Surprise!!!

Shopping in Niamey is always an adventure. 

Recently, while shopping for a team retreat, my friend and I spent five hours shopping for the necessary groceries.  Granted – one hour was for lunch at a restaurant so we had the energy to keep going!  We carefully timed out which grocery stores were open which hours in order to fit our lunch time in and maximize hitting the most stores as possible.  We also went to six grocery “stores” that day.

We started at the furthest grocery store – and got half of the supplies we were looking for.  Then the stop at the restaurant.  Then to the second store where we hoped to finish the list …. but alas, still some desired items were missing.  We stopped at a third grocery store downtown and got a few more items.  We then went to two grocery stands and one more store on the way home and managed to finish all but a few items on the list.  The final grocery store in town is closed in the afternoon until 4pm – so I went shopping again the next day to complete our shopping list.

As you can see from that story above …. shopping is an adventure!  Grocery shopping is a test of will and desire – do I really, really need what is on my list?  And how far out of my way am I willing to go to try to find it?

After five and half years here – I have a general sense of which stores sell which items and which store to go to in order to best maximize my time (hopefully) for the list of items I want. 

The furthest store out across town, Marina Market, has the more “exotic” food items – here, I usually find some fun finds albeit those likely to never appear again.  Once, I found quinoa!!  (After four years, I’ve never seen it since.)  If I am to find corn meal, this store is my best bet.  I try to visit this store once or twice a year.

Slightly closer to my home, but central downtown is Score …. it is a crazy mess to get through and parking – but I try to go once a month to stock up.  I buy meat and juice here.  I can usually get fun vinegars – mango, raspberry, balsamic – here too.  Sometimes these are in other stores, but usually not.  They also sell small tins of veggies which are perfect in cooking for one!  For a few months last term they sold bags of frozen raspberries (which were wonderful on yogurt with homemade granola for breakfast).  I paid about $15 for a bag – I bought these twice before his stock ran out and they have not been back since, but every time I go shopping here, I scan the freezers in hopes that maybe they are back.  I could also, if I so desired, buy a frozen pizza here for about $21 Cdn.

The next store closer in to my house is where I can usually find cheddar cheese or mozzarella (though it has been a few months since cheddar was available).  And about twice a year, I can find plain nacho chips here …. and once last year (but never again) I found Pringles Extreme Dill Pickle chips!!! (It was a happy Canadian moment!)

Once, I found a little box of ritz crackers (for which I paid about $8 Cdn) in the downtown store.  Alas, patience is the name of the game sometimes …. for at that time, the store with cheddar cheese was out!  But, after two months of waiting, cheddar cheese was back again and I was able to finally enjoy my favourite snack of ritz crackers and cheese!

Then, there is the neighbourhood corner store.  Here I find the best coffee in the city!!  It is a new find this term, and because sometimes he runs out of stock, I like to stock up on this in my pantry so I am not without!  Coffee is the one thing I will spoil myself to buy at (almost) any price to both have a good brand and to always have good coffee in the house.  (Cheese being the second “spoil me item” that I try to always have in the house, no matter the expense!) 

Here, I can also buy homemade tortillas, sometimes meat pies, cake mixes are new – and once he had Campbell’s Mushroom Soup (but I was about ten minutes too late to get in on the find and it hasn’t been back since)!!

This neighbourhood store is more expensive – but saves the hassle on trips downtown.  It also has become my snack central.  Often I am here picking up chips, coke or iced tea.  Today, was such a day of craving – I wanted chips and coke!

So, off to the neighbourhood store I drove – only to find it closed!  This rarely is the case.  He seems to be open 24/7 – in fact, in eleven months, this is only the second time I have found him closed!

Thus …. in an effort to satisfy my craving, I headed out to another little neighbourhood boutique.  He often has some interesting, not seen anywhere else items.  I have no idea where he sources his stock as I never see what he has in the larger stores in town …. I should stop in more often!

Today, in my shopping adventure – I found the following never to rarely seen before items:

Pepsi: Is a rare, but recently slightly more frequent, find in Niamey.  This bottle has lost all its fizz.  But is still a wonderful taste for this Pepsi lover!!

Cheez Bit: There were no chips in the store (aside from a cheap knock-off version of Pringles that I was not adventurous enough to try.  I was thinking they might be kinda like Cheezies … and might give me that salty crunch I was craving.  Well – I got the crunch.  But, not so much the salty taste nor the cheese taste; in fact, they are void of any salt and any cheese flavour!  It is pretty much like eating crunchy cardboard with an air pocket in the middle.  (Yes, I am still eating them!)

Maltesers:  Now these alone was a scoop worth the driving adventure!!  Happy Chocolate Day!  Not sure how long these will be around – Perhaps I should buy the box to throw in my fridge drawer!

Nuts:  I was pretty happy to find the mini packages of nuts.  I love cashews and pistachios (well, pretty much any and all nuts) … and these are the perfect little packages to throw in my village bag should I need a snack while I am out and about!

So … all in all,today’s shopping adventure gets two pluses and two minuses!!  A 50% success rate and a definite adventure with some good (and bad) surprises!