Ruth and the sunset at the island of Dhiffushi, Maldives.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Life goes on

We are fine, thanks. We've received a few messages of concern because we are geographically fairly close to the action, so to speak. And yes, we are following the headlines and are aware of what's going on in the world. 

But we don't worry so much about "what if", so we continue with our plans, for now. 

Yesterday, the rain let up after lunch, and we decided to risk a walk into town to the weekly Wednesday market. So we put on our raincoats and packed the umbrellas, and off we went.

The main drag outside the town of Avsallar.

Every town in Turkey has a weekly fruit and vegetable market. It's where you go to get the freshest and least expensive produce. There are also places selling cheese, and sometimes a variety of other items.

We had read that the Avsallar market was on Wednesdays and I found a location for it marked on Google Maps. But when we got there, it was not the correct location. I checked some of the reviews, and one of them said the location was wrong, and provided a map to the proper location. Well we got there, and it was wrong too! We had pretty much given up and were walking back the other way when Ruth saw a man with an empty shopping cart and an umbrella. We decided to covertly follow him!

We walked another half a km or so, following behind. Eventually he turned off, and there was a car rental place. We figured a car rental place must speak English, so we asked there, and they pointed in the same direction that the guy with the empty cart had gone.

Sure enough, we arrived at a big new covered outdoor market building!

Strawberries, 20 lira ($1.80 CAD) per kilo.
About $0.65 USD per pound.
Kiwis were the same price.

Nice big covered outdoor market.

We noticed that most people were not wearing masks, and thought that was odd. Up until now, Turkiye has had a law that required you to wear a mask as soon as you left your house. It was never enforced though. That mandate was followed pretty closely when we were here in the fall of 2020, but we noticed this trip that most people do not wear them outside, which of course made no sense to begin with. In crowds though, such as the markets, most people would still be wearing masks, as would we.

But most other people were not this time.

We found out later that yesterday, Turkiye removed the mask mandate for everything but public transport, theaters, and hospitals. As the health minister said in his news release yesterday, "the fight against Covid will now become a personal one, rather than a societal one", and that Covid has evolved into a routine seasonal illness like the flu. 

Masks are now a personal choice, and life goes on.

Another of the big resorts along this part of the coast.

Back at Max, it started to rain again. Our timing was perfect!

Today, we are moving on! Max needs a fill-up, and of course fuel prices are going up all over the world including here in Turkiye. When we arrived, it was about 14 lira per liter, and now it is close to 17. Really tough on the local population, but still cheap compared to most of Europe. 

We need to get our bedding washed, so going into the city of Alanya early, and we'll wander around while that's being done. Then, possibly to a nearby cave.

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Record low deal on this Robotic Pool Cleaner.

And in Canada...

10 comments:

  1. A personal fight rather than a societal one - what a brilliant way to put it, at this point. Dh and I quit wearing masks about a month ago, with all shots and a severe case of Omicron behind us, we are aware of the dangers and act accordingly.

    So jealous of the beautiful produce and prices. Here in NC, strawberries aren't local yet and are still $4 - $5 a pack. I buy blueberries twice a week year round and they are almost $5,when I could occasionally find them on sale for $2 before COVID.

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    1. We thought the same thing. People need to do what they feel comfortable with at this time. We take care when we are out and about and do our best to stay away from big crowds and spend lots of time outdoors rather than indoors.

      The produce prices are amazing here. Strawberries seem to be coming into season and that is one of the reasons that they are cheaper at the moment but a lot of the produce is grown in greenhouses here, especially at this time of year.

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  2. I echo Jenlee's comment about the produce! Such a beautiful array of fruits and veggies.

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    1. We absolutely love going to the weekly markets here, There is always such a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and they are always displayed so nicely. Most of the produce is all grown locally too. There are literally greenhouses everywhere you look in this area!

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  3. The wonders of world trade...otherwise we wouldn't see bananas far north or fruits. I remember you traveling through country with massive green houses...don't remember where that was.

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    1. Yes, this is true except that the produce is never as fresh when it gets shipped over to North America as it is where the produce is actually grown and this even applies to produce in North America getting shipped from one part of the country to the other.

      Yes, there are a lot of greenhouses all around. We see them everywhere especially from Fethiye on down to where we are now and even past where we are. It certainly doesn't make for attractive scenery when you are driving.

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  4. I read you guys plan to go to Cyprus. I have been there 4 years ago and actually really anjoed it. A bit werid with Nicasoa split in 2 and the so called Turkish part is so much different then the Cyprus part. Friendly people on both side's tho. I really liked the central part with the mountains and the North West side (Pomos), more original the Paphos.

    But if you enter in the so called Turkish side are you allowed to go into the Cyprus side? Because I remmeber they said it was allot easier if you enter in the Cyprus side.

    Anyway keep enjoying your trip and I hope some sun will arrive soon! We have some sun here and even with the cold it feels soo good.

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    1. We haven't fully decided yet whether we will head to Cyprus but we would like to. Our problem will be getting on to the ferry because Max's registration is not in our name, even though we have the papers showing that we do indeed own him. We will probably give it a try at the ferry terminal and see what they have to say.

      We have also read that there are issues with traveling to the south of Cyprus and then going back into north Cyprus. We will have to see if this is feasible for us or not, if not then we will just spend a month in north Cyprus if we are able to even get there.

      Thanks for letting us know your thoughts on Cyprus, I am sure that we would/will enjoy it.

      We hope that spring arrives soon for you both. :-)

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  5. It is time to move on (pandemic). Glad you're having fun. I wonder how the prices compare to Mexico in local markets not supermarkets. We are going to SMA soon and I can check, just for fun.

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    1. Absolutely, it is time to move on with the pandemic and that everyone should now do what they feel is right for themselves and their safety.

      We think that the markets for the produce are cheaper here than Mexico. We are gauging this on our last experience in Mexico a couple of winters ago and what the prices were like for a similar amount of fruit and veggies and we figure is it definitely cheaper here in Turkey.

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