So the other day when we were taking the “drive of death,” our eventual destination was Carrefour (pronounced “car – four”), the Egyptian version of Super Wal-Mart. We needed to buy a shower curtain and some other incidentals and figured that it was time to experience Carrefour for ourselves.
We had heard horror stories about how crowded it is and the pushing and shoving that goes on, but we must have gotten lucky because it felt like shopping in a normal Wal-Mart (if you consider that lucky).
Checking out the flat screen TVs. All the electronic items cost more here than they do in America.
For example, you could buy a Wii here, but it costs 2222 Egyptian Pounds (LE) — about $385 American. Almost twice as much as it would cost at home.
They had several aisles dedicated to Christmas decorations.
Caleb liked Egyptian Santa.
Ah, Aquafina. How I love thee.
We found that the only thing that was truly cheap at Carrefour was the bottled water. Normally a bottle this size will run $1.50 – 2.00. Here? Only about 40 cents. (and no extra recycling fee tacked on either.) Even our shower curtain ran about $12 (70 LE) for a thin one that will just last the year.
Now over to the grocery side of the store:
Anybody want some cabbage?
Carter was happy to see red lentils (he really does like them!)
mmm . . . spices!
(although buying them out of open containers like that seems a little bit sketchy, especially seeing the way my kids were sticking their noses in each one and smelling them . . .*shudder*)
These were labeled “pumpkins,” but they look like the biggest butternut squashes I’ve ever seen. I know they say, “everything’s bigger in Texas,” but Carrefour is giving Texas a run for its money!
PSA for the day: Egyptian Saran Wrap doesn’t have the metal teeth cutter thing on the box. I have no idea why or how the Egyptians cut it, but clawing a hole in it and ripping it apart isn’t an acceptable alternative.