For many people their bike is like their home office. The recycling here is done by people who ride around on their bikes with a bell or a megaphone collecting cardboard and bottles for recycling (they pay a nominal fee for what they collect and then they turn around an sell it to a recycling center). Many entrepreneurs peddle their wares (no pun intended) off the back of their bikes. If you can haul it, you can sell it. Again, I've seen things for sale ranging from live chickens, rabbits, ducks, and turtles, to fresh fruit, to socks & slippers, to hair accessories- kind of like a traveling "Clair's Boutique". And of course everything is negotiable. Even the mail carriers do most of their deliveries on their bikes.
My favorite thing of all is the bike where the garbage is piled so high on the back that you wonder how they can even peddle- I am not exaggerating when I tell you I've seen things piled up 8 to 10 feet tall.
And I can't blog about bikes without mentioned scooters- the second most preferred mode of transport here. Helmets are optional. The first thing that strikes you is the crazy outfits they wear in the summer including gloves and capes to protect from the sun and huge welding shields instead of sun glasses. The second crazy thing is that they pile on as many people as possible- our record spotting so far is two adults, two kids, and a dog all on one scooter. It is common place here to see children on scooters with no helmet and I've seen quite a few mom's cradling their newborns while they balance precariously on the back of their husband's scooter. At first I was shocked- don't they know how dangerous that is? But Sev pointed out that if you had to go somewhere and you couldn't afford a taxi, you'd do it too. Good point.
A good example of "bike wear" in the summer.
The recycling bike
The sock seller bike
The bike nap.
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