Postcards from the Edge of the Sahara VI

Bonus two for one in one day! Dear Gina reminded me of this... about how I never pack anything when I go anywhere, so I must be bringing back the equivalent of a fanny pack back... that will likely be true, as I realized that I don't have any 'souvenirs' per se (not that I don't encourage anyone from attempting to pick me up from the airport with allllll my heavy luggage, as my parents told me to take the TTC home from Pearson.... actually, forget it. My parents live closer to Pearson than most of you anyways... ). So, I'm apologizing in advance for lack of gifts. Not that it's not for trying. But it's been kind of hard to buy tourist trap souvenirs, cause, um, tourists don't go to Niger. They mine uranium. That's their big draw. (Whoo, you can see the line-ups now; I went to the uranium mines in Niger and all I got was this lousy T-shirt...). Hyon and Peter warned me that there was a dearth of culture here... no elephant jewellery, no velvet-painted Elvises, no snowman paperweights, no "Niger at night" postcards, no stuffed lions and giraffes at the local Disney Co., no keychains saying "I love Niger", etc. There's even NO McDonalds here in the country (whoo hoo!!! At least one place in the world multinationals have yet to besmirch by getting their tentacles in!)! Admittedly, Nigeriens have a little bit more to worry about than other tourist draws like Kenya or South Africa.... Typical markets offer, um, food. Soap. Unidentifiable animal parts (but I guess that's food too). Flip-flops. Batteries. Razor blades. Basic clothing. Tin cookware. Plastic washbasins. Yup. That's about it. Oh wait, I've also seen books, but that was in the capital. Even though Galmi has a higher proportion of people with literacy and some education (thanks to the schools and the hospital that SIM runs here), I still didn't see anything in the way of written material being sold here. So, as you can see, I'm kind of limited... well, at least they won't have to stop me at customs and ask me if I have anything to declare... ""why yes, in fact, I have a beaten tin pot that I was hoping to smuggle in, I believe it's worth about three dollars... actually, what about this stick? I picked it off the ground...")
julia