Today we had to decide whether or not to go to an African church to worship. We decided that we probably could not sit through a 3 hour service with the heat. We thought it might be fun to share with some of the locals. We have interacted a fair amount with a few vendors near the beach. A couple of the ladies have custom made some sandals for us. Aby bartered with Christine for her sandals. She paid about $2.50 and in exchange gave away some of her clothes. We also shared a soda with everyone. We met Mohammed on the beach and liked him a lot. We decided to pay him to take us into town on a tuk-tuk. He was able to show us a lady that makes hats. He helped us barter with her and she is custom making a hat for the kids. He then took us to a place where men make many of the wooden African animals we have purchased. It was amazing to watch them work. They have very primitive tools and sit in the dirt all day long. Their workmanship is amazing. We then went into the warehouse where merchants come to purchase the items to sell to tourist folks like ourselves. It definitely was an eye opening experience.
Mohammed also helped us purchase some maize for our friends on the beach. Mark also purchased a soccer ball. He wanted to play with the kids on the beach. There were many locals on the beach because it was Sunday. I thought we better buy some candy as well for all of the kids. Aby has asked to go on a buda-buda all week long. Mohammed graciously arranged it for us. He rode with her because he said “I want to make sure they bring her back home”.
We were able to take the 12 bags of maize to our friends. We received an interesting reaction. All week long, they have wanted us to buy some of their items. We have told them we do not need anymore. We wanted to buy things just to help them out. We thought they would have appreciated the maize. Most of them were very thankful for it. A couple of the men were upset by our gesture. So this probably means we need to think more about how we would do this in the future, were we to do this again.
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| We also bought a soccer ball. |
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| The tuk-tuks are loud but fun! |
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| One of the carvers. He is holding an ebony rhino. He sits here all day, likely 7 days a week. |
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| There were 3 of them on the buda-buda. |
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| Mark visiting with Christine. |
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| I don't know why it came up like this and I can't rotate it. He is one of the vendors. |
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| Opening the large bag with the maize in it. |
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