Ladysmith Downtown

After leaving the posh Rest lodge a the top of a hill overlooking Ladysmith we went downtown to use an ATM, get some Sudafed for Eva and buy a map (yes, we are a little frustrated by not knowing where our GPS is taking us).

Downtown was like Swaziland: another country. In the drug store the pharmacist packed up the Sudafed in a cute little cage, sealed it, and sent us up to the front counter to pay. If Pru had one of these she could carry her hamster around with her everywhere!

On the street there are corrugated metal sheds calling themselves "hair salons". Booths sell all sorts of fruits, food, clothes, etc. Women carry babies on their backs using a shawl or towel the way we would use a Gerry Pack. They have markets that are just teeming with people and then across the street they have shopping malls that look almost like ours. Many of the business people in the mall are of Indian descent...they seem to be the dominant merchant class here.

I have mentioned the animals in the road, but a very different aspect of life here is that black people walk long distances on the roads. You see them both in the day and at night, sometimes hitch hiking but many times just walking places where you know there is nothing for miles and miles.