Pushing past the bargain hunters, I stumble on buckets, then on mattresses lined up on the sidewalks. Here, at Kamukunji in Nairobi's downtown, business is booming.
Traders have displayed their wares on sidewalks; from suitcases to tea strainers. Carpets, blankets and duvets hang on balconies of high-rise buildings with stuffy, steep, squeezed staircases that you keep rubbing your body on the rails as you walk up.