Yesterday was the last bazaar for us. From now on, everything will be the last time we do something. Today is the last Saturday. The next day is the last country team, the last meeting of this or that nature. The only exception is the ubiquitous baked pollock, which is available at every damn meal, and has been the past eight months, adding a certain je ne sais pas mais ca peste aroma to the compound, as if the natural scent of the air isn't enough. Anyway, we bought some last jewelry items, lapis of course, and one more small carpet. I used to hate bargaining. Now I am, if I say so myself, quite good at it, and the dealers will literally run after me to agree to the price at which I walked away, where then I get it a little bit cheaper. Yesterday I bought a camel wool carpet with a Kuchi design. (The Kuchi, frequent readers will recall, are nomadic goat herders, sort of the wandering salmon of the Afghanistan dry highlands.) This makes five carpets:
- sheep wool, pomegranate and walnut stained, Ghazni origin, light yellow and red carpet
- sheep wool, blue and yellow, from Herat though not too Iranian in design, runner
- lamb's wool, dark red, elephant foot design, from Mazar, very large centerpiece carpet
- camel wool, red and light yellow, Qal-i-Naw city, Turkmen design
- yesterday's camel and sheep wool blend, Kuchi design, from Muquer district
I don't think I'll get any more, in part because we pack out on Thursday, and fly out on Saturday. Now, time to eat breakfast.
No comments:
Post a Comment