Hey. That was a rough day. I went to the Ethiopian market and mainly looked around today -- didn't do too much. I woke up kind of late so had about two-thirds the amount of time I normally had. However, it was a pretty interesting place, and I saved a lot of money. Let me describe my day briefly.
I got up, and I was horribly tired because I had gotten to bed a little bit late, so I just fell back asleep. When I woke up, it was already lunchtime. I jumped out of bed, and quickly got dressed.
I was treated to a pretty decent brunch at the hotel -- I have to admit it was even better than the Golf Course Hotel in Uganda.
First of all, the mercato is the biggest open air market in Africa. The market there sells just about EVERYTHING, ranging from three meter long steel poles to bizzare spices and stoic donkeys. In Uganda, the exchange rate is about 2213 Uganda shillings = one USD. In Ethiopia, one USD = 13.738 "birrs."
There is literally a big gate in front of the mercato. When you enter, everything about the market is instantly noticeable. The chaotic, smelly, dirty, typical street life is the first thing one will recognize. Yelling and hollering are common here.
After I took a few steps into the mercato, a dirty looking man came up to me and asked me if I had any spare change. I gave him about half a birr (about 3.6 cents), and he thanked me. When he left, I started surveying the area a little bit more. All of a sudden, about ten more men started crowding around me, asking for more spare change. I gave each of them another half a birr. So far, i gave up about 40 cents of my money but I didnt think that was very much, so I let it pass. Apparently, in Ethiopia, begging is an acceptable profession, but in other countries, beggars are frowned upon and chased away.
After ten came, I thought that was basically enough. Then, about twenty more beggars came running over hollering at me to give them some change. I stared into my wallet, and I realized that if I gave too much of my money away, I wouldn't have very much to buy souvenirs and other gifts!
I slowly walked away as I heard some people groan and walk away, but few others continued to walk with me. I walked for about two minutes, and there were only three remaining. I told them I would give them each two birrs if they made sure no one else saw it or followed me again. They agreed, and thanked me. I think I may have discovered the trick to how to get the beggars off of people like me!
I surveyed some of the shops. I went to a shoe shop. I spied a pair of shoes that I really liked, so I asked the owner how much it was worth. He whispered to me, "three hundred birrs." I figured that was about twenty dollars, so I bought them. After all, who wouldn't buy good shoes for just twenty dollars? I just got an amazing deal! After I bought them, the man I bought the shoes from seemed extremely pleased.
As I exited the shop, a man just around the corner told me he had seen the "incident," and just wanted to warn me that the salesman had just ripped me off. He mentioned that those shoes would normally be no more than one hundred birrs, but, since I was a foreigner, he ripped me off, thinking that he would be able to get more money than normal. I asked him how I would know if someone was ripping me off, and he agreed to take me around and show me. He told me to enter a store, ask for the price of the item that I wanted, and immediately report back to him. After that, he told me that he would tell me if he was ripping me off, and how to bargain.
Bargaining, eh? So that's what you do in busy street life such as this! Well, anyway, I went up to a clothing store, and I found this huge robe that I thought would be cool for decorations. The man said that it was going to be five-hundred birrs, so I reported back the nice man who was helping me. He told me that this salesman was also completely ripping me off, so he went in with me to bargain with the man. I watched in awe as they started jabbering in a completely different language, and they even made some threatening comments at each other. Finally, he agreed to sell the robe to me for the original price, one hundred birrs.
I walked with this man all around the market. By the time I was about to leave the mercato, I thanked him for all of his help, and gave him two hundred birrs for his service, even though I had saved much more than that. He was satisfied enough.
I carried my bag out the gates of the mercato, and I walked back to my hotel. That's basically all that happened today.
I got up, and I was horribly tired because I had gotten to bed a little bit late, so I just fell back asleep. When I woke up, it was already lunchtime. I jumped out of bed, and quickly got dressed.
I was treated to a pretty decent brunch at the hotel -- I have to admit it was even better than the Golf Course Hotel in Uganda.
After I had my brunch, I set off to the Mercato, but it was already 2:00. When I got there, it was nearly 2:30. I had already wasted half my day, but that didn't stop me from seeing a lot of things.
There is literally a big gate in front of the mercato. When you enter, everything about the market is instantly noticeable. The chaotic, smelly, dirty, typical street life is the first thing one will recognize. Yelling and hollering are common here.
After I took a few steps into the mercato, a dirty looking man came up to me and asked me if I had any spare change. I gave him about half a birr (about 3.6 cents), and he thanked me. When he left, I started surveying the area a little bit more. All of a sudden, about ten more men started crowding around me, asking for more spare change. I gave each of them another half a birr. So far, i gave up about 40 cents of my money but I didnt think that was very much, so I let it pass. Apparently, in Ethiopia, begging is an acceptable profession, but in other countries, beggars are frowned upon and chased away.
After ten came, I thought that was basically enough. Then, about twenty more beggars came running over hollering at me to give them some change. I stared into my wallet, and I realized that if I gave too much of my money away, I wouldn't have very much to buy souvenirs and other gifts!
I slowly walked away as I heard some people groan and walk away, but few others continued to walk with me. I walked for about two minutes, and there were only three remaining. I told them I would give them each two birrs if they made sure no one else saw it or followed me again. They agreed, and thanked me. I think I may have discovered the trick to how to get the beggars off of people like me!
I surveyed some of the shops. I went to a shoe shop. I spied a pair of shoes that I really liked, so I asked the owner how much it was worth. He whispered to me, "three hundred birrs." I figured that was about twenty dollars, so I bought them. After all, who wouldn't buy good shoes for just twenty dollars? I just got an amazing deal! After I bought them, the man I bought the shoes from seemed extremely pleased.
As I exited the shop, a man just around the corner told me he had seen the "incident," and just wanted to warn me that the salesman had just ripped me off. He mentioned that those shoes would normally be no more than one hundred birrs, but, since I was a foreigner, he ripped me off, thinking that he would be able to get more money than normal. I asked him how I would know if someone was ripping me off, and he agreed to take me around and show me. He told me to enter a store, ask for the price of the item that I wanted, and immediately report back to him. After that, he told me that he would tell me if he was ripping me off, and how to bargain.
Bargaining, eh? So that's what you do in busy street life such as this! Well, anyway, I went up to a clothing store, and I found this huge robe that I thought would be cool for decorations. The man said that it was going to be five-hundred birrs, so I reported back the nice man who was helping me. He told me that this salesman was also completely ripping me off, so he went in with me to bargain with the man. I watched in awe as they started jabbering in a completely different language, and they even made some threatening comments at each other. Finally, he agreed to sell the robe to me for the original price, one hundred birrs.
I walked with this man all around the market. By the time I was about to leave the mercato, I thanked him for all of his help, and gave him two hundred birrs for his service, even though I had saved much more than that. He was satisfied enough.
I carried my bag out the gates of the mercato, and I walked back to my hotel. That's basically all that happened today.
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