Trucks of various sizes, top-heavy with passengers, swayed in and out of giant potholes, raising clouds of dust, their engines whining in low gear. A more numerous traffic plodded along on starved-looking donkeys and on foot. Here and there beggars stood on the banks of the road, rubbing concave bellies with one hand while holding out inverted straw hats. Here and there boys with hoes smoothed out little patches of roadway, making shows of their diligence, then lifting their hands in the hope of reward.
