Market day

Dark green limes, next to mangos, passion fruit and bananas. Manioc, sweet potatoes and other roots, which I have never seen in my life, are offered for sale. Yes, even my general education brutally reaches its limits here, ruthless to my ego. Various foliage, lettuce or herbs? Who knows! We are impressed by this variety of exotic fruits and admittedly a bit overwhelmed. The external circumstances don't exactly make it easy to find one's way around here. Under the stands the heat accumulates and the existing 28°C air temperature at 9:00 in the morning, feel almost twice as high, under the shade giving tarpaulin. Some stands do without this tarp at all, so that at least a little air circulates. My T-shirt has turned from light blue to dark blue, and has stopped absorbing water entirely. 

Market in St. Laurent du Maroni

Even with the Chinese, who dominate large parts of the market here, you can't get anywhere with English. So we try it with hands and feet. With this limited communication, it is admittedly difficult to have one or the other root explained to us, let alone to find out how to prepare it. Nevertheless, Gaby is in her element and after some initial shyness, she tries to make herself understood, with gestures that sometimes seem a bit comical. I meanwhile think about how I compensate for the enormous loss of fluids and whether I make it to the boat at all, or completely dehydrated, on the way there, slump to the ground. 

Christmas markets popular, but not always desired

I imagine a non-existent German Christmas market and draw comparisons. The crowds are only half as big at the Christmas market, after all, in Germany two-thirds are vaccinated, while here in French Guyana not even half the population has taken up the offer of vaccination. The temperatures are extreme on both markets, in Germany in the minus range, here in the clear plus range. The air under the tarpaulins stands, both on the Christmas market, as well as on the vegetable market. If one can believe Gaby, and there I am still dependent on her, since my olfactory organ continues to strike, it smells sometimes a bit strict. Both markets also have that in common. So it can only be the mulled wine. There is no mulled wine here. Presumably, the mulled wine has a free radical to which the virus attaches itself and spreads over a large area of the market by evaporating from the glasses and jugs. This is a highly effective method of dissemination that the virus takes advantage of. This also explains why the index in Germany is currently 400 and that in French Guyana 65, although in Germany a maximum of 40% of the population visit a Christmas market, but in French Guyana 70% of the population, at least once a week, visit a market. But stop! There something can not be right, the Christmas markets in Germany are canceled little by little. 

Bananas without end

Anyway, we have reached the next stand in the meantime. Gaby unpacks her best French and buys a few eggs from the egg woman. Somehow I am quite glad that I am not in Germany at the moment. I just wonder when my compatriots will withdraw their solidarity with me, as some are now doing with the unvaccinated. We have always been quick to do such things. But maybe it's first the turn of the cardiovascular patients, whose mortality rate is 6 times higher than that of covid patients (at least in Germany) and who are a burden on our health care system. Pohrrr, I have to get out of the sun, otherwise I'll end up believing this nonsense myself. Maybe I should do it like our newfound friends from Horizon. Possessing a Swedish and an American passport, one can then choose "Like European or US!" Yes, I am quite happy not to be in Germany at the moment, because the view from the outside makes some people shake their heads at what is going on in the country. Although politics is frowned upon among international sailors, you can feel the pitying looks when you identify yourself as a German. We continue walking and come to a banana stand with red, yellow and green bananas. I vehemently resist the thought of the traffic light coalition and instead try to think of the delicious taste of the bananas. But the sense of taste is not really cooperating yet. So I don't really succeed and think to myself "Lindner damn it! Why not the State Department?" But even that should be too late by now. Yes, life is hard and Corona is just one problem of many. One thing is for sure, life is not something we will survive and sometimes it ends sooner than you think. Many do not get to know life properly and some mourn missed opportunities, so do something with yours and let the others have theirs. I think that is called tolerance. 

Trans-Ocean e.V.

Finally I get out of the sun and I save myself just to Davide, our Trans Ocean base manager. In his small bar, he calls it a café, the fluid balance is first normalized before we bunker our purchases on the boat. This is urgently necessary for me, because my blood is very thick due to the Covid disease and certain parts of my body are not sufficiently supplied with blood if my fluid balance is too low. Maybe I should have a look if this disease is a long term covid and if I am entitled to a pension. Yes, yes I'll stop already. On that note, keep a stiff upper lip and no hard feelings.