Purchases In Ouagadougou

I made 3 purchases yesterday and ate at 2 places.

I wanted to find this place called Happy Donald of Hamburger House because it just had a neat name. But it seems they may have traded their oblique reference to an American institution to a direct copy of a French institution as the location on the Lonely Planet map is now occupied by either a pâtisserie, an empty store front, or the Moulin Rouge with a red lighted windmill.

While I was having a coffee (actually Nescafé) the ambulant merchants were coming by showing their wares. I have been in the market for sunglasses for quite a while, but up until today, the only sunglasses I've seen have a conspicuous brand name which I don't want. Finally, I saw that one pair in the eight or so pairs in his hand that was dark and had no brand name. I asked how much. CFA 10000. I offered CFA 2000. We got to CFA 5000 and CFA 4000. He wanted me to come up, but I refused. Finally I told him "desolée" and went back to my coffee. So I got them for CFA 4000 (US$8). Just at that moment, another sunglasses vendor came by. You might think that a guy who just finished purchasing a pair of sunglasses is the kind of guy who is no longer in the market for sunglasses. But this second vendor, rather, saw me as a guy who is known to actually buy sunglasses from ambulant vendors. He tried hard to get me interested in his products. But all his persistence was met with "J'ai deja acheté des lunettes de soleil."

I searched for the other hamburger place, "le Quebecois" which is owned by Canadians but couldn't find it. So I ate at a Vietnamese restaurant at the bottom of the main drag called Kim Son. The menu was more Chinese, but I managed to cobble together the more Vietnamese dishes. Spring rolls, pork noodles, a beer and a water came to about CFA 7500 (US$15). It was good. Better than the Chinese place yesterday. They even had AC whereas the Chinese place didn't.

I also got a third box of Savarine. Has it really only been two months since I did the treatment for malaria in Dakar? Wow, it seems so long ago. I'll get one more box in Niamey then I have to make a decision. Buy a last box in Cameroon and try to sneak it through US customs (it's a prescription drug) or get a prescription in the US and do my last month of Savarine with American Savarine.

My last purchase was a belt. I have two pair of pants. One pair has a built in belt and the other pair has no belt. Since I've been getting thinner, I'm in dire need. I've been looking for a thin and light belt, but all the belts for sale have been thick and heavy. Finally I was walking by a guy with a cart filled with used belts. I found a belt I liked and asked how much it was. He said "trois cent francs" but I processed the "trois" and assumed "mille". "Non, c'est trop cher," I said. Just as I was about to offer CFA 1000, I caught myself. "Vous avez dit trois cent?" "Oui." "OK". I gave him CFA 300 (US$0.60) and took my new-to-me belt. I don't know how these guys make money.

Many other merchants tried to get me interested in their products. Most of them wanted me to come into their booth to see their products. I refused until I found my self with some time to kill before the opening at Le Verdoyant where I was planning to have dinner. There is a place right next door that has a very nice garden with tables interspersed, souvenir vendors along the edge, an a stage. There was no band, but they were playing Country & Western music. I'm not normally a fan of Country & Western, but when you haven't heard it in months, it's actually kind of nice to sit there with a beer and just listen. But before I sat, I had to run the merchant gauntlet. I told them I didn't want to buy anything, but they told me they just wanted to show me. The showed me jewelry, masks, drums, books, atlases... Nothing caught my eye. Then one of the merchants, Ali Baba (boy does that name bring back bad memories) showed me something I might actually be interested in. A soccer jersey for the Burkina Faso national team. He offered CFA 12500 (US$25). I told him I might came back tomorrow. If I can get him down to CFA 5000 (US$10) and it fits, I'll get it. Lot's of people in Africa wear soccer shirts. It's probably the most common thing they wear. It took me quite a while to figure out that some of them are, in fact, soccer jerseys--I had been wondering why AIG and Emirates Airlines had so many shirts.

After that I had lasagne at le Verdoyant. This place gets packed--about half black, half white. And their lasagne is really good.

Friday, October 10, 2008 9:21 Burkina Faso local time