Its the third day in Africa. I finally slept through the night, I didn’t sleep long, we went to bed late and got up early, but it was all night. So far our experiences have been good as well as interesting. It has been a great blessing, having someone like the Baggott’s on our side. They have taken us too many places and shown us some basic need to knows, they have made us our first few meals here and I can’t imagine having come without someone like them to greet us.
We have gone to some of the stores, they have a mini mall, kind of. Not really huge, but they had a grocery store that you can buy almost anything you would need for a house. Washing machine, dryer, rugs, food, cell phones, safes, generators, etc. (while they are very expensive) you can get it all there, sort of. When shopping for food, you don’t get everything you need in one place…the meat is cheaper if you go to the butchery shop. You get a better price on sugar, flour, spices, etc., all at a different store. Only get this, we have looked at about 6 different stores and so far everyone is OUT of flour. They say that if you see something you may want, you should buy it that day and buy double because it could be gone the next time you go in. Sometimes they will run out of something you like and it will be weeks or a few months before they have it in again. It’s an interesting concept, but you can learn to live that way.
We are sending Abbeway (the Baggott’s house help) to the market today. She is African but speaks English; she can get a better price on fruits and vegetables. We can send her with $4000 Rwandan Franks (about $8) and she can get a variety of the fruits and vegetables (including potatoes, which are only like 15 cents per pound here), that will be enough to last 6 or 7 days. Can’t wait to meet her and get some delicious, fresh produce.
Lucky for Blake, the meat is cheaper than chicken at times. Crazy huh?