Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why

Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why
Edited by Sean O'Reilly, Larry Habegger, and James O'Reilly
Travelers' Tales
IBSN: 1-885211-97-X
Non-Fiction, Narrative, Travel
Reviewed by Dr. Tami Brady

Hyenas Laughed at me and Now I Know Why is a collection of twenty-eight humorous travel stories written by various travel writers. These stories educate, terrify, and entertain readers with cultural miscommunications and misadventures in various exotic locations.
These tales vary from quirky ironic situations such as William Dalrymple's I am an Englishman where the author must translate English with a heavy Indian accent to English to downright dangerous, funnier after the fact, stories such as Patrick Fitzhugh's The Snake Charmer of Guanacaste in which the author must convince another man that a snake is indeed dangerous. Many of the situations are funny after the fact or because they didn't happen to you. Some of the stories will even make you grimace and shake your head but ten minutes later you will find yourself relaying the story to your best friend or your spouse.
It is difficult to choose a single favorite story as all of the stories were enjoyable. I enjoyed Elliott Hester's When Fists Flew on the San Juan Special at the shear idiocy of the entire chaotic flight. I was enthralled and appalled throughout Jono Marcus' It's Dar es Salaam and I Am Not Dead as the author described his ordeals with criminals, police corruption., and border crossings. I think I even learned a lesson or two during that story. I felt a sense of ironic kinship with both Rikke Jorgensen's Ravioli, French Style with unwanted extras in her lunch and Bradley Charbonneau's Hungry? Where that author just wants some chicken.
This book is intended to entertain. Some of the stories contain some potty humor or rather underpants from hell humor. Thus, this book is intended for a somewhat mature audience. Furthermore, some of the stories could scare younger readers into never setting foot outside their own home town. Nonetheless, this is a hilarious book to read while you're on a plane, sitting on the beach, or lounging on your couch. I think this book would even be suitable for one of those days when you need to be reminded that someone somewhere is having a worse day than you.