Randesvous Of Two Single Childless Friends In West Africa

I literally had to force myself to put down the book I was reading (Hanya Yanagihara you beautiful genius) because more than three hours into my flight, I was yet to get started on the skeleton of this blog and it’s something I was very committed to getting done on this flight. So, whilst looking longingly at the novel next to me, let’s have at it dear reader.

Three weeks seemed like a long time and at some point I was scared Sarah and I would get tired of one another and one of us would set the other’s hair on fire- happy to say that we separated with all our hair intact and as we were reflecting this last week, we really were in awe of the fact that we didn’t argue or fight; not that we did last time anyway but we are happy to announce, we survived Kalidou’s place unscathed( So the suspense doesn’t drive you off a cliff, Kalidou is a couch surfer we stayed with in Gambia and he mentioned that he had hosted lots of travel friends who fought and broke up at his house. Like I said, we made it past Kalidou’s home and throughout the entire trip 😊)

Now to finally get to the point I have been trying to make since I picked up my laptop- our West Africa trip (how, why, what and again how?). For those of you that remember our Southern Africa trip last year (in case you do, please pat yourself on the back for me for being consistent with reading my blogs 😊; for those that don’t, welcome to the party. You can read the blog here), you know this was not our first rodeo. Our road trips are a way for us to stay connected no matter where in the world we are. We have a five-year roadmap for it. Well one of us made it and the other just gets informed of the travel route and aligns her schedule to make it for the trip. Which of us is whom? I guess we’ll never know.

This year’s trip, we decided to do a road trip across part of West Africa. At the start we had the wild idea of ending it in Ghana, but we had to be realistic and split the West Africa trip into two.

This is the first part of the article that highlights the moments, the people and the kindness we so abundantly received. The logistics article link can be found at the end of this article.

SOME MEMORIES THAT STOOD OUT

• A huge highlight for me on this trip was the friendship and how beautifully it stood out on our trip. I was held back a lot at border control and at times at checkpoints, I was asked to step out of the bus. I never mentioned this to Sarah, but I appreciated that she never left me behind. The officer asked me to step out in Bissau on our way to Quebo and Sarah was immediately reading herself to get up and go out with me. “I” was forgotten. It was always the both of us even when her passport had already been stamped, and I was being asked for bribes or more documentation. I never felt alone, and I am forever thankful for that. Even when I got a little sick from the famous Bissau cocktails and she cleaned after me, held my hair, patted my back, gave me water and sat outside with me at 5am in the morning as I made sweeping declarations that I soon went against; Sarah really had my back and my hope for you dear reader, is that you get to experience such deep, pure and loving friendships.

  

• One random afternoon walking in Bissau and getting hit with the realization that I was walking in Bissau on a random Friday- you will have to pinch 16-year-old Felistus because how is this her life?

• In Dakar, on our way to the Guinea Bissau embassy, our cab driver was stopped twice by the police, and they gave him such a hustle and he seemed so sad so when we were paying, we asked him to keep the change, and he smiled for the first time and this literally made our day.

  

• In Ngor Island, chilling by the beach at an overpriced restaurant sharing a plate of fries and a coke; one of us reading (as much as the other would let them without disruption of course), calling our friend Watson and realizing that, damn! We’re really on this trip that we planned for, for close to one year. It was on this same day that Sarah let me have the last fry. I’m sorry guys, I have the most amazing friend on the planet and y’all are just going to have to get by with the scrapes of what’s left 😊

• At Kalidou’s, seated outside on a mattress, post Iftar, sharing stories, stars as bright as they normally are when you are away from the bustle of the city, the peace and serenity, and then the short walk we had after dinner. I loved living in that moment.

  

• At Soro Island, post a swim and a snack, having our quarterly review with the best view ever. It wasn’t just a space to talk about our achievements and get affirmed with “okay”, “mmhmmm” or”great job”- we asked one another the tough questions, on why we didn’t push a particular goal as much, what made us sad, what triggered us, were we willing to look into these triggers, what can the other do to support… I love my male friends, but female friendships are just top tier😊

  

• In Gambia, seated with Fatou (we met her on couch surfing, and she invited us for Iftar), Lai and Ibrah laughing and bantering like old friends who knew one another for a lifetime yet we had just met less than an hour before.

• Playing card games in Bissau with Jusper(our couch surfing host) and his family. We were playing Doodle doo and mixing both Portuguese and English and just vibing the afternoon away, having lunch and then diving right back in after lunch. I have never wanted to learn Portuguese more than I did back then.

  

• On the rooftop at Sily’s(our couch surfing host in Dakar) house, sipping on some Bissap tea with a twist and creating a whole marketing strategy (which ended up leading us down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole. I blame Dan Brown and all his novels because the theories I have spinning in my head are why I am slightly unhinged).

• The kindness of the people all through the journey: this really stood out, from the couch surfers we stayed with, the people who helped us with translations because other than Sarah’s remaining Portuguese from her time in Mozambique, we were so lost but never alone because we always found one random person who spoke a little English and who would help get us to the next point or help us get what we needed. When we didn’t, we used Google Translate, we signed for things and Sarah played charades.

• The pineapples in Guinea- that’s it. That’s the memory. Do yourself a favor and don’t leave Guinea without trying them 😊

  

• Our 5k runs for each country. This started out due to the fitness challenge we have in the company and then even after the challenge, we continued to run a 5k in each of the four countries we visited. Our handbook on how to become superhuman will be coming out soon😂

We had a lot more beautiful moments that stood out but if I detailed all of them here, what would be left to update my journal with 😅.

Thank you for getting this far. And now, your reward: here is the link to the article with the logistics to help you budget for your trip which also includes some tips and tricks we thought might come in handy.