woman with her goats

woman with her goats

Probably the biggest market in the country, after the Mercato in Addis Ababa, and certainly more colourful.

Six days a week, Bati is a small, uninspiring village located about an hour, or so, east of Kombolcha, on the way to the Danakil Depression. On the seventh day, in the case of Bati on Monday, the town turns into a huge market. What can I say? We have been to Kashgar, in Western China, we have seen the souk in Istanbul. Bati competes with these, it is huge, it is – once again – colourful, with Oromo and Afar people, and probably a whole lot more we didn’t manage to identify; it is varied, from a chat section (not chat as in talking, but chat as in chewing, a local stimulant) to what we christened pepper street, 100s of meters of chilies in all forms, uncut, in small pieces, grounded. A woman was chopping them up as we passed, and not only we, everybody was coughing, from the smell of spice. Coffee in all forms, from raw beans to roasted; salt, in coarse grains; herbs and spices. On another hill people are trading mobile phones, sim cards, and there is an electronics stall. On the other side of the village is the cattle market, not much different from Kombolcha and Senbete, just bigger. And including camels.

Anyhow, describing markets is boring stuff, except for the photos – a very small selection only!

 

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