Algeria

October 5–8, 2009

Algerians place their hand on their heart after a handshake. Friends and old acquaintances kiss on the cheek three or four times. In the provinces, people kiss every time they meet during the day. In the capital, once a day is enough.

The French managed to achieve the impossible during their colonial rule here: all Algerians eat baguette instead of flatbread. Generally speaking, no one besides the French actually finds baguette palatable: its taste is highly overrated, and its ability to stay edible for any period of time is minimal. A baguette dries out very quickly and abrades untrained gums. In Algeria, even shawarma is served in a French roll.

Algeria has the world’s highest concentration of hanging laundry and satellite dishes per square meter of building.

Each household has at least two satellite dishes, sometimes three or four. One is for Arabic channels, another for international programming, the third picks up some other kind of broadcasts.

And it would be crazy not to dry your laundry in the African sun.

The license plates are always white on the front of the car.

And yellow on the back. The United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, and Wallis and Futuna have the same system.

The plate numbers are fairly easy to read. For instance, let’s take 36063 104 16. The first five digits are the registration number. This is followed by the vehicle class and registration year (1 means passenger car, 04 is 2004). The last two digits are the number of the wilayah (the administrative division, or province). 16 is the code for the capital.

Temporary plates are a special case. They have 00 instead of the vehicle class and registration year. Not to be mistaken for passenger cars with registration numbers issued in 2000: those say 100.

If it’s not +40 °C outside, everyone drives around with their windows down.

The French have left a significant mark on the culture and architecture of Algeria.

The Arab architecture isn’t as interesting.

Not all the Villeroy tile has been chipped off yet.

The building lobbies have been largely disfigured, but still bear traces of their former grandeur. Almost like in Lviv.

You can even find wooden elevators with open shafts.

Another important local feature: building facades have special power line supports at the third- or fourth-floor level.

The storm drain grate is tucked into the curb.

Our old friend, the 1970s French signpost. One like this was also installed in Pushkin Square in Moscow right before the Olympics.

The street name plaques are quintessentially French.

A trash can.

Payphones.

The post boxes often look shabby. The typical model is the same as in France.

The ruler’s portrait is a mandatory decorative element in all Muslim countries.

A fire hydrant.

The national drink is Hamoud soda, which was born around the same time as Coca-Cola. It’s shipped in large plastic crates of eight 1.5 L bottles.

Some gas stations have a very unusual system. You drive up to the cashier’s booth and pay first, then drive up to the pump. It’s like a drive-thru for gas.

The pedestrians on the new traffic lights protrude slightly from the surface (just like in Batumi).

The «falling rocks» sign humbly illustrates what could fall from above.

Overall, it’s quite boring in Algeria.

To compensate for this, they do everything possible to entertain passengers in the departure area at the airport. First, you have to check in for your flight. Then someone at the next counter verifies your documents and stamps your ticket. Next, you go through passport control, followed by security, then customs.

After that, they give you your boarding pass and split it into two parts. Literally a couple of meters later, another person checks your passport again and looks at both halves of your boarding pass.

Before boarding the apron bus, everyone’s hand luggage is searched once more, this time by hand. Then they pat down the passengers (who’ve already passed through a metal detector). Then the bus takes everyone to the plane.

When you exit the bus, another redundant agent checks both halves of your boarding pass with a serious face and takes one of the halves.

All right, I’m not bored anymore, we can go now.