Would it be horribly…American of me to say that today was our best day here, and we spent half of it at a mall?   I’m almost appalled at it myself, because usually I eschew all things American when in another country, the better to soak up the local culture.   That has proven to be more difficult than I expected here, given the location of our hotel and setup of our immediate surroundings, so today I stopped fighting it and  it was a sweet surrender.    We walked over to the Multiplex Mall this morning, arriving just before the stores opened at 10am.  There are three floors and at least 100 stores in this mall – probably more.   And 75-80% of those stores are similar to what you’d see in malls in the U.S.; such as  Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Payless Shoes, Calvin Klein, Speedo, Zara, Naturalizer, Esprit, Tiffany’s, Hallmark, etc. etc.

We spent 3 1/2 hours there, and came back with a few books, a couple of ‘fanny packs’ for the kids, a Mancala game and a stuffed animal or two.  We didn’t go too crazy, but it felt good to just wander around and shop, on our own, without having to work around anyone else’s schedule.   Then we came back to the hotel and went swimming.  Well, swimming is not really the right word.  The kids got in the pool, but the lack of sun and abundance of wind kept me firmly planted on the deck chair near the pool.   Then we went inside and hung out in the room until walking to Kinyu and Inga’s for dinner.    No cars, no schedule.  Kind of our perfect day.

What will we do tomorrow?  Well, I suggested taking a taxi in to go to the Mercado, which is downtown and where you can buy everything from fruit to coffee to clothes, and was met with stares that were ambivalent leaning towards hostile.   So stay tuned…