Notes from a Broad

Some of my Souvenirs

I fell in love with these wood carvings the instant I saw them. The middle one is ebony and the other two are mahogany. I ended up spending over 55,000 cfa (about $110) on wood carvings- the guy's work was just amazing, and he was really personable, too. He spoke excellent English.

My other weakness was the batiks. Eric and I were waiting to visit the Musee' where all kinds of craftsmen come together to work and sell their goods. We arrived during the lunch break, so we were sitting in the shade drinking Sprite and a guy named Boubakar and his brother Ibraham came over and started showing us their batiks.

At first they just had a few, but before long we were surrounded by stacks and stacks of batiks. They would unfold each one and hold it up, tell us about it, and then if we thought we might want it, they'd put it in the 'maybe' stack. Then we went through the 'maybe' stack again and again til we had it narrowed down to just the ones we bought. It was a blast!

The brothers were very friendly and Eric talked to them about selling their art in the tourist gift shop down in Tapoa, and they were really excited about it.

I also wore some art home- this girl lives in Niamey and does Henna to supplement her family's income. The designs aren't traditional or anything (Hindi women have henna done before they're married) but it was cool anyway. She painted both hands and both palms for 2500 cfa (about $5). I let it dry for about an hour and then washed it off.

The results faded to brown in about a week and a half, and I still had traces of the designs on both palms four weeks later.

There was some beautiful silver there, too. Eric got this necklace for me for Christmas. The men would sit there pounding out rings or necklaces or bracelets while you shopped, and just like dept store people, they'd tell you everything looked wonderful on you!!

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