We recently traveled to the capital and I was once again
faced with the decision of what to eat while on the road. For many in the US, packing a picnic lunch is
a fun experience – where they stop at a national park or picnic area, complete
with benches and water fountains. For
us, packing lunch is a necessity – at least to have the basics.
That is not because gas station snack prices
are outrageous – though they are. It is
more because gas stations can be few and far between and break downs happen and
food that is safe to eat can be a rare find.
Just last week, we had a team that left our house to travel to the
capital. I had offered to send lunch,
but they planned on being in one of the bigger cities by lunch time so I just
sent snacks. Their car broke down an
hour into the 11 hour trip– thankfully they were near a missionary friend’s
house that was able to scrounge up something for them to eat.
Road trip breakfast is usually muffins of some variety and
maybe apples if we have any left. After
our last trip – and because of many previous trips - I have decided to outlaw
bananas in the car. They never seem to
travel well (and also I just do NOT like bananas!). By the time we arrived in CKY this time,
there was brown, sticky banana juice all over everything – a result of being
accidently smashed in transit. Jim,
being the frugal person that he is and NOT wanting to waste food, was trying to
eat the nasty brown little things as I was trying to pitch them out the window!
In the past, we have always packed a complete lunch –
usually sandwiches – USUALLY TUNA (I get so Very tired of tuna – please don’t
EVER feed it to me in the US…) and Pringles (about the only chip that is
reliably not broken into bits and is usually still crisp). I try to bake cookies or add some carefully
doled out granola bars or candy that we get occasionally from the US.
On a recent emergency trip to Conakry, I was focused on
getting to the capital and very stressed about the trip, so I didn’t really
plan on any food for the road. I was
traveling with Mr. Bah and felt kind of badly that he didn’t have anything to
eat either. In one town, we found
“donuts” – a batter that has been deep fried in oil. Mr. Bah went off looking for coffee – either
served in a cup or put into a small plastic “to go” bag – but he couldn’t find
any.
When lunch time arrived, we stopped
in a rather large town to find some food.
Mr. Bah went off looking for “sheep balls” - a meatball like food made
from pounded sheep meat and peanut butter and salt and hot pepper. I decided to pass and look for a
sandwich. I found meat kabobs in one
little stand – which they put back onto the grill to warm up, day old bread at
another stand (which, sadly, had ants in it, and more sadly, it was a fact that
didn’t discover until the sandwich was nearly gone), and two little triangles
of Laughing Cow cheese at another stand.
It was a fairly tasty sandwich – at least until I discovered the ants…… If I think about the meat kebobs too long, I
have a hard time swallowing – because usually the little grills are set right
next to the stand where they butcher the cows – complete with huge legs of meat
hanging, chunks laying everywhere, lots of flies, and a herd (gaggle? flock?
covey? ) of vultures.
Some people brave stopping at a roadside place to get rice
and sauce (often also next to the butcher stand) – but that always makes me a
little nervous; besides the fact that you cannot be sure you will be in the
right place at the right time. Little
things like typhoid and amoebas have me running scared.
Water is another necessity that you must take with you. You might not find safe drinking water on the
road. Occasionally, you can find cold
pop or water at a gas station – always a treat.
As you reach the capital, they sometimes sell little bags of cold water
– you just bite off the corner and drink.
(The nurse in me cringes to know how many hands have handled that bag –
so I either avoid them or wash them with something.)
Last week, we returned from Dakar, where we visited the boys
for about a week. Often, on my return
trips from vacation are a little iffy, since I haven’t taken the time to
plan. We pretty much scrounged the whole
trip. At the end of the first day, as we
arrived at our kind of scary hotel (?) for the night, we asked if meals were
served at the small café there on the property.
There were six of us – they said they had 4 chicken dinners and 2
spaghetti dinners. We agreed – since we
didn’t really have another option. After
a short while, as we were settling in, we heard and saw the white rooster, who
had been minding his own business, being chased. Suddenly it got quiet. About an hour later, supper was served. :^(
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