Souvenir/Craft Shopping
I didn't do a lot of this since I already have a basement and bathroom full of crafts.
The clay pots I got on the side of the road on the way back from our Trip South were by far my most savvy acquisitions. They costed 5 birr each. I was a bit surprised they both made it back to America unharmed.
I also acquired a lot of clothing to outfit my boys until they reach 16 years old and a dress for myself. I also am having a custom-made long-sleeve shirt done for me. The best place for good quality, reasonably priced male/gender neutral clothing, in my opinion, is at Africa Leprosy Rehabilitation and Training Center (ALERT) in Addis. At ALERT, you are also able to see the clients weaving the cloth and stitching the embroidered patterns.
At the ALERT shop, I also bought some wooden animals, a goat hair animal, an animal plaque/wall hanging, a huge blanket, pillow cases and a clay kitfo dish. Unfortunately, the kitfo dish did not survive the trip home. Aside from the clay pots, these were the best deals I got.
(blanket, rug, toddler outfit, teenage shirt on crib rail, scarf on crib rail)
We also stopped at the Passa. Lekeneh, our Trip driver took us there. I don't know if Passa is a real place or if I just misinterpreted what the word was. It was basically a strip of craft/souvenir shops near a French school (I think). Bargaining skills are very crucial for these shops. Fortunately, I have experience in that area. Several times I had to employ the "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll just go somewhere else" strategy and head for the door to get the price dropped. Most of the time it worked. If it didn't, there was always another shop selling similar things. At these shops and from the street vendors in that area, I acquired a covered basket, a leather covered basket, two metal (maybe tin or aluminum?) necklaces, a wooden Ethiopian cross, a metal cross, my dress, several traditional scarves and a huge goat hair rug. The only problem with the rug is that it still smelled like goat. I washed it 5 times in the Soak/Extra-Heavy Duty cycle to get the smell out. Unfortunately, the rug shrunk a little bit irregularly as a result and is no longer perfectly rectangular. I think it still looks good, though.
(covered basket and wooden Ethiopian cross)
The first place we went to was a shop Tesfaye took us to after the embassy visit. They had some pretty nice things. I bought some clothes there (because I didn't know about ALERT at that point) and some scarves/colored cloths. They also had some wooden carvings and some West African clothing. I don't think the prices were the greatest, but compared to Pier 1 Imports they were still a pretty good deal.
(neckace, wooden animal and colored cloth/scarf)
I didn't have a chance to go to the Mercado because I hadn't planned my stay for enough days.
On the day I left, I ended up having to ask other people/parents to shop for music and kids' books for me since I ran out of time.
Fortunately, there always seems to be another parent you come to know who will be heading over in a few weeks or months. Save a few birr. That way, when you get home you can try to get them to be your own personal shopper for whatever you forgot or regretted you didn't get.
In the end, there were some things that I probably didn't get the best price for and could've negotiated more. However, I was pleased with the actual things that I bought so that was all that really mattered to me.
