Lots of people have witnessed this around the world, but
there’s something I like about street vendors. It’s like browsing the internet
from the comfort of a car seat, or window shopping without walking. The vendor
comes up to the window and shows you what she’s got and if you’re not
interested, you move up. In Nairobi,
there’s a stretch of Peponi Road
near Westgate Mall where you can get all kinds of interesting things from
vendors right in traffic. These include:
-
pet rabbits
-
puppies
-
skirts
-
peanuts
-
wire contraptions that look like TV antennas
-
screwdriver sets
-
kitchen knives
-
hand-made banana leaf note cards
-
newspapers (naturally)
-
paintings, batiks
-
pirated DVDs
-
plastic pinwheels
-
Kenyan flags
I know one person who has bought a rabbit (not clear whether
it will need to visit a veterinarian and its gender also remains a mystery). I
generally walk everywhere, so “window shopping” from the sidewalk is really
more like having things thrust under my nose with expectant salesmen telling me
they’ll give me a good price for the banana leaf sculpture/wire motorcycle
toy/silkscreen art/pirated DVDs. I almost always say 'No thank you' but it's kind of fun to go through the ritual every day on my way home from work, otherwise I wouldn't pass anything really interesting. It's easy to window shop.
