It’s a beautiful country. They are a beautiful people. The DRC is incredibly wild and amazing.

But its capital leaves much to be desired.

I’m not sure when it got so bad but the city has turned into a chaotic mess of under construction high rises, broken roads, beggars and criminals roaming the streets with impunity.

Sure there are some safe areas, but are they well maintained? Are they clean? Are they free of harassment? Someone always wants a buck from you.

The misery is everywhere, the filth too.

Maybe I’m not seeing it through positive eyes, but it’s hard to see anything good about being in traffic or incomprehension for hours. To look out the window and see puddles of grey water, plastic waste, trash or people trapped in large vehicles without AC.

Motorcycle taxis used to allow you to get to a place quickly but now they are banned from the city center because of unrest and attacks on foreigners and diplomats for not caring about the huge death toll in the east.

Everyone now has to walk or sit in a car for hours and burn fuel to get around.

Maybe one day we will have a metro or bike lanes, but for now, let me sit in this traffic and write this blog post that helps me vent a bit.