Since they left my butt at camp today (can you believe it??), I thought I'd post a few thoughts. They claim there's no room in the blind for me, but really I think they don't want me there :) I even got up at 7 a.m. for them! And I don't do that for just anybody.
We haven't had many occasions to buy things in South Africa so haven't had much experience with their currency (rand), but we did stop at a "mini mart" on the way from the airport to the ranch. Talk about walking into a place and buying things basically without looking at the price tags! Wow. All we could do was dive right in and hope for the best.
I wish I could scan our receipt, but I will have to list a few of the items here for your reading pleasure, descriptions interpreted by me:
75gr plain almonds - $21.80
355mL Red Bull - $29.90
500mL Pepsi Light (Diet Pepsi) - $9.20
36gr LaCaOnBaVin (I believe this was Colby's Lay's bacon and vinegar chips) - $4.60
100gr Cadbury caramel candy bar - $14.80
500mL coconut candy bar (like Almond Joy) - $10.70
500mL bottle peach iced tea - $11.80
165gr Pringles potato chips - $32.20
BeaNikiOrig (no idea what this was...LOL) - $7.40
250mL Red Bull - $20.40
Total - $162.80 (when was the last time you spent this much at a mini mart??)
So...Craig gets out some US currency and gives it to the cashier. She says, "We only take rand." Oh boy. This is a problem. We have no rand. We were told that we really wouldn't need it, so we didn't get any. Obviously in a pickle, I asked if she took debit/credit cards. Thankfully, they did. After the first one declined (forgot to inform bank we were going out of the country), the second card went through.
At this point, I have a sack of snacks and a receipt for $162.80, which I have absolutely no idea what it is. You totally should walk into a mini mart and buy whatever you want, without looking at price tags, and then check your receipt a few weeks later to see what you spent. That's kind of how I felt. By the way, Logan checked it for me, and $162.80 in rand is $19.54 in American dollars. Phew, I feel better :)
I think I will go back to waiting for the mighty hunters to return. They are *supposed* to return when they get their first trophy today, so I can take pictures of this creature. They are looking for a warthog, kudu, blesbuck (gemsbuck? can't remember which one), and one more which I'm drawing a blank on. They may be lucky to get anything!
No pictures thus far today...I may actually be lucky to get pictures of a live warthog. They move extremely fast! You can literally see their little tails poking up over the brush, and they are speedy! Hard to focus the camera on.
Keeping fingers I'll have pix of a trophy tonight!!
Later ~~ T
