South-Africa, Piet Retief

Piet Retief is a one day affair for us. It’s small, there's nothing to do  and on the way to the wetlands. Is there anything special to this village? Well we did have the best dinner yet. If you ever go there, visit Mama Mia. It’s located near the church. I know the name doesn’t promise much, but the kitchen is one of the best Italian I have ever been. We had our first real encounter with the language there (Afrikaans I mean). The waiter heard us speak Dutch and immediately started to speak Afrikaans to us. We understood each other perfectly well and realised that we’d better take care talking amongst ourselves. Everybody understands.

Funny thing was, on our way to Piet Retief we came through Amsterdam. Now, that was special. There is an area in the Netherlands stretching from Zeeland in the southwest to   Meppel (give or take a few km). It’s called the bible belt and (as the name suggests) the people living there are more religious (in an orthodox way) than the rest of us. Amsterdam (as our sincity) is certainly not part of this Bible belt. Somebody, and that person must have a particular great sense of humor, tries to keep it clean and started a Bible alliance over there. People do funny things.  

Before leaving Piet Retief the next day, we saw a gunshop. Since we were only allowed to bring 200 rounds each, we needed to buy some more. No problem there. How much do you want? How are you going to pay? Buying ammo has never been so easy.