THE BEST FLEA MARKET IN THE WORLD: YEREVAN IV

lea_m.html
May 21 2007

This weekend I checked out the Vernissage market in Yerevan. It’s
basically a flea market, but everyone, every guidebook, says it is a
must-see. Although Armenians have a famous tendency for thinking that
everything in Armenia is the most beautiful, unique, whatever in the
world, it was mainly foreigners telling me about this. I asked one
Armenian guy before I went if it was cool, and he shrugged and said
"Well, it depends what you think is cool."

A meta aside: What’s probably actually uniquely Armenian is that in
addition to believing that everything here is the best in the world,
they also joke about how they think everything Armenian is the best
in the world. I think lots of small countries have inflated senses of
their own place in the world, but few are as self-conscious about it
as Armenians. Similarly, I don’t know how many Armenians have told me
that Armenians are always late for meetings. In my experience they’re
no more chronically late than any other people in this part of the
world, but they definitely like to talk about how they are.

Anyway, the Vernissage was cool. There is a touristy element: a long
row of guys with rugs, followed by a long row of old ladies selling
their embroidery. The old ladies were giving a hard sell, mainly by
looking sad and sweet and speaking to me in the few words of English
they knew. "Mister, you want? I made." There was a huge section of
truly terrible paintings, lots of Soviet coins and pins and other
knickknacks. And some booksellers selling some good stuff on Armenia
in foreign languages; I got a collection of obscure William Saroyan
plays that deal with his Armenian-ness.

But the best part was on the margins, where there were people selling
every manner of secondhand goods. Each person had a plastic sheet
laid out with his or her stuff, and it was often highly specialized.

You want beaters for electric mixers…

… or drill bits…

… or a remote control?

This is the place.

Speaking somewhat to the poor state of science and medicine in Armenia,
there were also people selling chemicals…

… beakers and test tubes and other such glassware…

… microscopes…

… and most worryingly, medical supplies like scalpels and forceps
and other whatnot.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress