West Africa: a few survival tips

Always carry tissue and hand sanitizer with you.

Bleach is your friend: use it to wash dishes, soak produce, and more.

Learn the phrase “Je ne comprends pas.”  (“I don’t understand.”  It’s my favorite phrase right now.)

Keep water on hand (a few days’ worth at the very least).  You never know when you’ll be without.  Or for how long.

Drink, drink, drink!  You can lose a lot of water very quickly in this heat, and dehydration is no fun.  And it’s dangerous.

If you’re going to use public transportation (e.g. buses), squelch any expectations of personal space.

Don’t eat or hand someone money with your left hand.  (Harder to remember if you’re left-handed, of course.)

Take your anti-malarial medicine.  Seriously.

Be flexible.  Your plans will be changed, possibly multiple times, whether you like it or not.

Be patient.  Things will likely take longer than you think they should.

Eat all the cheese you can before coming.  There are only a few varieties available here, and most of them are less-familiar ones.  You may even consider hiring a cheese-making expert (whatever they call those).

Be able to laugh at yourself.  Because you will have plenty of opportunities to.  Example: When I went to church last week, one of my sandals broke just after I got off the bus.  I still had to walk about 10 minutes to get to the church, so I tried taking a couple steps with my sandals on, but the broken one would not stay on, and of course I had nothing with me to fix it.  So I did the only thing I could: I took my shoes off and marched down the street barefoot.  I must have been a sight – all dressed up, bag in one hand, pair of shoes in the other – as if I don’t stand out enough already!  But I could laugh at myself and hey, it makes a good story.