First Impression

My first impression of Africa was that everyone carries everything on their head. I vaguely remember seeing photos of that before, but when I saw it in real life it never failed to fascinate me.

I constantly saw people balancing baskets on their heads. And buckets of stuff. And big bunches of green bananas. And 10 litre canisters of water. Women rushed off to market with any number of things on their head.

Here's a lady I saw carrying a bunch of sticks for firewood on her head.

I don't know why it interested me so much, but truthfully, it is the first thing that made an impression upon me. I wish my first impression was of the kindness or the ingenuity or the tenacity of the African people. But no, it's that they can balance bananas on their heads. I never claimed to have deep thoughts all the time.