Plus, I needed to do some shopping!
We travel with only the bare necessities. I have one pair of shorts and two pair of lightweight long pants that have zip off legs to become shorts. Well my shorts are starting to wear out, so I needed some new ones. And, I still needed a new pair of sunglasses to replace the ones I lost in Lesotho.
I tried on several pairs of sunglasses. Found some nice Polaroid brand ones, but when I looked at the price tag of R550 ($57.75) I just about dropped them on the floor. Which is exactly why we don't buy expensive sunglasses to begin with. Remember, you can still find an nice pair of Ray-Bans at the bottom of the river in Arnprior, Ontario!
Made it to the local PEP store. Every town in South Africa has a PEP discount store. Sure enough, their rack of cheapo sunglasses had a decent pair for R37 ($3.89). I look like Tom Cruise again, but there's nothing wrong with that is there?
From there, it was to several clothing stores. Found one very nice pair of shorts, but sorry, I'm not paying R600 ($63) for a pair of shorts in a country where the person selling it to me might be making R20 ($2.10) an hour. Come to think of it, I would never have paid that much in Canada either!!
Finally came across a "Mr. Price" store and found a decent pair of shorts for R150 ($15.75). Sold!
From there, we were on a gluten free bread hunt. We've been living on rice cakes and corn thins as bread substitutes and it sure would have been nice to have some decent toast with our bacon and eggs the other day. No such luck in Oudtshoorn. We did come across a natural health store where the lady did everything in her power to try and find us some, but her store specialized in vitamins and probiotics and such. She insisted on giving us each a free sample of her special skin cream. The "unscented" men's one for me!
Then, we had to pick up a few small grocery items.
Ostrich eggs. Only R55.99 ($5.88) each! (Notice the new sunglasses too!)
Yes, this is ostrich country, and you can sure tell it is when they sell ostrich eggs in the eggs section of the local grocery store! Keep in mind that one ostrich egg contains approximately the same amount of product as 24 chicken eggs. So I guess the price isn't too bad, but that sure is a big omelette isn't it??
Do you notice that the eggs aren't refrigerated? I think that Canada and the U.S. must be the only countries in the world where they refrigerate eggs.
Probably the cheapest place in the world to buy a feather duster made of ostrich feathers.
The C.P. Nell Museum. We didn't go in, but we probably should have.
We had a good day wandering around. It's getting pretty warm out though, calling for a high of 36C (99F) today! But beautiful blue sky and sunshine. Hope you're having a good day too!
Your daily posts give my hope this frigid winter in Canada will soon end. Beautiful blue sky and sunshine sounds heavenly, especially as it's -23C here today. Burrr!
ReplyDeleteYikes! It has been a rough winter in Canada, hope it starts to warm up soon.
DeleteLoving this warm weather too, sure beats back home. Never did understand why they refrigerate eggs.
ReplyDeleteWe are hoping that by the middle of April, it will have warmed up just in time for our arrival back!
DeleteYour are right we have only come across eggs in the fridge in America and Canada and one has to ask why ??? Same goes for tomatoes which lose much of their flavour once refrigerated.
ReplyDeleteI guess there are just some things out there that we'll never understand why they do it, and this is one of them.
DeleteGood to see that Mr. Cruise is back :)
ReplyDeleteI wish he came with "Mr. Cruise's" money too! ;-)
DeleteIf you can stand on ostrich eggs how do you crack them open?
ReplyDeleteMost people don't crack an ostrich egg because the shell itself is of value so normally you would chisel a hole in one end then place a knife or something that is small into the hole and swirl around the contents to mix up the yolk and the white and then tip the egg upside down and shake the contents out. No over easy fried eggs this way but you could then make frittatas, omelets or even scrambled eggs.
DeleteTony beat me to it! How do you crack an ostrich egg? Would make a nice fritata with spinach etc.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at the rely to Tony's comment for an explanation.
DeleteI found some reading sunglasses at the Dollar tree for 1 dollar. I bought three pairs in two different graduations. Very nice looking too!
ReplyDeleteWe have done that as well, and actually we are each going to buy a pair that we will carry around with us when we are hiking or going into cities and towns just in case we lose our backpack one way or another and then we wouldn't lose our good glasses like what happened to me last year.
Deleteyou know, I never knew a chicken that laid an egg in the refrigerator... odd that we feel compelled to refrigerate them...
ReplyDeleteSo true, I don't see why it is necessary, all these other countries survive without refrigerating them!
DeleteWhen a hen lays an egg she leaves a thin layer of liquid on it known as a cuticle. This quick-drying protective layer stops bacteria getting into the egg and helps to keep it fresh. North Americans like their eggs to be spotless so they are washed, taking off the cuticle. Thus they are more susceptible to infection and have to be refrigerated. In most of Europe it is illegal to wash or to refrigerate eggs.
ReplyDeleteYou are a wealth of information. We knew that once eggs had been refrigerated that they needed to be kept refrigerated but we didn't know the reason why. I like not having to refrigerate them!
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