– goats make sounds that are similar to the wailing death cry of a small child
– dying children make the sounds of living goats
– to fend off mosquitos you need to use a 95% Deet spray which feels like someone is slowly sanding your skin off.
– If the locals don’t do it, you probably shouldn’t do it either
– its possible to drink 6 liters of water and only piss one once
– organization can be more of a concept than a practiced regiment
– When meeting someone, it is acceptable to take the time they tell you to meet them, change it to whatever time you want and show up 2 hours after that.
– JulBrew is great
– there is more hand shaking in Gambia than at an epileptic convention
– I thought i was a tough guy until i saw a tiny woman carrying 100 lbs on her head, while holding her baby and smiling at visitors and realizing that she does that probably 18 hours a day, every day.
– If the apocalypse comes, I don’t think the fat fuckers that are sitting around in their lazy-boy recliners with a beer in one hand, and the remote in the other are going to be the ones that survive. it’s going to be the Gambians
– being in a foreign land, in a country that is remote and challenging is the quickest way to bond with other like minded people.
– If you can’t make it yourself, you probably can’t buy it either.
– in a country where the temperature hovers around 100 degrees, with 90 percent humidity, nobody is in a rush.
– walking in wet shoes really really sucks. It sucks even more when you didn’t bring another pair of shoes to change into.
– Daily living should not be a challenge
– baboons are like a pack of feral children that got drunk and learned how to climb trees and steal shit really well.
– it is very difficult to force baboons fight each other with knives
– 95% Deet also melts the plastic of your sunglasses, it makes your skin turn red, makes your body feel like it being continually bathed in pure rubbing alcohol and I am pretty sure my future children will now be born with 5 eyes and 3 legs
– Snails grow the size of baseballs, and they are not fun to step on
– Ants are capable of swarming on snakes, kittens and other small animals and biting the life out of them. I am pretty sure that i saw them swarm together and make a pointing arrow like they do in the bugs bunny cartoons where the swarm of bees are chasing bugs and they come together and point in the direction they think he went
– if you see vendors in the ‘african markets’ unpacking boxes of ‘african sculptures’ and they are coming out of a ‘made in china’ box, they are probably not authentic.
– When buying meat, it probably should not come from a vendor that lets it sit outside in the 100+ heat, next to an open sewer for hours while he swats the flys off of it.
– regardless of what the host tells you, swimming in the river that has large fish, croc, and things that could swim up your pee hole is probably not a great idea
– when you begin to get chills in 100 degree weather, you are getting ready to have a heat stroke.
– many times it would be faster to give a guy a message and have him courier it on a 3 legged horse than use the internet in Gambia
– Gambian guys seem to really like white girls and old white women that hang out on the beach seem to be happy to reciprocate the attraction.
– Gambian children have an unfettered optimism that i have not seen elsewhere in the world.
– it is much easier to eat healthy when you have an amazing chef making your meals morning, noon, and night
– water tastes amazing when your life depends on drinking large quantities of it
– Gambia is much more fun when you are not sopping wet
– I think i’d like to come back one day