roadside shopping

Shopping in Burundi can be a very stress-full experience. There is a way to minimize it though, just take the road to Bugarama on your way to the coffee hills and let the vegetables come to you. While it’s not an entirely relaxing experience to have twenty people shouting at your window with their produce (as a crowd gathers to see the “mzungus,” or white people), it sure can be fun! That’s our roadside Burundi bounty above. Not a bad haul, egh?

This is what it looks like when the selling is going one. Coffee Guy loves to barter, so it takes us extra long to get on outta there. He has all the sellers in an uproar by the time we pull away, which brings an even bigger crowd of onlookers. On this trip home from the hills we came back with broccoli, bananas, artichokes, rhubarb, flowers… and we had roasted corn on the cob as a snack on the way. The prices in Bukaye are much lower than in the city of Bujumbura, but this is not shopping for the faint hearted. The sellers are intense and are sometimes practically inside the vehicle, shouting their best prices at us (in French).

As always, our faithful friend Fabrice was along for the day. He was the guy who helped us get our airfreight out of the airport back here. Fabrice has become a part of the woodwork around here (becoming favorite Uncle Fabrice in the process) and now I’m not sure my boys (our their parents) could ever do without him.

Roadside shopping (without the need to even exit the car) has quickly become my favorite way to shop in Burundi.

Pretty great, egh?

Love,

Kristy