An African Vacation During the Pandemic

Last year during the COVID shut down while my Nail Salon was closed, I did a travel theme for My husband. He has never traveled so we went to Africa here in southern California! It took a month to travel through Africa!

We started in Morocco I used soaps, shea butters and made my own scrubs for a home Pedicure, he loved it. I bought a Moroccan tagine and followed a youtube recipe to make tagine chicken, it was delicious. I dressed up in a belly dance skirt and played Pandora on a belly dance station, and we ended the night with Moroccan Mint tea. 

Next was Egypt, we found a camel in our area that is used for children's parties. We picked up falafel sandwiches at a local restaurant and we were able to visit. It was the first time my husband saw a live camel he was amazed. 

We traveled south to Nubia. Using the Nubian Heritage soaps and lotions I gave my husband a manicure in our backyard complete with hibiscus ice tea.

At this point outdoor dining was now available so for Ethiopia we went to Little Ethiopia close to Beverly Hills about an hour drive for us. Most of the stores were closed but we still had a nice experience, we had Injera with all the veggies, yum! I was excited to see that some of the local shops carried the same African products that I buy from Africa imports.

The next weekend we drove down to Laguna Beach for Mozambique. The restaurant was beautiful!! It felt very Africa, the reality of the shut down hit me at the point when I saw all the musical instruments sitting quietly in the bar. All entertainment was cancelled which I imagine was really fun pre-pandemic.

A few days later was a SAFARI only 2 hours from San Diego we visited the Wild Animal park. We did a safari experience in the back of a truck. Short ride but it was so fun to be up close to these amazing creatures.

I bought Ankara fabrics to decorate my table.  In between excursions I looked up African recipes, we had some of my favorite teas from Africa Imports and showers were nice using black soaps, Shea butter and oils. At night I would collect fun facts before bed that I would read to my husband, I ordered currency from Ebay of Republic of The Congo, and I also bought two small banana print paintings from Africa Imports, I still have those hanging as a reminder of our amazing trip to Africa here in Southern California!

Adela from Fontana, CA