Souk II

Behind the Khalif's mosque, the large food souk spreads out with its streets filled with fish sellers, butchers, vegetable and grain merchants and displays of bright plastic kitchen wares.  Sellers and buyers haggle over the price of rice. Bags filled with curry the color of the rainbow's red- yellow spectrum are stacked high in the spice souk, where the fragrance of vanilla mixes with odors from the dysfunctional sewage system.  The government-subsidized basic food rations of rice, grain and flour do not give the butcher any hope, as his meat is to expensive for most families. Yet the hustle and bustle does not give away the fact that this country is under sanctions.