How to Pack for Algeria

This is a remix of a post I wrote in late 2006 on my old blog. It has been edited to accomodate for warmer temperatures -although I DO NOT suggest or reccomend going to Algeria in the middle of the summer- and also updated to reflect anecdotes and experiences my previous three trips to Algeria since. Like the original series, I will probably do updated “what presents to bring” and “what to bring back” pages. As usual, like for most of my pages, these tips are slanted towards females and specifically Muslim females. These trips are also slanted to the region I visit the most- northeast Algeria. The closest I have been to the desert is Biskra and so I have no mad desert skeelz.  If you have any comments or additions, feel free to send me an email. I will likely update or edit as I get more info and look over my poor writing skills.

1. When to go: This is really up to you and your scheduling issues.  If you are flexible, I would avoid going to Algeria in the middle of winter or summer.  In some regions, winter is REALLY FREAKING COLD and the houses and hotels may not be insulated to what we are used to.  Unless you have significant personal experience living in Inuvik or something (no offense to my peeps from Inuvik), I don’t suggest trips inland to Kabylie or Sétif (where it SNOWS) in winter, although Algiers *can* be nice, sometimes.  In the summer, the weather for the most part is hot, heavy and dusty. Even in the nicest of accomodations, Algiers especially is an uncomfortable place in summer.  I personally love going to Algeria in late fall and spring.  late October-December and March-early May are lovely times to visit.

 2. Bring shoes that can handle dust and or mud. I made this mistake a few years ago of thinking I could wear those Eurotrash urban leather sneaker things. Even in Algiers. *Snort.* I am much smarter now.  Bring a smart pair of hiking boots, preferably beige or brown to mask the color of dust and mud. If you are going to the mountains in the winter, go ahead and bring your snow boots. No I am not joking.  Also bring a pair of bathroom shoes (frequent visitors to Muslim countries know what I mean), and if it is summer bring a pair of flip-flops.
3.  Bring something you can sink wash things like headscarves and underwear with. I am one of those people that the cleanliness of my headscarf has to be proportional to the cleanliness of my hair. I will not put on a headscarf I have worn ten times on clean hair, and I will not put a clean headscarf on funky hair. Ergo…I use savon de marseille on my headscarves. Rock it old skool. Note that this only works for small items you can dry inside. Anything you put on the line is going to get dusty.

4. You know how people say put all your clothes that you want to bring out, get rid of half and double the socks and underwear? Yeah. Add headscarves and undershirts to that. The best headscarves for travelling, in my opinion, are the cotton-poly blend Al Amirah scarves. They travel well, they don’t wrinkle or stretch too badly. I bring one “nice” headscarf if I have to dress up.

5. Because of the mud, I don’t normally wear jilbabs for outside clothing. If I go out it is a (long) tunic. Khalas. Long Arab gowns are for when I hold court at home. *snort* Bring jilbabs made of linen or cotton blends due to the weather.  The ideal outfit, for me, in visiting Algiers, is a long-ish linen tunic, khakis, and a light colored headscarf.

6. So for a ten-day trip, I bring two pairs of jeans or khakis (one pair that does not get touched until the day I leave), one pair of trousers, two pairs of pajama pants, two “arab gowns”, and five tunics. Ten cotton undershirts. Seven headscarves. Use your imagination for the socks and underwear.

7. Baby wipes, female gear and toilet paper. The baby wipes are because it isn’t so much the lack of water (well yeah that too) but rather that there may be too many men around for a proper bath.  Even with “The Empty Bleach Bottle”/ “The Empty Evian Bottle” sometimes you need to touch up. Oh, and you want to know something? If you even think that your time of the month will be within two weeks of your trip, make sure you have enough “gear.” Why? Because if you’re in Algiers, you will have to hunt high and low and probably ask a boy to buy your FHP.  And then, in the village, boys are the ones who go out and buy stuff. That means if you don’t have “gear” you or someone else has to ask a boy to get YOUR gear. As if people were not already talking about how you’re not praying. I could be all environmental here and talk about how pads and baby wipes are bad for the environment and Algeria has a trash problem already but I am not going to state the obvious. Try to limit the baby wipe usage for trash reasons; however I reccomend against using tampons- if you are female and want me to explain why in private, drop an email.

8. I bring no jewelry. I have the one pair of earrings I always wear plus my wedding band plus a necklace. I do bring two rings in stash in case I have to dress up a bit so people don’t think NH is cheap, but that is it. Ditto for makeup. You don’t need it. I bring a tiny tiny bag with eyeliner and stick concealer for the one day out of ten I need to “look good” and the rest of the days just get away with fierce lipgloss. In the words of the singer Eve, all you really need are a fierce pair of sunglasses and some good lipgloss to look ok on those days you don’t want to wear makeup.  One caveat is if your entire purpose in going is to attend a wedding. In this case, go ahead and bring makeup so as not to be subject to sharing eyeliner with forty of your husband’s closest relatives.

9. Don’t bring your contacts either unless you are truly legally blind. The whole running water issues and the whole dusty and sand stuff just don’t work for contacts. My husband is one of those people who has to wear contacts so he brings disposables, only wears them eight hours at a time, and sterilizes the hands before he even goes near his eyes. Eye infection city if you miss a step in the cleaning process, so even if you normally wear long-wear contacts, talk to your eye doctor about a month of disposables if you must.  I am already against people wearing contacts on planes, I think it dries out your eyes and makes you more susceptible to corneal ulcers. I wear glasses the entire trip. 

10. Anything that is part of your normal personal hygiene ritual, bring it or do without. For me, this means bringing my own shampoo so as not to dig into their stash. And so on.  In the winter, I bring cheap hand cream.

11. Big, big book. Sending men to get you newspapers and talking with the aunties only goes so far. Need book for me time.

12. A note re water: There is a water shortage in Algeria.  Even if you are lucky enough to stay at a place with good water pressure and consistent running water, wasting water is looked down upon and is simply a bad idea. This also means be aware of the local “water schedule.” Some places only have it three or four days a week, or only at certain times a day.  Even in nicer hotels, the water, especially the hot water, may not be on all the time. So schedule your bathing accordingly and be forewarned- if you take a forty minute shower you risk ruining the bathing experience for the rest of the family or group.  Learn to make wudu and wash up with a liter of water or less.  I typically take a shower a day at home and in Algeria I try to stretch that to three days.

13. Your luggage: I suggest bringing a large tote, a smaller purse and a solid roller suitcase. I am not going to get all guide book sanctimonious about how backpackers are looked down upon and all that because I haven’t seen it. I just find that, especially when visiting families and living out of a suitcase, suitcases are the way to go.

14.  I personally bring my own tea. They have ok tea there (Ifri brand is fine) but I just prefer my own.  I also, depending on the length of my trip bring my own stash of comfort food.  What food to bring as presents will be in a separate post.

15. Bring some sort of pashmina-type scarf made out of a lightweight fabric. This can serve as makeshift pillow, blanket, wrap, etc. 

More as I think more and I may edit as necessary.  Happy travels.