Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam: largest city in Tanzania, located on the Indian Ocean, used to be the capital of Tanzania but is no longer. It is definitely not a Unitedstatesian city and its valuable to describe it from a couple of perspectives.
(as compared to the US) Coming from the United States, Dar seems small, disorganized and somewhat dirty. It lacks sidewalks in many places and where there are sidewalks, they are often filled with little stands selling watches, shoes, or cell phones. Stoplights are quite rare on all but the largest streets.
(as compared to Musoma) Having experienced a smaller town here in Tanzania, I already have another point of reference from which to look at Dar. Although it initially seems so different from the United States, Dar is very westernized compared to a place like Musoma. It is obvious much of Dar has been influenced by Europe or the United States. Coming from the United States, this is hard to see sometimes with all of the differences distracting from the similarities. The picture (which seems to not be working) is from the hotel room window. The hotel, however, is very nice, if small.
I suppose that this is a sort of middle ground between the United States and rural Africa, but I think that I prefer Musoma to Dar. Musoma is even less like the United States, but there is a crazy disorganized air here in Dar that doesn’t exist in Musoma. It is actually more organized than Musoma in reality, but all of the people just make it seem very wild. I am also not all that familiar with the city so that only adds to the perceived craziness.
So far, I have done little but walk around on errands or for food, so it hasn't been all that exciting. Over the next few days it is likely to improve, however. Get ready for the goat races (what? apparently the largest event all year in Dar), a night out on the town and perhaps even a trip to Zanzibar (better get there before Ramadan).