From 30 November to 9 December last year I enjoyed a truly wonderful stay at the Mariza Epicentro, in Brazil’s north-eastern Bahia state (blog post to come). On the Saturday Marcio, Kamyla and I visited the nearest city, Tucano for market day.

Tucano is a regional centre and each Saturday, central Tucano is filled with market stalls selling fresh produce, clothes and almost everything else.

Early morning in the school van covering the 20km of dirt road to Tucano

Knives, knife sheaths and slingshots, Tucano markets

Enjoying cake and coffee, Tucano markets

Hats, baskets, bags and floor coverings, Tucano markets

Tucano is a long way from the sea and these fish are probably from polluted local (not so) freshwater

Marcio ‘drinking’ from a giant wooden spoon next to the spoon and trap stall (the local rats must be huge judging from the size of the traps in the foreground)

A car boot health products stall, Tucano markets

Herbs and spices, Tucano markets

Three bulbs of garlic for R$2 (about USD$0.50)

The sweet potato man, Tucano markets

Eating a fresh cashew fruit. Cashew fruit are juicy with a flavour similar to peach

Boy at stall selling okra, sweet potato, greens and capsicum

Every woman likes a clothing bargain, Tucano markets

Clothes stall with an awesome cheetah print temporary change room, Tucano markets

By 9:30am the temperature was already 32 degrees centigrade and we adjourned our market activities for a cold beer. Near the markets a duet sang Brazilian evangelical songs. Lunch was at an amazingly good value local cafe: 2 hamburgers, 1 toasted sandwich, 3 juices and 1 coffee for only R$14 (AUD$5).

Cars with adverts blaring from their loud speakers continuously drove around Tucano’s markets

Houses in a village we stopped at on the way from Tucano back to Mariza Epicentro

Squashed like sardines in the school van, we eventually made it back from Tucano to Mariza Epicentro.