Roadside shopping

Sitting in traffic sucks. And there's a lot of sucky traffic that you have to sit through in Dar es Salaam thanks to the explosion in the number of motor vehicles including the bajaji (three wheeled taxis) and the biki biki (motorcycle). Combine this with the near complete absence of traffic lights, road rules and aggressive drivers and it's a recipe for total gridlock. But whenever there's a traffic jam, you will always find guys walking between cars acting almost like a walking shopping center. In LA, you have Mexicans selling fruit, but these guys take it to a whole new level. 


Some random items I've seen for sale are fairly predictable like newspapers and magazines, cold drinks, fruits and snacks. They also sell a wide variety of household items like dusters, car chargers, cleaning supplies and some really random items like sunglasses, phone cards, childrens books... basically anything that can be carried by hand will be sold to cars waiting in traffic.


A few times, I've seen guys wearing chef hats selling aprons that I always find amusing.

Here's a bajaji in case you're curious.