When I traveled to Mexico with my family it was nice to have my dad with me everywhere we went, bargaining all the prices of our meals, taxi rides, gifts and souvenirs. But here in Ghana, I have been faced with the challenge of bargaining by myself. I’d say it has to be one of the most frustrating things for me.

The term “Obruni” stands for anyone that comes from overseas. Therefore, the obruni price is one that we are expected to pay because we don’t know any better, and is way over priced. Leslie warned us that we would be overcharged for a lot of things, but I wasn’t expecting to be offered the obruni price almost everywhere we went. Dr. Michael recommended that when bargaining, once the seller offers his or her price, we offer about a third of the amount. With that big of price fall, it made bargaining harder than I thought.

So off to the craft fair I went, feeling confident, stern and ready to bargain. As the small group of us hopped off the bus I could hear the whispers of all the shop owners, “obrunis, obrunis, obrunis.” They make these hissing noises at you to get your attention. I wish I could explain in better detail, the noise they make to try to get you to come to their shops, but it’s something like the sound of a kissy noise. I become easily overwhelmed as everyone is hissing at me, making the kissy noise and showing us in to his or her store.

The sellers are not afraid to come up to you, grab your hand and say, “come take a look.” This is something I’m not used to, and even though sometimes I have no intention of purchasing what they have to offer, I look anyways. I always regret that decision though because I tend to get sucked in to being offered something I have no interest in. Often times they will pick up something and ask you if you want it. So I reply, “No thank you, it’s very beautiful though.” Oh, did I make a mistake showing even the slightest amount of interest.

Then comes the, “you think it’s beautiful? Well I want you to have it then. How much do you want to pay? I give you a good deal because you are my sista. Very friendly, I give you a good price.”

These vendors go in to great detail about how much hard work they put into their artwork, and it’s true. Often times you see the paintings and carvings coming together by someone in the back of the shop. When the piece is done, it’s truly beautiful; so much so, that before seeing them working on the pieces you might think they were manufactured to perfection.

It’s hard to not show interest. Everything you see being sold in these markets is made with such craftsmanship and skill, but I’ve learned that you mustn’t show interest, unless you want the obruni price.

I made this mistake when I came across a purse I fell in love with. I immediately asked the vendor to take it down from its hanging spot so that I could try it on. After walking around his entire store with the purse on, asking my friends if they liked it, asking them if I needed it, and them replying with a yes, I then asked how much. At that point, he knew I couldn’t live with out it.

“30 cedi” he says.

“OHHH NO, HA! I will go somewhere else” I reply.

As I start to walk away he shouts, “How much you want to pay?”

“12 cedi”

“I can’t do 12, 15. I will take 15”

I immediately respond with, “Nooo nooo, that’s okay, thank you though.”

“I can’t do lower than 15, I’m sorry, I just can’t”

Trying to show no interest, I walk away and reply, “Oh that’s okay, have a nice day.”

I walk away verrryy slowly, hoping that he would yell out, “okay 12 cedi, you take it.” Feeling defeated and sad, I head back towards the bus. As my mind is still wrapped around the thought of me looking oh so fashionable in that cute purse, I start doing the math. If the currency here is 2 to a dollar, then technically I’m only paying $7.50 U.S. dollars. WHOA, that’s a great deal I think to myself. That purse looks like one I’d purchase from Urban Outfitters for $20 U.S. dollars. I had to get it. So I turned right back around and paid the man the 15 cedi, dangit.

The place where we get the obroni price thrown at us the most is when a group of us are trying to take a taxi. We wave a taxi down, and even before opening the door we tell them where we are going, and ask how much they charge. The price they offer is almost all the time, at least three times the amount they charge locals. It normally takes us 2, sometimes 3 taxis before we can get the price down to reasonable one.

When paying for your taxi or tro-tro, I’ve learned that it’s best to pay with exact change. I’ve learned the hard way three times now. The first two times we were in taxis. Both times we handed the driver a bigger bill, expected a cedi back in return and left empty handed. The taxi drivers will come up with excuses as to why they are taking the cedi and not giving us the price we agreed to pay before getting in the taxi. It’s very frustrating. Last night after we arrived at Labadi beach, Conor sat in the taxi and argued with the driver for about five minutes to give us our change. It was one cedi we needed, but Conor wasn’t giving up. He probably got his one cedi worth of time just sitting and arguing, but he walked away irritated and empty handed.

So then today I hop on the tro-tro, nervous about the fact I only have two cedis and no change. My first ride to School Junction costs me 60 pesewas, which is the price I’ve paid every time. As I hand over my 1 cedi to the mate, I patiently wait for my change. I begin to notice that as other people are getting on to the tro-tro and paying they are receiving their change. So we get about half way to School Junction when the tro-tro suddenly pulls over and asks everyone to get off and find a new one because theirs is not full enough. So as I hop off, I ask the mate for my change and my small reimbursement (normally 30 pesewas) for having to get off early. He hands me 40 pesewas.

“Umm no?”

I should have originally gotten 40 back and then the 30 on top of that.

So I respond, “No that’s not right. I paid 1 cedi. I need my change. All he does is laugh at me. I told him that I was not taking the obroni price, and that that was not fair. He hesitantly gave me 10 more pesewas and then walked away. Now I’m down to 50 pesewas. After waiting about 15 minutes for a new tro-tro, I finally made it to School Junction with just 10 pesewas left.

Feeling frustrated knowing that I now have to break my other cedi for the tro-tro ride to my next stop, I hop on and make my way to the back. When the mate asks for my money I hesitantly hand him my 1 cedi. Expecting my 70 pesewas back, he hands me 50. I lightheartedly say to him, “Nooo it’s 30.” He replies with a straight face, no, it’s 50. I sat there and stared out the window as I started to tear up, hoping that no one would see the pools forming in my eyes. Poor obruni.