The Final Countdown

It's official. I can now count the days I have remaining in Mombasa on one hand. And as one might guess, I'm having all sorts of mixed emotions. However, I won't bore you with all of that. I spent my last weekend (tear) in Mombasa by myself. Denise took off around 3am on Saturday which left me free to do whatever I wanted with the day. I decided to go visit yet another market and take in more of the sights. This time it was off to the Kongowea market.

I have a few pics to share but first I wanted to introduce you (below) to Mama Rose (left) and Rehema (right) from Yehu. I aspire to become like these two women. They are two of the most generous, sincere, funny and caring people I know. And I don't ever remember them not smiling...except perhaps when they're sick with Malaria and still trying to work. Oh yeah, did I mention that they never complain?

Okay, on to the market. Check out how they stack their produce...oranges in this case. You see stacks like this all over. I can't even get a straight line of dominoes up without knocking them over.

Nearly everyone tops the walls around their property with broken glass from coke and other soda bottles along with any other glass one can find. It's meant to be frightening, I suppose, but I find it pretty in its own way.

There is a building at the end of the market that houses thousands and thousands of bananas-or plantains? Someone please explain the difference to me. Guys with handcarts line up here every morning, fill up their carts and pull them across the bridge into town. We pass by this scene nearly everyday. It never ceases to amaze me to see them pull their huge carts through town and in bare feet. I was hoping to capture the crazy amount of bananas (or plantains) but this was as close as I could get before they started getting upset with me. Just imagine this stack times about 27 and you've about got it.