2 Morogoro

Picture a local street after the snow, when it hasn't settled, and the sides of the road are covered in a grey which seems to get everywhere: on every blade of grass; on every leaf of every plant. Here it is the same with the dust. It is often a yellow dust, but at times the road into town is of a more reddish brown earth, and the sides of the dust road blend into one, with the dust coating everything. "Take a deep breath!" warns Bart, and so I take a deep breath and look up to see why, and there is a minibus heading in our direction. The bus passes by, and the dust finally settles just as I think I can't hold my breath anymore.

We know we have joined the main road when we see the tarmac, and so turn left. There are no pavements as such in general: just a dusty path where the tarmac stops, so we continue along the dust path along the side of the tarmac road. Minibuses, motorbikes and bicycles pass the most, with cars, and vehicles with minivan backs and motorcycle fronts, a close second. As we get closer into town, the dust path becomes more crowded with pedestrians and stallholders, chickens and goats, although the animals don't seem to be heading anywhere, they're just looking around for food.

In town the stallholders and peddlers have shacks made of varying materials, with crowds of people, motorcycles, bicycles, and minivans moving all around them. There are a few furniture stalls, stalls selling clothes, and shoes, and a lot of them selling household items such as brooms and cleaning fluids. Behind these stalls is the food market, with many stallholders selling beans from several huge sacks where there are so many different varieties; dried fish, fruit, and vegetables. Young lads proffer plastic bags for carrying the shopping - for a small fee of course, and occasionally old men put their hand out and ask for money. There is a sense of chaos, but it doesn't feel chaotic. So many people are polite that the cynic might suggest it is for your money, however it doesn't feel that's the case with everyone who greets you. Some people speak very good English, and the young children try out their learned phrases of saying hello and asking your name. Many people call out "karibu!": "welcome!" and there is the sense that they mean it.