AND THE COUCHES

The next day we went to a place that someone had recommended to look at living room furniture sets. They sell bamboo or cane furniture, which seems like the best option for us in finding a suitable couch here. The other options would be to have the carpenter build a wood frame and then we could cut up a foam matress and upholster it for a couch, or it is possible to buy a couch that looks more like a regular couch - but those are made with wood frames and very little padding and are not at all comfortable. The place isn’t really a store, its just a spot on the side of a road with no building. There are always several men there working on building new furniture, and there are some couches and chairs on display ready to be sold. They have a photo album of different furniture they have made in the past that can be special ordered as well. A friend of ours has a beautiful bamboo/cane living room set and so I had in mind to get something similar to that. When we arrived at the place there were about 4 sets on display ready to go, a set consists of a 3 place couch, a 2 place couch, and 2 chairs, with a little coffee table. One of the sets really caught my eye, and Jean-Patrick noticed it too. We went and sat on it. The fabric on the cushions was so pretty compared to some of the others with hideous prints. We asked the price and the guy said $250 for the set. Jean-Patrick did some bargaining and we were able to take the set that day, but without the rickety little coffee table, for $200. We loaded the frames on top of a taxi and tied them down well. The cushions were stuffed into the taxi so that there was hardly room for us. The couches have been waiting in Bamako a few weeks because none of the bus companies would agree to transport them for us. But we should finally have them this next week because someone is going to bring them in their truck for us. I am really pleased, we found a set that we are happy with at a price lower than I imagined.