Sights sounds, smells and a United Nations summit (plus a bakkie ride)

Well, I knew today was going to be shopping but I did not quite anticipate the intensity of a shopping trip!

We (Laury, Nthabiseng and Mme Matsakudu)  left on time at 9.30 (quite amazing for Africa) and before that I had spent a happy half hour filtering our water - a job i have not finished and must try and get done sometime tomorrow!  i also hung my washing out - making sure to hide my underwear between other clothes as the Basotho people are very proper and do not hang their underwear out for all to see!  It's great to know that when you hang your washing out it will be dry within the hour!

Our first stop in the minibus driven patiently by Mpho was a vegetable warehouse for cabbages and butternut squash, apples and pears and then another one down the road for carrots and tomatoes. Fascinating places - there is nothing in England to compare really. They just sell in bulk and they are very small places manned by 2 or 3 men who just sit there and watch and then check your receipt really carefully as you leave. Most shops do that and I still ahve not got out of the habit of screwing the receipt up in my purse or pocket and then having to scrabble around looking for it before they let me out the shop!

inside the veg warehouse

Laury with her list in the fruit market (BG minibus right at back of picture with yellow strips)

We went to a butchers and ordered the meat - interesting place!  I probably would not chose to buy meat there for myself but they serve BG well.  I was concerned that we were goign to buy meat and leave it in the car all day but we were only ordering it which was quite a relief as even by 10 a.m. it was pretty hot!

Pap, pap and more pap (cornmeal)

Next stop was cash and carry which was similar to any other cash and carry the world over except there was a whole aisle just for pap (cornmeal).  It was interesting to note that all the flour they sold was produced in the Lesotho flour mills and they are now producing their own range of cosmetics. it must be good for their economy. They even have their own brewery in Maseru and produce their own beer.

Mpho loading the minibus

We were ages in cash and carry - the shopping was efficient and Laury had a good list and we found everything we wanted. Getting through the tills was a bit of a nightmare.  Lack of organisation is the main problem in many institutions out here - too many people trying to do too few jobs.  We were literally padlocked in with a scary looking security guard the other side of the metal gate until we had had our invoice checked and everything ticked off!   It took us as long to get out as it did to buy nearly £700 worth of food!  We had 3 huge trolley loads which then had to be loaded onto the minibus in what was by now the intense heat of the midday sun!  Mpho and a young lad from cash and carry loaded it and I tried to help as much as possible but this was definitely men's work!!!!!25 kg bags of cornmeal and rice etc!  Let's just say it was not the most efficient of jobs! 

the loaded minibus

Anyway fully loaded we ate a quick energy bar and drank some juice and set off to try and buy some new buckets!  We ended up going to an 'Indian' supermarket - it felt and smelt like home!!!!  Buckets duly bought and off we went to another meat shop to buy Polony and sausages!  Strange smell in that shop and it was in the middle of an interesting area full of street traders, noise and smells.  From there on to the chicken warehouse!  I have no idea what goes on behind the closed doors here but we were ushered into the office - took a seat, ordered the chicken and paid for it.  20 kgs of chicken for 400 rand (just under £40)  food is not cheap out here compared to what people earn but it was a good price for bulk chicken.

Talking of what people earn - the factories around BG are all chinese owned and make clothes for the likes of Levi and Gap.  They are one up from sweat shops but the workers work long hours and take home considerably less than £100 a week. It is good to see that the economy seems to be picking up here though from previous visits and there is a new shopping mall opened with a very nice supermarket in it and other very western style shops which all seem to be doing good business - there must be some money around somewhere!

Anyway back to our shopping!  We then had to go back and pick up the mince we had ordered first thing and 2 water melons which are gigantic out here!  I was despatched for them but there was no way I could carry 2! 

Our shopping almost done and by now it was about 2.30 we just had to go to the shopping mall to the supermarket to buy special baby milk and a few other odds and ends.  2 trolleys later we were done.

all our shopping unloaded!

Hot, thirsty and tired we got back to BG and then of course had to unload the minibus into a large room where we could sort it!  We managed to get some help from one of the guys and finally got it done.  Laury then shouted out all the orders from the houses and Nthabiseng and I sorted it all into 4 huge piles. 

I thought we had done but realised that we could not leave the already defrosting chicken and frozen food out for much longer so we delivered it in wheelbarrows to the baby houses!  Interesting trying to get a heavy full load of food in a wheelbarrow over a little bridge across the river that runs through the grounds of BG!  I managed to get it safely to its destination and I hope it made it safely to the freezer - i used lots of gesticulations and  words like frozen and cold in the hope that it would get to the fridge quickly!  It was a hot hot day!

me and my wheelbarrow!

