Guinea-Bissau

On the Atlantic coast of West Africa, Guinea-Bissau remains a place both overlooked and quietly magnetic. Its sunlit shores and tangled mangroves open onto communities where hospitality is less performance than instinct. The gestures are small—an invitation to share a bowl of jollof rice, the warmth of a greeting in the market—but they accumulate into something more lasting, a sense of belonging in a nation rarely found on tourist itineraries. Hospitality, here, is not abstract. Families often open their doors to strangers, setting tables with caldeirada, a fragrant fish stew simmered with peppers and palm oil. Music, meanwhile, spills from courtyards and gatherings, its rhythms carrying stories of struggle, migration,...