from: Pbase http://www.pbase.com/michaelmccloskey/image/65770001
So we went to check out this dam. We took the rented car, the drive was cool, the views from the highway were amazing the music from the radio was African folk and we were having fun.
The road over the dam is one lane, there is a light, one direction passes at a time and you end up with a long wait. Over the fifty years of the dams existence the locals have grow wise to this fact and have set up on either side to pray on the waiting tourists, I was one of the waiting tourists. At his point in the trip I had 200R rand in my pocket (just over $20), that's it, I didn't even have money in the bank. So this guy approaches my open window holding a wooden cylinder and asks me to take it from him and open it, "wait till you see what is inside!"
I told him "no thank you, I know what your trying to do, your trying to get that thing into my hands because that makes the sale so much easier." I than tried to ignore him, but I was kind of intrigued. What was in that cylinder? I thought this even though I knew, some how, that the contents was most likely coasters. I don't know why I thought this but I did. He wouldn't leave so finally I said, "If you want me to see what's inside why don't you open it yourself?" I quickly followed with "but you might as well move on because your wasting your time." So he opened it and low and behold, coasters. He said they could be mine for 350R. "Ha" I thought, I don't have 350R so he's stuck. We haggled for a while over this thing that I didn't want and I eventually talked him down to 200R, even though I had no desire to actually own what this guy was selling. Finally he threw in small bowl and I took the bait. I was the dooped owner of a little wooden bowl and a cylinder full of coasters. I also had spent my very last dime. Damn dam.
No comments:
Post a Comment