Monday October 1, 2012.

Wow it is October already.  Time flies when you are busy and having a good time. We have been busy with trainings, teaching and YSA activities.

We are going to blog about where we shop both stores and fresh markets.  We thought you might like to see a few pictures of these places.

On this table there are pole beans, along with bags of eggplant, papayas, mangos, potatoes and taro.  He is also selling some cabbage.

 All different sizes of bananas.  The big ones they call a tropical banana and told us they cut them in half and boil them and put salt on them like potatoes.

 Nada is asking one of the ladies what some of the different fruit and vegetables are.  They are very friendly and willing to answer your questions.  There are some giant avacados on the end of the table where Nada is standing.

 This is Vaitele Market.  It is newer and not quite as busy as the downtown Apia Market. This one is farther out of town on the way to the airport.

 This store is Ah Liki.  It is a wholesale store.  They have displays and you tell them what you want and then they go in the back and bring out a half case or case to you.  This is where we buy our peanut butter, milk, chicken nuggets and juice because it is much cheaper to buy it here.

 This is a regular Pharmacy and drug store.  They carry all kinds of American Brands here.  Very clean, organized and air conditioned.

 We have been in this hardware store many times.  They carry electrical things as well.  We even bought plastic cups and dishes here.  It seems like most stores carry a little bit of many different things.

 This store is Lucky Foodtown.  It is a regular grocery store.  Most of the Senior couples shop here.  They have most of what you want.  However, the motto is if you see it and think you might need it buy it because when you go back it will not be there. 

This is the entrance to Lucky Foodtown.  They have places for you to leave your bags or purses.  It always makes us a little nervous so Nada never leaves her purse and they haven't ever stopped us.  Mostly, Reed just carries the money so Nada doesn't carry her purse very often.

You can see the ACE Hardware sign on the building to your left.  The red door jam is the entrance.  They have a lot of the same things the Ace stores carry in Utah.  Ah Liki, Marias, Bluebird, Ace and Lucky Foodtown are all on what we call street three.  None of the streets have signs so the senior couples call the streets by lights from the Temple.  This is how you find your way, by landmarks.

This is the fresh fruit and vegetable market on street two.  It just started up about 1 month ago.  This is where we buy most of our fresh fruit and vegetables.  They seem to be a little cheaper than the Vaitele market.  There is a woman here who always says, "I am a member of your church." so we try to buy from her when she has what we need.

You can see bananas, coconuts, papayas, chinese cabbage, oranges, taro, pumpkins and avacados. 

On the right is the bridge you walk over from the parking lot to get to Farmar Joe's Market.  The river is quite dirty and smelly.  We think there might be some sewage in it!

This is Farmer Joe's Market.  This is the hub of Apia.  No matter what time of the day or evening there are always a lot of people hanging out.  All the buses go past here and on the right side in the back is where they stop and let people off and on. 

The picture on the right are two police officers directing traffic.  They are not usually dressed all in white.  Today, Monday October 1, 2012 is Public Employee day so they must have dressed up for that.  We saw them all over the city helping and directing traffic.

This is the entrance to Farmer Joe's Market.

 

On the right is a picture of the check out stands at Farmer Joe's.  This is where most of the locals shop.  We have shopped there a few times.  They probably have the largest variety but not always the ones we want.  The other two stores we shop at most carry a lot of American Brands.

 

 This is the main fresh fruit and vegetable market in Apia.  It is right across the street from Farmer Joe's.  Traffic on this street, which is street one, is always busy and slow.  You can see what they call pumpkin (we call it squash at home), bananas, chinese cabbage.

 The stuff in the styrafoam cups is called Cocoa Somoa.  They sell the ground up cocoa beans and then you just have to add the hot water.  They drink a lot of it.  The stuff in rolls is a type of fiber called Tauaga.  They put shaved  coconut into it and then twist it to make coconut milk.  They make it look easy but it is hard. 

There are always lots and lots of bananas.  All in different stages of ripeness and size.  Usually they are sold in big bunches like 15 or more.

This is a general merchandise, nonfood store.  You can buy material, plates, pans, small electrical appliances, silverware, towels, etc.

 This is the flea market.  It is very big.  It has more than 100 booths inside.  White Sunday is coming up on October 7th so you see white pula tasis and lava lavas and shirts everywhere.  This is where we bought all our grandchildren's t-shirts.  They have some food, clothes, jewelry, carved wood products, etc. for sale in here.

This is where we buy our petral.  Right now unleaded would be about $5.40 a gallon, here you buy it by the liter for 3.14 Tala. They pump the gas for you.  If you tell them to fill it up, they rock your car hoping to get it a little fuller.  Interesting!           

 

 

This store is Mackenzie Supermarket.  This is right across the street from our office.  We probably shop here the most because it is convenient and they usually have what we want.  They buy most of their stuff in the US and ship it here in a container.  They let you know when the new container is coming.  They are very friendly. 

Hope you have enjoyed our blog this week about where we shop.  It is always an adventure.  If you are really shopping you go to the market for your fresh food and then 2 or 3 stores to find the different things you need.  Very few stores have air conditioning so you try to shop fast because it gets very hot and stuffy inside.  People were looking at us funny when we were taking these pictures.  They are always friendly though.  Have a good week.  We love you.  Elder and Sister Spencer.