Shopping

I am an experienced shopper in Conakry now, but since I was recently spoiled for a few months with Wal-Mart and Kroger’s I just have to share what my past 2 days of shopping have been like. Thankfully, I had the foresight to leave a list behind, knowing that I would forget what I left behind in the village. So, Friday morning Mr. Bah, our chauffeur, and I took off. (I would love to explain all the reasons why we need a chauffeur and how he is so much more than just a chauffeur, but that is for another time.)

It took us over an hour to drive downtown due to traffic. I then shopped at my 2 favorite stores which are right across the street from each other. The shelves were fairly well stocked, which was great. The problem is that I never know which store will have what, and at the better price. I might find powdered sugar at only one store (and then not again for 6 months) or it might be at every store I go to. I found a jar of Jif peanut butter for about $15. I didn’t buy it, though I was begrudging my $2 jar that the customs man took from me!.

Shopping here is, to say the very least, random! (As my teammate Dawn Cluckie said, it really would be best to go to all of the 5 or 6 stores that we usually shop at to price everything and then go back to buy, but that is just not feasible. It would add a day to the shopping experience.) We stopped at another store where I can buy cheese at a decent price. Mozzarella was only about $10/lb. Then I went to another store to order meat. (We don’t know if there will be a warthog available when we get home or if we will have time to butcher it.)

Today, we shopped again in the rain. You can keep your head dry by carrying an umbrella, but slugging through the market sewer water pathways just makes me cringe. Makes me want to go home and take a de-wormer. In the market, I haggled over prices for medicine and IV fluids to take back up to the village and then off we went to the pharmacy. I found 2 things I was looking for there that weren’t available in the market. Then off to another store that you almost have to experience to believe.

You walk in and 2 feet from the door you bump into a counter where most people come and ask for what they want and have it handed to them. We usually buy so much that the owner allows us to squeeze through the 18 inch opening and go behind the counter. Two feet behind the counter there are 2 ½ aisles – each about 2 feet wide (that may be stretching it) with shelves that are piled floor to ceiling with stuff. Behind the counter and in the aisles with you are 5-7 people who work at the store. Eight feet into the store it narrows so there is only 1 aisle that squeezes into a back room. When the electricity is off, they give you a flashlight to see.

I know there must be rats in there, but there are usually cats around, too. The thing about this place is that it is fairly randomly arranged. I can tell that the thought was to put like items together, but then whatever didn’t fit on the shelves just gets put anywhere. Usually, one of the boys working there helps and carries the stuff I want up to the counter until it is a heaping pile. They are usually very helpful and scale the shelves to get stuff down from the top or run off to another store house if what I want is not there. Then we need to add up the price so the boy helping me will call out the items: “10 rolls of toilet paper!” and the guy calculates it in his head “100,000 fg.” (equal to about $20) and then adds it into the calculator and on we go, usually reaching 1.5 to 3 million franc by the time I am done. All the while we are adding, there are 3 to 10 customers asking for things and trying to pay because they certainly don’t want to wait for my order when they only have a few things. (This is not unlike having 5 things in your cart and being behind the person who can’t see over the top of their cart because of all the food!).

The two brothers who own the store are fun to be around and usually give Mr. Bah and me free pop. :^) We made several other stops: to buy screen for the house, to pick up stuff for teammates, to buy rabies vaccines for the cats, to pick up the meat order (which had been packaged for me in 1 pound baggies and frozen flat so they would fit well in a cooler. Isn’t that great service!!!) and to check one other store that has way high prices but randomly marks things 60 to 80 percent off, which I can then afford.

We arrived home and carted it all up to the apartment so I could throw stuff in the freezer and repack everything into trunks for easier hauling upcountry. Despite it all, it felt good to be back! Who needs consistent prices and conveyer belts and wide aisles and carts and clean floors, anyway? That takes all the adventure out of it!