A quick post today. One of the interesting things in Iraq is that there are simple things that smack you in the face and remind you that this is a third world country. One of those things is number of donkey carts that you see on the side of the road and in the areas of the city. The local population uses these donkey carts in much the same manner as we use our SUVs, trucks or station wagons, to transport goods around the city, such as propane tanks, concrete blocks, and produce. The people who use the carts are the poorer people who do not have a truck or car to haul the goods, but as you will see in the pictures there are different levels of poor.
As I said you see a lot of donkey carts as you are driving around the city. The first picture demonstrates just how hard it is to take a picture of a donkey cart that is moving at about 5 mph while you are in a truck moving at about 50 mph. After a couple of months trying to get a centered picture with me and the donkey carts both on the move, I had to break down and take a picture of a stationary cart.
The people who use the donkey carts are probably the poorest. Donkey’s are cheap compared to horses. As you look at a typical donkey cart it is easy to see that the cart itself probably hasn’t changed in design in a couple of hundred years. It looks like the newest update is the rubber tires and the steel wheels. Speaking of the wheels I have seen carts with chrome wheels, spoked wheels, and just plain wheels, much like the wheels on a car the wheels on a cart a chance for the owner to express himself. Today I also saw a donkey pulling a cart with a donkey attached to the back of a cart. Would you call that a spare tire???
As I said you see a lot of donkey carts as you are driving around the city. The first picture demonstrates just how hard it is to take a picture of a donkey cart that is moving at about 5 mph while you are in a truck moving at about 50 mph. After a couple of months trying to get a centered picture with me and the donkey carts both on the move, I had to break down and take a picture of a stationary cart.
The people who use the donkey carts are probably the poorest. Donkey’s are cheap compared to horses. As you look at a typical donkey cart it is easy to see that the cart itself probably hasn’t changed in design in a couple of hundred years. It looks like the newest update is the rubber tires and the steel wheels. Speaking of the wheels I have seen carts with chrome wheels, spoked wheels, and just plain wheels, much like the wheels on a car the wheels on a cart a chance for the owner to express himself. Today I also saw a donkey pulling a cart with a donkey attached to the back of a cart. Would you call that a spare tire???
Most horse carts look like this one, a longer cart thereby needing four wheels instead of two. Of course a longer cart means you can cary more goods, and if you are carrying more goods then you are more prosperous than a regular donkey cart driver. Also as mentioned previously horses cost more than donkey’s.
The final level of the donkey cart is actually the motor cart. As you can see donkey/horse part has been replaced with the front end of a motorcycle and the cart is powered. As you can tell there are three levels of donkey carts entry level (donkey), mid level (horse) and luxury (motor cart).
2 comments:
Would you call that a spare tire???
You kill me husband :)
You always seem to come up with some interesting stuff. I enjoy reading it.
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