Friday October 14
Unpacked, rested most of the day. Melonie didn't feel too well after not sleeping well. In the afternoon Jacob & I went to Chimoio, about 15 miles from the farm, to get groceries. First to the supermarket – Shop Rite – a South African chain. Any American could go in there and feel almost at home. Then to the local market, where we found fresher produce, but not quite the variety as the supermarket.
The local market was row upon row of crowded little stalls with piles of whatever vegetables, fish or fruit they had to sell. Some of the “stalls” were nothing more than a blanket of sorts on the ground to mark out the vendor's spot. The aisles between rows were narrow, the whole market was built on ground that was not quite level to begin with, and has over time been eroded by the rain. To get down the aisles means negotiating your way through small gullies and ridges, accompanied by the din of hundreds of conversations all around you, multiple people calling out to buy their goods, and swarms of flies feeding on banana peels, dried fish, and anything else in sight.
Life here moves on African time. Jacob had hoped to go by the mechanic's shop to check on the progress of repair on his Land Rover, but we were too late – repair shops and such close at 4 pm on Fridays. On the other hand, the mechanic has only had the vehicle for two weeks (to replace the front bushings), so it's probably not ready yet anyway.
Unpacked, rested most of the day. Melonie didn't feel too well after not sleeping well. In the afternoon Jacob & I went to Chimoio, about 15 miles from the farm, to get groceries. First to the supermarket – Shop Rite – a South African chain. Any American could go in there and feel almost at home. Then to the local market, where we found fresher produce, but not quite the variety as the supermarket.
The local market was row upon row of crowded little stalls with piles of whatever vegetables, fish or fruit they had to sell. Some of the “stalls” were nothing more than a blanket of sorts on the ground to mark out the vendor's spot. The aisles between rows were narrow, the whole market was built on ground that was not quite level to begin with, and has over time been eroded by the rain. To get down the aisles means negotiating your way through small gullies and ridges, accompanied by the din of hundreds of conversations all around you, multiple people calling out to buy their goods, and swarms of flies feeding on banana peels, dried fish, and anything else in sight.
Life here moves on African time. Jacob had hoped to go by the mechanic's shop to check on the progress of repair on his Land Rover, but we were too late – repair shops and such close at 4 pm on Fridays. On the other hand, the mechanic has only had the vehicle for two weeks (to replace the front bushings), so it's probably not ready yet anyway.
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