June 26 - Market Day

Squished in a mini bus

Today was spent out and about.  We left the house around 9:30AM and caught a mini bus into town. We went to the market and it was insane!  People everywhere, goods in every nook and cranny, noises, smells, and sights assaulting your senses.  It was really cool though! I bought a chitenje (pronounced ch-ten-jee/jay) which is just a piece of brightly dyed cloth, but the women here wear them as skirts, shawls, and baby slings. People also have clothes made out of them.  I'm really excited to wear mine!


After the market, we went to the woodcarvers' market which was even more crazy.  It's here that you can't be timid or nervous, but you have to just bust up in there and haggle away!  The carvers will try to sell you things for the uzungu (white person) price, but if you bargain with them long enough and don't give up and don't back down, you can get some really nice stuff for pretty cheap.  Megan bought about ten things for family and friends, but needed Gerda's help with haggling. :)

A few shops inside the woodcarvers' market.

For lunch, we went to Cafe Delight at Crossroads.  I got chicken kabobs with rice, chips (fries,) and coleslaw for 600 kwacha - that's about $3.50! Inexpensive and delicious.

Lunch at Cafe Delight

After doing some grocery shopping, we came back to the house.  I am a little sunburned and have developed huge blisters on my feet, but I had a great time out!

Tonight we watched the World Cup (as we do every night) and the USA lost. :(  It was a good game though!  Ghana won. Go Africa!

Oh, the power also went off for the first time since I've been here. We played cards by candlelight until it came back on. Fun times. :)

Tristan slept most of the day and was feeling better tonight. Tomorrow we're going to church!