On the road through town

Although we moved here six years ago, I still find myself having moments of acute awareness of my surroundings, and how different things are here than in America. Of course there are similarities as well, but I'll just list a few things I saw the last time I drove through town.

-a bicyclist carrying a mattress on the back of the bike
-three jeeps full of standing officers with red berets
-signs of the coming election on Sunday the 31st - people wearing ball caps in their party's colors, flags attached to motorbikes, posters, etc.
-motorbike taxis - "boda boda"s with 2 adults and a child not being uncommon
-a woman driving a motorbike - quite unusual
-a teen boy on a bicycle wearing a pink and white striped sweater vest. Pink has no gender-related meaning here.
-Lake Victoria appearing as a field of green crops. Apparently the wind has blown in a lot of biological debris which is clogging our section of the lake and making our water extremely stinky. I'm ready for the wind to change direction!
-healthy goats and cows, and scrappy dogs - all meandering around and over the paved (and busy) road
-a young boy on an adult bike who was not tall enough to reach the seat and therefore bounces from side to side over the middle bar as he tries to reach his destination
-jacaranda trees laden with beautiful purple flowers and bougainvillea dripping with tropical colors
-a man pulling a kokoteli (large two-wheeled carts) loaded with over-stuffed furniture
-produce vendors on the side of the road selling mangoes, bananas, avocados, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers among other fruits and vegetables
-people buying sugar cane from men on bikes
-a man walking with two fresh tilapia fish hanging from a rope by his side
-ladies and children with basins full of all sorts of items balanced perfectly on their heads

Although there are many, many more interesting observations to make, these were the ones I could remember once I got home and found paper and a pen. I hope it gives you just a written glimpse of our town Musoma, and our surroundings here in Tanzania.