The armchair traveller’s guide to Algeria
When my hair was long and Corona was a beer, I spent three months travelling around Morocco. My only North African experience thus far was a pretty intense. Taking my armchair to Algeria was less life-changing but I was disorientated to realise just how little I know. I mean all I really knew about the biggest country I had learned from Camus…
One thing seemed to link all the possible Algerian books and films — trauma, from the tragedy of French colonialisation to the heartbreaks of independence. I plumped for What the day owes the night by Yasmina Khadra a novel that shares similarities with A thousand splendid suns which I read for Afghanistan. It is the tale of people trying to hold their lives together as their country and their loves fall apart. The main character is so infuriating you may want to watch the film instead so you only have to spend two hours of your life with him.
We ended up watching two Algerian films, Days of glory, the story of four Algerians fighting alongside the French in the second world war and the appalling way they have been treated by the French Government ever since. We supplemented this with Far From Men, about a teacher whose family have lived in Algeria for generations and the effect that the independence struggle has on him. It also spoke of the Blood Code which I had learned about in my travel-free trip to Albania. Although both films were powerful and are well worth watching, I was disappointed not to be able to download a film from the female perspective such as I still hide to smoke. If you know where I can watch it, please let me know.
The weekend began with an Albanian breakfast, made not by me, but by the chefs at the Moroccan Coffee House. I was glad to have them make Msemmen as all the recipes looked beyond my skill! We also bought soft, melty Algerian bread which went well with both mint tea and our dinner of jwaz, couscous and chtitha batata.
Music was courtesy of someone’s Algerian playlist, I just didn’t have time to search for my own gems. But I am sure there are some amazing ones out there… not surprising I guess to realise that giving yourself a week in Africa’s biggest country only allows you to scratch the surface.
*Author’s note* Even though Yasmina is a female name, it is actually the nom de plume of a man. So that means the gender balance of my reading is presently 3/0!
17 October 2020
