In the morning I had to get a few groceries from the local shop. The large shop I go to more often has a Carrefour – the French hypermarket, which is largest chain in the world. Walmart is only bigger in terms of revenue.
Carrefore is definitely a superior shop for variety to the ones close-by, but it takes over 20 minutes to walk, so when I do shop there, I try not to carry too much. I made that mistake a few weeks back. They have a fully-organised taxi waiting room, with guards making sure people take it in turns, however there is not nearly enough taxis for the amount of people needing them. Most of the time there’s a bit of a wait, but on the day I bought my laptop, plus 3 or 4 bulky bags of things for the apartment it just had to be the night that the taxi line had a 40 – 50 metre line-up.
Rather than wait around, and the pain of having to keep moving my bags up as the line shortened I decided to go for it, and walk all the way. By the time I reached home I think my arms were a foot or two longer.
I’ve learned my lesson, and now just get a few groceries, more often. Or I just get what I absolutely have to from the big shops, and get other things from the gritty supermarkets nearby. Actually, it’s not that bad.
All shops here have so many different things from back home. Not a lot of pig product, obviously. But the fruit juices are a highlight. I’ve tried quite a few different varieties which I’m not used to seeing in Australia. My favourite is kiwi fruit juice, closely followed by strawberry juice. Honeydew mellon is OK, but I’ve learned to avoid anything with coconut or sugar cane. What was I thinking. Ewww.