Roumsiki or bust
This morning began with us trying once and for all to travel to Roumsiki. Akilah checked the hotel courtyard area for any information or messages about anyone traveling to Roumsiki; no luck. Next we headed to Jean Botok’s office to find out a few other details and then go. However, he was not in as of yet, but the person there told us we could pay for the car and he’ll be there by the time all was ready.
Akilah wanted to, but I was kind of skeptical. Sometimes it’s just good to listen to that inner voice. We discussed for a few moments then decided to walk back to the hotel. I preferred to wait for Jean Botok. On the way to the hotel the entire attempt began looking very bleak. By the time we’d entered the room Akilah essentially resolved that we were not going.
Good thing she did, because after checking my budget once again, and walking back to say yes we would go, no one was in the office. Even after twenty minutes there was no one. Guess this was an omen “Don’t go!”
As we’re walking back through the hotel courtyard to go pack and check out, the young guy was running to catch us. He said Jean Botok was on the phone and wanted to know if we were going. Wow! We’re heading to Roumsiki, finally; Not! Turns out dude had upped the price of the car on us. What nerve! He now wanted 25000 CFAs for the car.
Upon hearing that it was more than obvious this plan was bust. We told him to let his boss know we were not going because he upped the price on us. This guy was sure to mention that’s what he was told, but it didn’t matter, we were out.
We packed up, checked out of the Porto Mayo and headed over to Le Sahel. The rooms here are less expensive and better than the rooms at the Mizao. In La Sahel’s rooms there were televisions, remote controlled air conditioning units (first time I’ve seen these anywhere) and hot showers. Mizao had hot showers and televisions, but the rooms weren’t as inviting as the one’s here.
Once settling in, we took a walk to town. We really had no clue where we were going, but we kept walking. After fifteen minutes we realized we were heading towards the “green” bridge and park/market area. This is the way to Bouba Pété’s.
Walking over the bridge was hilarious since Akilah was terrified. At one point we had to walk past an older woman carrying a full pot on her head. She smiled, laughed and greeted us as we turned sideways to let her pass. The pedestrian walkway was thinner than a fire escape platform, so I could only imagine how Akilah must’ve looked passing the woman. We’re both afraid of height, but this was daredevil time for me.
What was even more amazing was me turning around to watch the woman walk and actually see her and another lady, with a full pan of peanuts on her head, pass one another without removing the baskets or touching them. It’s one of those things that can’t be described. You can only grasp it if you see it, but it was definitely eye-catching.
We continue walking to d’Artisanant, where I want to shop for a bag. My knapsack is too full and I don’t want to tear it. As we walk through vendors are immediately thrusting “touristy” items towards us, but we keep rolling. I see one stand with bags, but decide to keep looking. While I’m perusing bags at another table, Akilah’s looking at wallets. I try to negotiate with the guy, but he doesn’t want to budge from 30000 CFAs. Oh well, he’s missing a sale.
Now disinterested in purchasing anything from him, I turn my attention to the wallets Akilah’s looking at across from him. There are two I like, so I begin negotiating. They total 10000 CFAs or so but I want them for 5000 CFAs. He goes to 9500 CFAs; I stall and stay at five. He eventually stops at six, but I’m still not sold. Then just as I’m about to give in he adds another wallet to the stack and asks for 6000 CFAs. How can I pass up three wallets for price of two?
As we make it to the other side of the room, I don’t see any other bags that interest me. We run into the “Will Smith” look-alike I purchased wallets from the other day. He immediately takes over. He asked if all we were looking for today were bags. Somehow he scoped our shopping pattern. When Akilah affirmed it, and we appeared to be leaving, he said he knew of a place that made bags. He asked if we wanted to go; pf course there was nothing to lose.
He did “know” of a place, it just happened to be his father’s younger brother. But dude had bags galore, and of a different quality than the bags in the market. Moreover, the bags this guy is showing me don’t have a smell. I don’t know what skin they use to make some of these items, but they really have a stench to them. This was good and added more desire to wanting the bags.
When we first arrived at this place, we had to wait outside for the gentleman to finish prayer. We used this time to find out about our salesperson (I wish I’d gotten his name). Previously we found out he was a “seconde” student, and we were trying to figure out how he was in school learning Arabic, but not English. Well it turns out that instead of paying 7500 CFAs per year for him to attend public school, his family was paying 45000 CFAs a year for him to attend a private school. That’s a huge price difference, and if everyone in the family is as shrewd as he and the uncle are about bargaining, I know how they manage to make their money.
Our negotiations took all of fifteen minutes. I selected two bags that totaled 41000 CFAs, but of course, as with everything in this country, nothing has a fixed price. Doing what I normally do, I cut his price in half and immediately went to 20000 CFAs, but that was too low for him. I went to 25000 CFAs, which was still unacceptable and then gave my final, final price. At this point he was putting the other bags away because he needed to go back to prayer. My final price was 27000 CFAs, at first I didn’t think he was accepting it, but he did.
The whole negotiation thing was weird. You can’t tell who here knows English, and who doesn’t, so it’s best to just make the comments that you don’t mind them hearing. I do believe at some point I made it known that I couldn’t go past the final price, guess that’s why it was accepted. I think the uncle spoke English, but wanted to use the nephew as his translator to add authenticity to the whole thing. Whatever, I was happy with my purchase; I was getting two bags for just over $38.
Finally done with all of the shopping, we headed for a quick supper at the Restaurant de l’Artisanant. When we sat to order our food, I noticed one of the vendors from across the street at the Artisanant coming through the door. He immediately inquired as to where I bought the bag from and why did I buy it. This man had the audacity to still try to sell me one of his bags even though I had a similar one in my hand. How irritating. What would make him think I’d buy from him after he chased me down well after thirty minutes of me leaving his stall? We got rid of him immediately.
After our supper I guess we were just wasting time, because we walked to CGD looking for cheese. There was no new cheese so we walked through Laking to browse the fabric. There was nothing exciting there so we kind of “window shopped” for nothing in particular. Though we did see some good ideas for outfits.
We ended up at a boulangerie to buy a few beinget souffle. There was nothing else to do so we hopped a moto and headed to the hotel to check on dinner. We arrived there, checked the menu and sat in the room watching television for a moment. We were hungry, but before eating we needed to return the helmet to the casse.
Riding to the casse confirmed that I like the idea of riding a moto. It was a little ways to get there and dude was putting a little power on the gas. I know Akilah was probably terrified, but I was looking around smiling and enjoying my last ride.
Lisa was at the casse with Nancy and Mike. They were so excited to see us, because there was a bunch of in country and U.S. mail labeled for Yaoundé. We were all to happy to oblige them. As we left the compound, I could hear them jumping with joy; for they knew the mail would reach its destination a little quicker.
Dinner at La Sahel was very good. We had the normal rice, green beans and plantain (for me). They also had natural fruit juices that we tried; Akilah pineapple, papaya for me. Afterwards, we watched Police Academy; I fell asleep, but Akilah watched a few other movies.