Along with fabric, I've also been wanting to buy a drum. Not a big drum. I wanted a drum just big enough to sound decent, but small enough to pass as carry-on. Drums can be found at woodcarvers' stalls. There isn't much wood carving at the Serekunda market, and so I headed in to Banjul. (I had wanted to go to Banjul yesterday, but that didn't work out exactly as I'd planned.) Luckily, Bill let us use the car to go in, so there was no fuss with getting a bush taxi there.

We were ushered into the heart of the market by some men who probably wanted money for their help. We didn't pay them, but we smiled and thanked them when they led us to the woodcarving section. Along with the drum, I also wanted to purchase several small wooden elephants. I ended up buying an even half dozen for 200 dalasi, which is a fair price. That's about 10 dollars. He asked 800 originally, which is absurd. He didn't have any drums that I wanted, so I headed to another stall. This one was run by a man with great dreads named Buba, short for Bubacarr. He asked 600 for the drum. Unacceptable. I ended up paying 250 for the drum after almost walking away twice. Catching a bush taxi back with a drum was interesting, but I managed. Dragging a drum around airports as a carry-on item will be interesting, too, I suppose. I'll manage.