Friday, July 16, 2010

Things That People Have Tried to Sell Me/I've Seen Sold in Cape Town

Being sold stuff in the streets is not an unusual thing wherever you go. But some of the things I've been haggled for/seen sold just driving on the streets are fantastic. Among them:

Whips (the guy even hit my car with it to show its effectiveness)
Copper handcuffs
Jumper cables
Electrical wires (so that people can steal electricity in the townships)
Granola bars (every morning)
Fish (both legitimately at marinas, and not legitimately out of the back of a car)
Produce (mainly oranges, along with potatoes and peppers)
Dog kennels (some of which are bought by homeless people to burn)
Lumber/sand/concrete
Smileys (whole roasted lamb heads, popular in the townships)
Impressive collections of tupperware
Newspapers
A woman (well, I think it was a woman. or rather, now she's a woman)
Inspirational DVDs (through the window of an ice cream shop)
Car washes (literally, in Khayelitsha, boys attack your car with squirt bottles and squeegees and expect some money from you. but most of the time they can't hear you if you don't)
Joke pamphlets (usually very bad jokes or unusually macabre jokes)
Traditional herbal medicine/weed
Haircuts (so many barbershops and beauty salons in containers along the street)
Chickens (live)
Free car alarms
Ostrich eggs and other fine African handicrafts
Refrigerators, sinks, and doors
Black garbage bags (really popular)
Country flags
Country flag rain jackets and capes (literally, a flag with a hood and sleeves added on)

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