February 4, 2014

I've been here just 2 days.  It's hard to explain this city in a few words.  So much of it feels like a free for all, especially with the traffic and hyper taxi drivers and all the street commerce all mixing together into a big whirl.  It's the first thing that really hits you here.  There are so many street vendors and some are are more aggressive in trying to get business.  People often have to walk in the streets because the vendors take up so much room and often the sidewalk is nothing more than chopped up ground or nothing at all, and you have to walk in the street. All over the city, no matter how busy the road, people walk in the street.  Plus between the road and sidewalk of each street is an open drainage ditch just waiting to catch a car or pedestrian making it all the more dicier.  There are no crosswalks so  people just walk across streets wherever they can.  People sell in the streets, especially the head porters who carry their wares on their heads, and to top it al off, there are very few stop signs or traffic lights.  This all gives the streets a free wheeling feeling where everything goes and, yet, somehow it all works.