Brigades, Pushers, Bikers and Headers Part 2

One of the reasons that there was such a looooonnnng gap in my blogging is that I haven't been able to capture everything that I wanted in photos to pass on to you.  The number of items we see daily that are peddled from one side of town to the other is astounding.  Some are just so fun and we chuckle and say, "wow, I can't believe he's selling that!"   The majority of the vendors are men.

Closely related to the wheelbarrow brigade are the 2 wheeled carts, and I will include a few of the 4-wheelers, that are used for the heavy loads.  They are bigger than a wheelbarrow and whereas the wheelbarrows are usually carrying produce, the carts are full of other kinds of merchandise.  Of. all. kinds.  And my, oh, my can they stack them.  There is an artistry in the arrangement of the goods to keep them from falling and so that the customers can see it all with one glance.  What marketing!

Our neighbors daily load their cart with 5 or 6 huge restaurant sized pots of food they have prepared and cart it down to the "round point" to sell at noon.  Portable restaurant.  I often see them coming home around 4pm with empty pots.  A successful day. 

The Hardware store on wheels.

 

I stepped out my gate yesterday and saw this fella strolling by.
 Every kind of large plastic container you could ever need:
 washtubs, buckets, tea kettles used to wash before praying, prayer mats and more.
 All so neatly arranged that I could have shopped from across the street! 

 

At times the loads get a bit heavy for a two-wheeler and sometimes they need some help pushing.  

Walmart on wheels.

The water man:  he delivers water to those without water in their courtyards.  

Clothes of all shapes and sizes.  Undergarments as well.  

Carts full of dirty laundry heading for the river to be washed.  

Lightbulbs,  and who knows what else.  

The Men's Shoe Saleman.  

It says it's ice cream.  I'm not sure. 

It's so handy.  We needed to buy a gift  for a student one morning and there he was,
our friendly Walgreens on Wheels
with so many choices of cologne and after shave. 

Cookies and candy, too.
 All tied on cleverly with strips of inner tube rubber. 

Brigades, Pushers, Bikers and Headers Part 1

The Niamey Travelling Salesmen fascinate me.
The amount of merchandise that travels around the city in wheelbarrows, attached to push carts, piled on bikes and balanced on heads is amazing.  The variety is incredible.  There have been days when I've walked the 2.5 miles from my house to downtown just to see and photograph the Niamey Traveling Salesmen.  I love it.

Wheelbarrows are extremely efficient when it comes to selling produce.  

Watermelon.

Oranges.  Peeled for the customer right on the spot.  There is certainly an art to peeling these with a sharp knife, shaving off only the finest of the peeling.  Within seconds, the whole air is perfumed deliciously with the aroma of the sweet oranges. 

White sweet potatoes.  They are already cooked and ready to eat.

Sugar cane is a popular snack.  They peel it, cut it in small pieces and bag it for the customer as they wait.

It is peak tomato season right now and the "tomato depot" is close to our house.  Everyday around 4pm brigades of empty wheelbarrows are headed to the depot to load up and take them around town to sell.  

Coconut whole or cut up for a snack.

Downtown is wheelbarrow heaven.  It works great to load up with vegetables or fruit and park it along side the road to sell.  When it's time to go home there is no packing up to be done.  

 

Keep watching for Part II in The Niamey Travelling Salesmen series.