Do you love the Southwest of the USA? But wish it was in South Africa? Then you are in luck! Here are some of the things to do in Clarens, South Africa. The Golden Gate National Park is right there, and this town is near Lesotho, so it makes for a good stopping point. The area has a frontier, southwest USA, feel to it. It’s about fours from Pretoria.
Golden Gate Park.
Cheese tasting at Baris: This farm cheese shop is so fun. Go for lunch and order a cheese tasting.
Cheese tasting platter at Baris.
Hiking: This is the real reason many people visit this area.
Gorgeous sunset in Golden Gate Park.
Gin tasting: At Clarens Brewery, they have a gin store, Junipers Craft Gin Bar, and they do tastings (plus they have some yummy food including their ‘chips’ or fries and they have Bunny Chow, a curry-in-a-loaf-of-bread specialty of South Africa.
View over my Bunny Chow.
Shopping: Lots of artwork, souvenirs, cards, clothes, and gin. I almost bought paintings by this local artist, Johan Smith. There are other cute shops including the Purple Onion. Make sure to check them all out. They are all next to each other. Everything from art, fudge, cards, shoes, clothes, and antiques.
Clarens has a Southwest wild west feel.
Entertainment: This town has live entertainment including a local guy who is famous in this local town.
Old timey feel at Purple Onion.
Eating: Surprisingly good restaurants for such a small town. The Italian one, Bocca di Lupo, run by a guy from Bologna, is divine. Excellent pizza and pasta.
Spicy spaghetti.
Sleeping: You can stay in a castle. I stayed at the Protea, a Marriott hotel because it was about four minutes downhill by food from the Clarens square with the shops and restaurants. Made for an easy commute after shopping or eating.
The shop at Highland Brew.
Outside of the town of Clarens, there are other things to do and see. Other than the cheese place, there is also a dinosaur center. If you want another cafe with views of the mountains and hiking areas, check out Highland Brew. It has food and drink, plus a shop selling jam and coffee.
Not to sound too jaded, but I no longer buy magnets, keychains, or mugs as souvenirs. I try not to buy anything… and fail. Here are some of the things I looked at buying while I was in South Africa.
Traditionally in indigo colors but now found in the full range.
Shweshwe: is a fabric type. It is a thick cotton with printed geometric patterns. Read more about it on this blog. Apparently the name is the sound that the fabric makes when swishing around someone.
The original store. Okay, a well known store.
Vellies are a type of shoe that are thin soled (so you feel the earth) with leather uppers. They are a working shoe. It is a thing. These are made by many people and come in all colors. I wanted to buy the ones made by the pest controllers at the safari lodge (odd side business, eh?) but they did’t have the ones I needed in the color or size that I wanted (even though they were willing to custom make them) and I didn’t want to wait.
Our safari driver/guide wearing his well worn vellies.
Blankets: maybe it’s not special but I liked the all cotton ones I got at Barrydale Hand Weavers.
They had thin blankets, like this one, and heavier ones.
Linens: Seems odd, but household linens from Mungo are divine. All natural, handmade, locally sourced, and those other feel good goods.
Yes, we wanted everything.I even bought the apron.
Leather is apparently a thing to buy but I didn’t find any that I wanted to buy.
Artwork, especially from local individual artists, is a good souvenir.
Artwork at the farmers market.
Clothes: If you are a ‘plus size’ person, then you will find that South Africa puts those clothes in the regular shops and makes them in colors and styles that you would actually wear.
Carla Leon and her brand, Kaleydo, is in her second year as a shoe designer. For now she’s got a shop in San Borja, here in Lima, Peru. She makes fashionable handmade shoes made-to-measure for $112.
Oddly, I got added to a fashionista group… and when Kaleydo was recommended to me, I immediately nixed the idea saying that I’d given up on bespoke shoes because after having them made in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Colombia, I no longer believed that anyone could make me a shoe that I could use. Apparently, Carla takes this as a challenge and will not stop until the customer is satisfied. So, I gave her a try.
Carla’s showroom/shop is on a third floor walkup beside a pharmacy at Avenida San Luis 2033, apartment 204, San Borja. There is no indication that it’s a shop so you have to know where you are going. Carla doesn’t really speak English so it’s best to have some Spanish skills or take a friend with some Spanish skills when you go. Buy by appointment only.
While Carla’s designer shoes are all made with heels, she does also do really plain flat boring shoes! That’s what I’m getting. She can do any combination of her heels, toes, width, height, color, etc. completely completely completely custom made. And lots of sneakers. She has many brides who get pink heels made and matching sneakers for after the ceremony. Carla also makes boots and those cost 550 soles or $163. The shoes take about two weeks to be made but it depends on how customized they are. One can also buy the shoes off the shelf if they fit. Yes, she takes credit cards.
Carla likes to meet her clients the first time they come for custom made shoes. When I told Carla that when she was famous and had shops all over the world, she wouldn’t be able to measure every foot… she insisted, sweetly, that she would never want to give up tailoring the shoes to the person. She is an artist who loves her craft. With her logo of a peacock shaped like a shoe and her Tiffany colored bags, I predict that she will soon be a “I knew her when…”
Sometimes you don’t want something new, but just want to fix your old favorite. I had a leather watch which had been worn so much that the strap had disintegrated and one of the pins was missing. The tricky part was that the watch strap was extremely narrow at under a centimeter (half inch) so most standard watch straps were too big. But, I figured in a place like Bogota, with its leather district and leather fame, this would be something I could easily get fixed.
I did a bit of research into watch shops (called “relojeria” since the word for watch is “reloj” and it is a piece of jewelry – hence many shops are also “joyeria”s which I like to see just because it has the word “joy” in it. I imagine that they are also shops of joy). The word for watch is the same as the word for clock so I discovered quite a few shops where I could get my grandfather clock repaired. If I needed that.
