Random Pictures Volume VI

 I try to keep my digital pictures relatively organized. I really enjoy the exercise of "cleaning" my pictures at the end of the year. It's fun to look back through the year and remember little details that have been forgotten. Here are some random pictures from last year.

Sometimes you can get these guys in town that have coals with roasted meat and banana. Very portable.

This load is not stable.

The best phone repair in Iringa is a converted shipping container. 

This is the workspace in the phone repair shop.

My motorcycle driver had a life jacket. Right concept, wrong context.

Customized mudflaps for motorcycles, a thriving business.

This door leads to nowhere.

It's common for transport options to have a custom slogan. But COVID 20???

Random Pictures: Volume V

Gigantic termite mound.

Red bananas...very smooth and creamy.

My brother with a massive pile of firewood.

How these guys balance, I can not imagine.

Crazy fruit, not very delicious.

This old guy is rocking some stylish sunglasses.

If you look carefully, not only does the van I'm riding in say "flight number" (for the Kenya border crossing) but the car next to us has goats and...a man?

Second hand clothes at their finest: McDonalds uniform.

Random Pictures: Volume IV

Previous volumes: (one, two, three)

Getting our knives sharpened. 

The local butcher. Bonus points if you can spot the portrait of Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

I pass this view every day on the way to work and peep Kili if it's out. 

Waiting in line at the butcher. Sign assures us that clean meat is available here. 

One of the many types of lizards. 

Big brown guy. 

Peculiar grasshopper

Random Pictures: Volume III

See the little dot int he upper right hand corner? 

Zoom in and it's one of the many house lizards. 

Sometimes a bench can be a back seat of a van. 

This taxi driver had a very large rearview mirror that was not pointed at the rear. I later found out it was a TV showing movies that he could watch while driving. 

Tiny baby female Kilimanjaro Two-Horned Chameleon (kinyongia tavetana)

Tiny baby female Kilimanjaro Two-Horned Chameleon (kinyongia tavetana). Unfortunately the females lack the horns. 

Phone services here are pre-paid and companies are always trying to get you to sign up for various deals like bundles of txts and calls. Sometimes they are trying to push other services like "awesomely told stories". What does that even mean? 

Random Pictures: Volume II

Once in a while a guy that sharpens knives visits our work to see if we need any assistance. He rides his bike and then simply switches the chain to another cog, turns himself around, and suddenly he has a pedal powered sharpening stone. 

These quasi-shops are seen everywhere in Moshi. As you can see they sell a variety of items, mostly cheap Chinese goods. The sheer variety of goods in such a small space is admirable. 

Sometimes the women selling fruits don't want to hustle and fight for customers; they'd rather read the paper. 

One of my favorite traveling salesmen, the sunglasses man. 

A closer look at his goods. 

These "town criers" are the best advertising. Load up a generator and sound system on the back of a truck and drive around slowly broadcasting your advert to a large area. They are unbearably loud when you are right next to you and sometimes meetings have to be paused until one passes. 

I came to work one day and saw this unfortunate bush-baby that had fallen victim to the power lines. They are all over Moshi, especially noticeable during mango season, though they are nocturnal so difficult to see. 

Random Pictures: Volume I

Luckily it wasn't too windy. 

One of my coworkers asked me for some help with a document on their computer. When I sat down I was shocked and appalled at the amount of browser search engine add-ons. One can only imagine how many viruses this computer has. 

Need any suitcases? 

Some of our staff members chatting. Notice the freshly chopped would in the background for the kitchen. 

I'm not sure the exact details of it, but what I do know is the street vendors somehow jimmy-rigged the public electricity grid (in the middle of town) in what appears to be a very unsafe way. 

View from a colonial-esque hotel on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. 

Sadly, this not the biggest spider I've come face to face...but it is the biggest one that I've seen outside my house.