Bicycles in Uganda

I took this picture in Uganda. It’s amazing the loads that Africans can put on a bicycle! And they still ride them with this load. I’ve seen huge hauls of f...
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I took this picture in Uganda. It’s amazing the loads that Africans can put on a bicycle! And they still ride them with this load. I’ve seen huge hauls of fish, lumber, tin, roofing, several people on one bicycle, including infants strapped onto somebody’s back. You name it. If we put it on a pickup truck, they can put it on a bicycle.

In this case, it’s a load of matoke bananas. Matoke is sort of like big green bananas that the Ugandans eat like potatoes. They roast them, boil them, mash them, cut them up to eat with fish heads. To prepare them, you have to peel them. There’s some kind of sticky tar in the peel that coats both of your hands while you peel and becomes one with your skin. When you’re out in the bush, living in a tent, bathing in gross little streams with heaven knows what’s in them, that becomes a serious pain.

I was in Uganda for 6 weeks participating in an expedition across southern Africa, from the coast of Tanzania, through Uganda, arriving on the coast of what was then Zaire, now The Congo. We were trying to be authentic and eat like the original expeditioners did - buying from the inhabitants, local markets, foraging. I lost 20 pounds so you can see how successful that was. We lived off the land and what we could buy in the very small villages that hardly had enough for the few residents to eat. Matoke bananas were more plentiful. I ate a lot of tasteless matoke. I don’t care if I ever see another one in this lifetime.

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