A couple of the ladies from 2 of the houses got some of the older boys (5 year olds) to come and help them and I felt I could not walk away so more wheelbarrow loads were carried across the river. It was really sweet to see the little toddlers go and empty the barrows - 1 bottle of bleach at a time!  it was a long slow job but rewarding and fulfilling. I will have found  new muscles in my body tomorrow i am sure.

Finally it was shower time and a quick turnaround to get dressed for dinner.

We were being picked up at 5.30 and it was already 4.45.  We were all dressed up and ready to go when Allan and Donna (Australians who live down the road and Allan works here) arrived in their pick up truck - known as a Bakkie!

We looked good piling into the back seats in our nice clothes for a  night out in the truck!

Laury, Nthabe, Donna and me

We met an Anglican Priest (James) and a New Zealander (Sue)in Nandos along with a little 12 year old Basotho girl (Pulane) who was staying with Sue while her mum was havinv a baby. We had a lovely time getting to know each other. There were 8 of us round the table and the nations represented were England (me) Scotland (James) Australia (Allan and Donna), The Netherlands (Nthabiseng), Lesotho (Pulane ), New Zealand (Sue) and the US (Laury).  An interesting group.We had all taken a surprise present for someone else and took it in turns to pick something. I was last so i had no choice but was pleased to receive 2 PS chocoalte bars which were jo's favourite on our 2007 trip.  They are made by Cadburys and I have been pleased to find that I have eaten Cadburys chocolate out here with no ill effects (unlike England where i get an almost instant migraine) Obviously the recipe is different and I am very partial to their 'lunch bar's which I ate the other day as i was so hungry I thought I would risk the headache!  I have eaten a few since and no headache has happened!!!

what a ride!!!!

We had a lovely chicken dinner and drunk some rather good local cider which is rather appetising (Hunters Gold) and then decided to go to the new shopping mall for desssert! 

The best part of the day was just about to come for me!  There were now 8 of us in a 5 seater truck so we had to do what everyone else does and sit in the open back!  I was quick to offer and Sue, Donna, Pulane and I squeezed in the back. wow what an experience!! the wind in our hair - nothing between us and the open road and the stars so amazingly abundant in the huge African skies.

Of course being valentines day the restaurant we had planned to go to was heaving so we went to the coffee shop that Ray and I had tested out the other day.  I had rather a lovely piece of carrot cake and a gorgeous decaf cappuccino which was a real treat - most cafe's i had been into do not do decaf and i have long run out of my little sachets!

4 nations in the Bakkie - a bumpy ride!

The going home part of the journey required another trip in the back of the truck!  This time we went down a few unmade roads so it was an uneasy journey but this time Laury, Nthabe and I went in the back - we must have looked incongruous in our nice clothes but this is Africa and everyone does it!  No health and safety rules here like stuffy old England where you are not allowed to do anything remotely dangerous. You can't even stand on a chair at work without reprimand!!!!!

The priest we had dinner with was telling us a story about how he was stopped for speeding in the Free State!  the fine was 1000 Rand (£100).  The policeman was doing all the paperwork and it got to his occupationa and he said 'priest'. at which point the policeman apologised for stopping and changed the fine to 200Rand. He said he should have said he was a priest straight away and then he wouldn't have started the paperwork but now he had started he had to carry on!  James offered to pay straightaway rather than try and sort the fine out postally as that is just too difficult here but he only had 150R on him! The policeman said that it was OK and he would pay the other 50 himself!!!!!!
That story sort of sums up life out here!

If I get stopped for speeding in August - I am going to just pretend I am a vicar!!!!!

Anyway that was today!  A great day - a tiring day and one I will remember for a long time. The sights sounds and smells of downtown Maseru will be with me long after all the meat and rice we bought has been eaten.

Back to playgroup tomorrow morning - its been quite nice having a child free day today!!! Then a meeting with Cheeseboy, our interpretor from my trip in 2009, in the afternoon. No idea what that will entail but I have learnt to go with whatever the day brings.  Wow it is going to be hard to get back into routine at home again! 

I am halfway through my trip now. I knew that Valentines Day was the half way marker. I did not know when I started how i would feel at this point.  It has been a rollercoaster ride so far and there is no sign for it to change!   I am going to hang on and enjoy the ride and thank you for riding along with me.

Love......................Jenny xx

United Nations summit!