Day 8 Shopping for Hoes

The last time that I was in Huambo, as I was doing an inventory of the farm supplies being sold out of an agricultural supply store, I came across an object that I had been looking for in the USA for 30 years: a good hoe. I am not referring to one of those toys sold at Lowe's which pass in the USA for hoes, but rather one that a farmer can sharpen and with which some real damage can be done in the field. I bought one for myself, and promised my co-worker, the Farmers Fresh Market Production Coordinator, Kirk Wilson, that I'd bring one back with me for him. As fate would have it, I could never find the find the same agricultural supply store and could not locate any hoes in the towns of Huambo, Benguela or Luanda. Apparently, I'd bought the last hoe in the Angola.

Well, I have never heard the end of it: how I failed to bring Kirk his hoe. So while there was still plenty of time left to my stay in Angola, I ventured into the second largest open air market in Angola, the Plaza Alemania. The Plaza has such an usual name because it opened about the same time that Angola's national soccer team first appeared in the World Cup which was won by Germany. Go figure. I must admit, I hadn't seen a scene like this in my life.

I had been to the Plaza Alemania two years earlier hunting beans but I did not recognize the place, for it had grown exponentially. Whatever is made, it is in Alemania, sold in little specialty kiosks. The entire place is a cavalcade of of sounds, smells, colors and dust. Everything from tires and metal doors to sofa, Chinese motorcycles to used clothing from all over the world.

The tool sales happened in the interior of the complex. We made our way through the thousands of vendors stationed in little stalls. Food for sale, squalling children, beggars, police busts of pirated CD's, you name it and we waded through it. After a couple of stops the always friendly and helpful Angolanos directed us to a woman that had hoes for sale. Not much variety, but she had good, sturdy ,heavy, metal hoes. We haggled. We settled on a good price and Kirk.......

Here's your hoe.