bazaar

We went to a bazaar this past weekend with Ann K and her kids. It was at ASOY, the American School of Yaounde, probably a benefit sale of some kind. Items on sale included a variety of Africana for ex-pat consumption: clothing, artwork, sculpture, furniture, masks, fabrics, food. Lots of it was high-quality; we talked with a mask vendor and found out he runs a gallery and carries work from all over Africa. In contrast to a market here, this was supposed to be a situation with no pressure to buy.

Ann and Ann K. are debating some purchases in the upper-right corner. Ann's in the white hat:

Here's an overview of this area of the bazaar:

Some of the fabrics for sale:

There were lots of statues and carvings for sale:

There were nuns at a few different stalls, selling fabrics and food:

Ann K had a van from SIL that day, since they had some friends with them. She invited Ann and I over, so we caught a ride. Ann K and I were in front, so here's everyone else. The blond kids are Ann K and Ray's. The others are friends who live in their neighborhood, soon to be our neighbors too, next month:

The friends have puppies, which required a visit once we got back to their neighborhood, in quartier Mvan:

Did I mention there were puppies? Dogs and cats are not treated with much regard locally, so it's a lucky pet that ends up in the hands of ex-pats, or with a good job as a guard dog. Apparently, German Shephard pups are worth quite a bit here, because of their usefulness. These were half-lab, half mutt.

Here are a couple of shots of Ann K and Ray's place in the late afternoon. We'll be living in here starting next month. If we stay in the Bay Area for good, this is probably the biggest place we'll ever live in.

There appears to be some doubt as to the credibility of Ray's story.