shovels they've been wanting to dig in the undisturbed area of the desert here on camp, which they have named "Area 52." Roo got a huge pink thing for her hair, Chach a horrible Spiderman backpack that he loves, Gid a rubber hoppy reindeer, and me a dress. Peter also finally broke down and bought himself a curved dagger, called a jambiya. I say broke down, because every single place we go, he looks at them for what seems like hours. And the price and the piece never match what he wants. So we lucked out today and got a less expensive one he can live with for now.

Next, on to the the camel side of things. I still have yet to see the actual camels, although today I did see the goat market. It's really just bedouin women who are selling goods for camels or from camels. I think I mentioned before the horrific camel cookies they eat. It's camel and goat milk that has been curdled, made into a cookie size patty and left to harden in the sun. They taste like puke. Puke on a bad day. It's reallllly bad. Anyway, they have sustained these people forever, and they love them. They were everywhere for sale.

We are VERY popular and places like this. It was really crowded and the kids were manhandled a lot. Cheeks pinched, heads rubbed, etc. And everyone loves to try out their English on us. "Excuse me. How are you today?" Over and over. Like me in Mexico, "Hola. Como esta usted?" I'm feelin' good now! And Peter loves to try out his Arabic on them. He does a darn good job and we had a great time talking to people. We met one interesting character who was spoke fantastic English. He was wearing his winter thobe, (dark) RayBan sunglasses, had braces and was about 20 years old. He was there while his mother was selling her goods. His parents are Bedouin. He is the first generation to have an education, learn English, have a job - wear braces? He's an electrical engineer and very nice. Although, you should know, these people do NOT know how to take care of their teeth. Yeeesh-a-mama! Think of braces and brushing them with sticks. No really. It's pretty ugly. And I mean U.G.L.Y. But I digress... He helped us talk to some of the Bedouin women and barter a bit. His mother offered to give me blanket she made. Very nice. Too nice of them, and I refused. There were tons and tons of what looked like blow up goats, kind of. Well, without heads and feet. Oh wait. They were blow up goats without heads and feet, and fur as well. Yes. They were selling these for water or milk transportation. Again, very Bedou. They were like the size of a one year old child, blackish, and had where the feet and head would be tied with what I'd say was guts of some kind. Then they filled them with air, so they could show off what they looked like 'full'. I looked at one and had a quick thought that maybe I need one of these. It's so totally weird and gross, I think I need one. BUT, the little bits of fur and the flies buzzing around the skin quickly changed my mind.

Instead I bought a really pretty camel blanket hand made by the old woman, draped in black from head to foot, that sold it to me. It's simple and the colors are muted. I really like it.

As we were winding down, and I was trying to decide if I should buy some camel cookies to take home to the states for all of you, Peter got to talking to a man. He is in his fifties, wearing his winter thobe, and had a nephew and grand-niece with him. He inquired of what we were doing there. (this is a very off the beaten path market, and very few westerners attend) Peter explained that we like to come up and see the real side of life here. Tareq, as we later learned his name, asked our plans for the day. "You must come and have lunch with us at our tents." People here are always very generous, but almost out of obligation. So they went back and forth with polite offers and refusals. Finally Peter said to me, "What do you think? Would you like to go?" My response, "If you really truly mean it, and we wouldn't be putting you out, we would LOVE it." So that was it. At 11:30 a.m. we loaded up in our car and followed a man and his family out into the desert. Off the highway, off the dusty roads, into the middle of nowhere. Little did we know what amazing adventure awaited.