A good head on your shoulders

     Every time you drive down the street in Accra you see people carrying things on their heads. They are everywhere, at every intersection, in every traffic jam, at every toll booth. They are on the side of the road and in the road. Some are selling things to the passing vehicles but others are just carrying their stuff. For every person you see carrying  something large in his hands you see two dozen with a bundle on his head.  Loads which would  put me in bed for a week are no problem. They can carry very large, heavy and awkward loads. One of our favorites is the peanut ladies who spend time arranging the peanuts in order before they start to work and then just grab them by the handful and put them in the small black plastic bags which are everywhere after they makes a sale.

The cloth vender

The fried plantain vendor

The peanut lady

If you look down the street about half the people on the sidewalk are carrying their wares on their heads.

It is not just plastic and aluminium pans.

Another peanut lady. Notice how neatly they ares stacked, like pieces of a 3D puzzle. 

This girl is carrying oranges which have had most of the rind removed so they can be eaten  while riding in a tro-tro. The blue van is a tro-tro.

Another peanut lady. I have decided you can probably carry more nuts if they are stacked rather than just piled up.

Carrying things on  your head  is a learned skill. Not everyone  can do it equally well.