An Afternoon By the Beach (While Jeff was Snorkelling)
Saturday, September 10, 2005
While Jeff was out snorkelling, his mother and I decided to stay landbound and explore the village a little more and perhaps do a bit of souvenir shopping. It was our last full day in Africa, so it was now or never if we wanted to do that.
Jeff's mom had a whole list of people to shop for, and she enlisted my help to bargain for better prices with the merchants. She hated haggling. I enjoyed it.
We haggled for her tinga tinga paintings, wooden elephant figurines, and carved salad tongs
. All her Christmas shopping was going to be finished here and now.
Myself, I had my eye on a large tinga tinga painting that hung above the doorway of one of the open-air shops on the beach. It was painted in many small panels with whimsical animals in each and I really admired it, but the price was frightful--perhaps not for North American standards but it was certainly one of the most expensive paintings I'd seen. I decided I'd bring Jeff to see it later.
Meanwhile I contented myself with a small impressionistic zebra painting.
As well as shopping, we spent some time drinking good, strong African coffee in the little cafes. One of the cafes was run by a friendly British girl and I tried to imagine what it would be like running a small restaurant at the edge of the Indian Ocean. It was a nice little place.
We watched local women gathering the edible seaweed that blankets some sections of the beaches here. They carried it away on their heads in baskets and pails to eventually be sold (apparently) to the Japanese market.
We watched a man mending the thatch on the roof of a house, and met a couple of young boys and their monkey Ali. We passed by women sitting on the beach selling massage, braiding hair in corn-row braids, and painting henna patterns on visitors. I wish we hadn't seen those last ladies. I really do. "It would be fun for you to get that done", said Jeff's mom, "since you didn't get it done in Stonetown."
Sigh, I wish (I REALLY wish) I hadn't gotten it done here either.
It was a beautiful day, but I made a bad mistake (thankfully right at the end of my time in Africa). This brings me to the Henna Incident...... well, first let me tell you about Jeff's snorkelling trip.
While Jeff was out snorkelling, his mother and I decided to stay landbound and explore the village a little more and perhaps do a bit of souvenir shopping. It was our last full day in Africa, so it was now or never if we wanted to do that.
Jeff's mom had a whole list of people to shop for, and she enlisted my help to bargain for better prices with the merchants. She hated haggling. I enjoyed it.
We haggled for her tinga tinga paintings, wooden elephant figurines, and carved salad tongs
. All her Christmas shopping was going to be finished here and now.Myself, I had my eye on a large tinga tinga painting that hung above the doorway of one of the open-air shops on the beach. It was painted in many small panels with whimsical animals in each and I really admired it, but the price was frightful--perhaps not for North American standards but it was certainly one of the most expensive paintings I'd seen. I decided I'd bring Jeff to see it later.
Meanwhile I contented myself with a small impressionistic zebra painting.
As well as shopping, we spent some time drinking good, strong African coffee in the little cafes. One of the cafes was run by a friendly British girl and I tried to imagine what it would be like running a small restaurant at the edge of the Indian Ocean. It was a nice little place.
We watched local women gathering the edible seaweed that blankets some sections of the beaches here. They carried it away on their heads in baskets and pails to eventually be sold (apparently) to the Japanese market.
We watched a man mending the thatch on the roof of a house, and met a couple of young boys and their monkey Ali. We passed by women sitting on the beach selling massage, braiding hair in corn-row braids, and painting henna patterns on visitors. I wish we hadn't seen those last ladies. I really do. "It would be fun for you to get that done", said Jeff's mom, "since you didn't get it done in Stonetown."
Sigh, I wish (I REALLY wish) I hadn't gotten it done here either.
It was a beautiful day, but I made a bad mistake (thankfully right at the end of my time in Africa). This brings me to the Henna Incident...... well, first let me tell you about Jeff's snorkelling trip.
posted by Spider Girl | 1:00 PM
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