Tunisia welcomes all hagglers

I was starting to suspect that my wife, Teuta, had more on her mind than getting a tan from Tunisia’s summer sun.

Sure, we would find ourselves lying upon the many chaise lounges encircling the hotel’s pool in the morning and then making our way to Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast for its spotless, sandy beaches in the afternoon. But there must be more to Tunisia than its hot sun, where’s the fun?

I have always enjoyed an occasional excursion visiting ruins or historical monuments; on the other hand, for fun my wife likes to shop and find that special bargain.

It all started in the hotel’s gift shop, where some leather goods caught Teuta’s eye. Wallets, purses, gloves, and jackets, the shop sucked her in like a vacuum. She especially had her eye on one jacket in particular, a shapely soft black leather jacket for $350. I was happy they didn’t have one in her size and I knew she could find one she liked better in the nearby city of Hammamet.

Hammamet, a European tourist haven along Tunisia’s eastern shores of north Africa, has visitors getting lost among the zealous multilingual shop keepers and each other. “Flip-flop, flip-flop,” the squeaking sounds of sandals among the ice cream eating tourist keep entrepreneurs on their feet ready to haggle their best price.

“Hello, hello.” The familiar call in the distance was trying to get our attention. My wife and I ignored the calls for the moment, knowing that the merchant was just trying to lighten our pockets.

“O Italiano, Italiano?” he tried another language. “Deutsche, Deutsche … Français, Français?” and others to catch our attention. We finally relinquished and responded in kind, “Good, afternoon.”

Three mermaid statues welcomed all visitors to Hammamet’s Medina coming by sea. In a circle, the mermaids stood before the Medina’s towering fortress walls. Spices and perfumes lined the outside along with brass and leather goods. The Medina is a historical, large bazaar surrounding the Islamic mosque within. Some may even call it a casbah or trade center.

“Do you have leather jackets?” Teuta asked the smiling shop keeper.

“Yes, yes, not here, I take you to factory to get special price.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” she responded.

“OK, I take you inside Medina to my other shop,” he replied.

“Very well.”

We followed him inside through narrow passageways as merchants from all directions offered their wares.

“Just look, only one euro,” many salesmen called out. We arrived at his shop and found out that he didn’t even have one jacket for sale. He just wanted us inside his shop. It was a nice leather shop with a variety of leather goods hanging from every available space. Still, we knew that we were getting “hustled” so we left him standing in his shop so we could wander the Medina on our own.

As we passed some woven carpet salesmen, as if by instinct they immediately got up to show us their wares. They were good salesmen, but not this time.

My wife spotted a Berber woman from the Berber tribe of Tunisia. They are recognized by having tattooed faces. She was selling individual tattoos that would stay on the skin for about 10 days. “Five euros,” she called out.

We replied, “One.”

We settled for three and Teuta took a seat while the Berber woman took out a bottle of ink and a pen to start her masterpiece upon wife’s left shoulder. The artwork ended up taking the shape of a rose, and we were off to find that leather jacket.

After about 15 minutes of searching, it looked as if we had found our shop. It was a leather shop that specialized in jackets. The merchant had displayed her different styles outside while keeping additional colors and sizes inside a well air-conditioned shop. I took a seat under the AC, while my wife went through the rack of jackets and found exactly what she was looking for. The young lady even had it in my wife’s size.

“How much?” my wife asked.

“200 euros,” she responded.

We countered with 100, and she responded with, “150 euros.”

We agreed to 130 euros and everyone was happy — especially my wife. Though it was too hot to wear it right away, Christmas was just around the corner.

Joe Apodaca II is a retired DOD Civilian currently living in Kosovo. E-mail him at: ferizaj_kosovo@yahoo.com.