This past weekend, during my trip into Nairobi, I decided to visit some of the local vendors in their dukas - or shops- to look for some souvenirs to take home to family and friends. I have mentioned before that this type of shopping in Kenya can require a lot of bargaining: The Negogiations Were Short. This time I decided to help stack the odds a bit more in my favor and arm myself with items o trade for the souvenirs, in addition to cold hard Kenyan shillings of course.
So, I began to look through the house for things that I would not be using before my departure in June...gently used items....any "extras." I found quite the cache: some ink pens, two packs of post it notes, two gently used t-shirts and a pair of shoes, a rain poncho, some stickers, bug spray and a few toothbrushes.
On Saturday, I set out to the dukas with Visiting Doc, who came along to witness Kenyan Trading in action. The idea of walking into a shop...even a small one...and asking to trade something to get a lower price is not often seen in the US, so Visiting Doc was interested to see how this all worked out.
At the first vendor, I found two picture frames and a small soapstone bowl. The vendor scribbled his price on the bag of a newspaper....I frowned at him and scribbled by counter-offer. Then he frowned. "Oh....that is too low," he complained. I pointed at his scribble. "This one is too much."
 |
| Let the negogiations begin! |
He scribbled another number. So did I. Finally, I hoisted up my bag like a mzungu Santa. "Can I give you a trade?" I asked. He began to look through the bag and the ink pens caught his eye.
"Oh...my children are needing these for school." I pointed at my second number. "I will give you this one plus 6 ink pens."
After some minor haggling attempts.....and my refusals.....we reached an agreement...and news of my trade bag began to spread. Soon, I was trading ponchos and shoes for a carved ebony elephant and t-shirts for wooden bowls.
At the end of two hours, I left quite pleased with the amount of goods I got for the amount of money I spent plus the traded items.....and of course - as always, the duka owners were happy too!
 |
| Satisfied with his new poncho...just in time for the rainy season! |
 |
| All my purchases... |
 |
| Hand carved ebony elephant |
 |
| Wooden bowl with giraffe and baby |
 |
| Wooden bowl with cheetah |
