Buying Bracelets

Going to the market is always interesting.  You never know what you're going up against.  Maybe you'll be followed by a flock of young girls attempting to "help" you, maybe you'll get kicked in the shin by a crazy man or maybe you'll find a friend you hadn't seen in months. Maybe you'll get what you want or you might walk around for an hour and never find what you need.  My friend Katie and I took a trip to the Serekunda market a couple of days ago.  Our mission was bracelets for a friend and 2 meters of Fula fabric for me.  At our first fabric shop/stall, Katie greeted the workers in Pulaar, picked some fabric and asked the price. They gave us a price 3 times what the fabric actually sells for.  (Because we're white. Apparently knowing a local language isn't proof enough that they shouldn't rip us off) When we told then they were crazy, and then another man from the road came up to yell at the workers for us, they reduced the price to only twice what the fabric is worth.  We walked away throwing exclamations back toward the shop about how they were just trying to cheat white people. Guy who came off the street to yell at the workers for us decided to take it upon himself to show us al kinds of places to buy honestly priced fabric and eventually escort us to the bracelets.  Conveniently enough, his wife was selling bracelets. She didn't have what we were looking for but we got some bracelets from a deaf and dumb girl.  It was really interesting. We ended up negotiating the price with another lady and then just paying that girl whatever the other lady decided on.  First goal accomplished!
Katie still wanted to look at fabric.  On that journey, I found some fabric with the president's face on it.  I'm not going to wear it when I'm in Gambia because I don't want to be associated with any political views but its one of those things i had to get because they don't have anything remotely like it in America. Along the way, we picked up another guy off the road that wanted to show us where to look for things.  This man was actually really helpful. He showed us where to get Fula fabric. There was a huge selection and they gave me a fair price.  Fula fabric is hand woven fabric made in The Gambia.  Its nice and I found the exact kind of pattern I wanted- black and white plaid with colored stripes in it.  After that, it was popsicle time; then we escaped from the market!