One Saturday morning (as many shops are closed on Sundays and many also close around 3 p.m. on Saturdays — makes me feel like I’m in Europe in the 80s), I set out with my addresses scribbled on a piece of paper. The address was “C.C. Granahorrar L-3 – 30” so once I looked up that it was a “El Castillo Centro Comercial” and was located on the corner of Carrera 7 and Calle 72 in a neighborhood or building called “Chile,” I figured that I had sufficient information to head out. After all, Carrera 7 (Called “Septima” — the main boulevard of Bogota) is easy to find.
I thought it would be fun to walk down 15 just to see what was there. When I turned on Calle 72, I was excited to see a “centro” with the word Chile in it that I went in and walked around level 3. Twice. I went into a bookstore/wine store where it was possible to browse books while imbibing in a glass of wine. Very civilized. I finally realized that I was not in the right mall. So I made use of the facilities (which included miniature toilets for children) and headed back out.
Speaking of time, I walked past this shop with very specific opening times.
When I got to the corner of 7 and 72, I looked at all four corners. Each building had a name but not the one I was looking for. I saw a security guard and went over to ask him for help. One thing I appreciate about Bogota is that most of the taxi drivers and security guards are literate so they can read an address if I show it to them. This makes it easier for a foreigner like me. (I recall many years ago, getting into a taxi in Bangkok and confidently showing a hand written address to the driver. What ensued was a lot of gestures, smiles, and yelling above the roar of the traffic as we zigzagged through traffic. Finally I grasped that he couldn’t read. He pulled up next to another taxi and indicated that I should get into the other taxi. The other taxi driver could read.) Back in present day Bogota, the guard studied my piece of paper and scratched his head (okay, no, he didn’t but if life were a cartoon, he would have) while muttering the text out loud. Finally, he said in a Eureka sort of voice, “ah, Granahorrrrrar, si!” Then he told me that the building called the Big Savings (Granahorrar) is actually on 71. He then pointed down the street and told me to walk one block. I thanked him (I’ve been to trying to use “muy amable” more as I think this sounds so nice) and confidently set off. A few blocks later, I looked up and noticed that the sign said 74. The guard had pointed me in the wrong direction.
After a good laugh, I decided to give up (I’d been walking for hours) and try another day.
A few days later, I was wasting time before a dinner when I wandered around 72 again. On a small street off of 72, I saw a sign saying “relojeria.” The shop was about the size of a mattress. When I walked in, as always, I was greeted. (Without fail, you will get greeted when you walk into a store here. I have to remember to always say “Buenas + dias/tarde/noche” every time I enter a shop or call a person or see someone for the first time that day.) In the store, I peered into the glass display counters to see if there was anything as tiny as the watch I needed fixed. I asked if they fixed watches with leather straps (a “pulso”). I asked how much it would cost. She said 3,000 pesos (about $1.50). I got a business card and said that I’d be back. The address was Carrera 10, # 72-86.
On the following Saturday, I set out. Again. When I got to the shop, the gate was down. But, next to it, was a workshop, and it was open. I walked in setting off a deafening alarm. From behind a wooden screen, a man appeared and asked what I was looking for. I explained and showed him the watch. Just then, two women entered the shop carrying a cheap purple roller suitcase. They asked if it could be fixed. The craftsman sucked through his teeth, showed them where the suitcase was broken, and then said that he would try and fix it. He added that suitcases like that were only intended to hold 20 kilos. They left the suitcase with him and left the shop.
The man then ducked under a counter and began searching through his watch straps. One after another, they were too big. More boxes were ripped open. No match. Finally, like Goldilocks, he found one that was the right size. Did I prefer it in brown or black? I chose and he set to work. He took out a pin and cleaned out the metal parts of the watch. He commented that there was lots of water in the pinholes. I explained that the watch was 40 years old. He looked at me in amazement and said that the watch was the same age as him. In two minutes, he had fixed the watch. (During our exchange, he tried to help me out with words in English but I continued in Spanish even though I appreciated his effort). The whole transaction including the new genuine leather strap cost 18,000 pesos ($9). When I gave him too much money by mistake, he gave me some back and told me to be careful.
A few weeks later, I went back with a favorite pair of shoes where the glued inner soles had worn out. When I asked him if he could fix them, he sucked through his teeth again and said, “no.” But, then he grabbed the side of the sole and ripped it out. Then he pulled out a bag of soles and while tut-tutting (not audibly), tested out different ones after the size that I told him was clearly not the size of the shoe. The total for the new soles was $7.
I asked him if he could take two pairs of shoes and combine them. He said, “It can be done” in a tone of voice that actually said, “anything is possible but it might not turn out as you imagine.”
Carla Leon and her brand, Kaleydo, is in her second year as a shoe designer. For now she’s got a shop in San Borja, here in Lima, Peru. She makes fashionable handmade shoes made-to-measure for $112.
Oddly, I got added to a fashionista group… and when Kaleydo was recommended to me, I immediately nixed the idea saying that I’d given up on bespoke shoes because after having them made in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Colombia, I no longer believed that anyone could make me a shoe that I could use. Apparently, Carla takes this as a challenge and will not stop until the customer is satisfied. So, I gave her a try.
Carla’s showroom/shop is on a third floor walkup beside a pharmacy at Avenida San Luis 2033, apartment 204, San Borja. There is no indication that it’s a shop so you have to know where you are going. Carla doesn’t really speak English so it’s best to have some Spanish skills or take a friend with some Spanish skills when you go. Buy by appointment only.