The market at Rantepao operates on a six-day rotation, reaching its peak every sixth day when farmers and traders come in from across the highlands. On market day the town becomes very much alive: buffalo traders negotiate noisily in the livestock pens at the southern end, and vendors sell vegetables, textiles, local tobacco, and ceremonial goods from stalls arranged around the central square.
Buffalo are central to Torajan ceremony and their price can be extraordinary — spotted or albino buffalo fetch prices equivalent to a new car, since the colour is considered auspicious. Watching traders examine animals and haggle over their spots is an experience unlike anything else in Indonesia. Even on ordinary days the market has a lively, unhurried quality worth an hour of anyone's time.