Shopping in Town

I have recently had some complaints about the lack of pictures involving Ugandan life or Ugandan people in my blog. Most of my week is spent here at the guesthouse compound. However, we do get into town every once in awhile and today we took some pictures while shopping. Masaka has one main street filled with shops. There are a lot of clothing stores with unique and colorful fabrics as well as freaky looking manikins with half a face. Our first stop was Smart Shoppers which is the best grocery store in town. They surprisingly carry a lot of different foods and products. Next we went to Pal Supermarket to get a few things they don't carry at Smart Shoppers (apples and mustard). A little further down the street is the bakery and across from there is the outdoor market. The area is in behind some buildings and walking through the entrance lined with men can be somewhat intimidating. The entrance area is also home to a bunch of live chickens crammed into tiny cages (smells great!). Once in the market you can walk around to the various stalls to find whatever fruits and veggies you might need to buy from the locals. There is quite a wide selection but our favorite so far has been pineapple. Located right next door to this market is an empty lot which doubles as a garbage dump. There is inevitably a group of  massive Marabou Stork (google it, they are ugly) who pick through  the garbage. Another common sight in town is large groups of men on motorcycles. They are called boda boda drivers. This is a very common mode of transportation in Uganda. The other day we stopped at a roadside stand to buy chapatis which are kind of like tortillas. We cooked up some ground beef and had 'tacos'. They were delicious.

On the way:

 In the market:

Group of bodas:

 Garbage dump and marabou stork: