Male' Local Market: Let's Go Bananas!

Our visit took place on a blazing hot day and the resilient smell of bananas was the first thing that hit us as we began to make our way through Male’s Local Market. Almost every cubicle had bananas hanging from the ceiling; some completely ripe and some not. A few had even started to go brown. There was so much of it that it looked like they were in season. Three bananas for MVR 10 we were told.

The place was dimly lit, vibrant fruits and vegetables everywhere, and slightly crowded with mostly men and a handful of women running the stalls. As we strolled through, we couldn’t help but notice the flamboyant and luscious looking chilies of different shapes and sizes. Most of the chilies we came across looked fresh and smelled incredibly hot, however, we thought the prices were relatively steep at MVR 35 for 100 grams.

As were explored further, we discovered that mangoes were in fact in season; they looked ripe and substantial in size. However, they did not look garden-fresh and the price ranges were slightly hefty at MVR 100 for 10-20 mangoes. We also noticed that almost all of the sellers had kurumba and watermelon. The price of a kurumba varied from MVR 15, MVR 20, to MVR 25 while we found watermelons being sold for MVR 15 per 1kg. We must admit the watermelons looked mouthwatering good.

Papayas, pumpkins, grapes and sweet melons were up on display at fairly reasonable prices and at this point we must mention that not all products are locally produced. We also did stumble upon some really fresh looking avocadoes and broccoli at rather moderate prices.

After some brief chats with a few of the sellers, we were informed that most of the goods come from the island of Thoddoo. This came as no surprise to us since Thoddoo is well-known for its cultivation and agriculture. We also noticed that the sellers were extremely friendly and not just with the customers but with each other as well. And one seller was even kind enough to give us some free chilies when we told him that we were exploring the place to write an article.

Even though it was the weekend, the market was awfully vacant, so we asked around to find out why. Sellers informed us that new supplies were to come in at dawn the following day and that it will be hectic afterwards. We might make another trip to see if that was the case, but for now we are taking the seller’s word for it.