See Sea Wall

Getting ready to leave Jerba, we did a couple things we’ve been meaning to do: walked along the Jerba Sea Wall and for our first meal out in a couple weeks visited a nice (but still cheap by international standards) restaurant in a funduq-style hotel – an inn built centuries ago with facilities to tie up your horse and store your grain.

You may think

Seems an Americian entity is showing a bit of hubris... who'da thought. On CNN International my jaw dropped as I saw a teaser for a program. It went: "The Middle East. You may think you know it... but do you really?" It then went on to tell me to tune in to Inside the Middle East. But - helloooo CNN - This was being broadcast to the Middle East!

I don't think they'd broadcast to the states: "The USA. You may think you know it... but do you really!".

Bah Bah

To give mom a break, R. and I went to the amusement park in Houmt Souk (Jerba).

Ferry Videos

Two videos from the ferry we took last month. I finally had the bandwidth to upload them.

Tataouine: Phantom Menace

We took a two day trip to a town called Tataouine. Pics of the Tataouine Journey. Things didn't work out so well. These shared minivan things called louages have regular routes but won't go until they have enough customers. So we waited for 2 hours then made a deal with the other passengers to pay for the empty seats. You'll notice I took pics of the station other louages, etc while waiting.

Then we couldn't find the Ksar (nifty old building type) we wanted to see once we arrived. We hadn’t packed for another day and there was only one bus daily (and we didn't want to take another louage) so we returned first thing the next day. The bus ride wasn’t ideal either. Twice the driver pulled over to tinker with the engine.

Oh well, sometimes it just doesn't work out.

The "Phantom Menace" in the title of this post? Some other Star Wars episodes were films around Tataouine. Maybe not the Phantom Menace but it sounds good.

I got nothing

No posts for a while because we aren't doing much. Went to the beach 3 times. Was we returned (from the beach) most recently I noticed some tourists speaking French to each other asking "is the the place were are supposed to get off", etc. So old hand that I am I told them not to get off yet. Look there is the bus station, etc. I was fantastic (kidding).

Independence Day, Mar 20, was a dud. Late in the day some guys put on some banners in the main square (in Arabic). Why did they wait so long and was that the "celebration". We're told it's more exciting in the capital.

We noticed kids hanging around - playing soccer in our local dirt field, etc - so I asked. As of today they're on a 2 week holiday. They're finished exams.

We're having trouble booking a hotel in Barcelona. Many are a full. But so far we are only trying small gems. May have to change our standards. So far in the trip (it being low seasion) hotels have been nearly empty.

Apartment

I took some low-res photos of what’s wierd and wonderful at our apartment.

Guellela

Mar 16
Took the local bus to the town of Guellela (still on Jerba Island). There we visited the museum which has display of local customs. Finally, finally, finally the weather was hot. If I wanted to make this story exciting I’d mention that we passed near the Synagogue that Al Qaeda bombed shortly after 9/11. Instead I’ll mention that we had a tasty and inexpensive lunch on the patio outside the museum – which is the highest land on the island (still not very high). C. had some nice grilled calamari. We picked (by accident) the right day to visit the museum of local customs since today is the day school kids dress up in traditional costumes. Some were at the museum and we saw others around the town and on the road. Girls had golden scarves and boys red fezzes – very cute. Upcoming Independence Day on March 20 is reason for dressing up. Every street corner in the country is being festooned with red flags. We don’t know what’s going to happen on the big day but presumably it involves smoking some “20 Mars” brand cigarettes.

maps and movie

I updated the maps.

For people who know the secret password, I posted *movie* of R. on a Merry Go Round in France.

C'est Bon

The whole grocery thread is getting a bit mundane but I started it so I’d better close it. Today, after days of searching, we found a supermarket that has a pretty good selection. No Kellogg’s Corn Flakes but a Tunisian klone kalled Krispy’s Corn Flakes. The brand name of the store is “BonPrix” but, of course, the prices are a bit higher. Next door is a clean-looking butcher and a well stocked fruit/veg store. They are a reasonable walking distance to our pad. So you can now rest easy - breakfast is in good hands.

Groceries

Mar 12
Our mission today was to find the playground -- it turned out to be quite sad. And to find a better grocery store. We visited all three and the selection of food was somewhat depressing. We got fruit and veggies from a specialized store but we are a bit afraid to visit a butcher.

However the town seems nice enough. As expected there are quite a few other tourists but they stick to “their” areas in town.

Jerba Playground

Teeter-totter made of car parts

Spiral slide that's seen better days

Horse on see-saw that can't see

Merry-go-round that isn't so merry

Jerba Pics

Beached boat meets stadium

Tied up fishing boat

Slimy rope

Octopus pots, I think

Raised Arabic text -- no idea what it says

A huge buoy washed up on the beach

The wine store at the Club Bravo Hotel. Mostly Tunisian wine. In a Muslim country.

A display in a museum about local customs. Here the bride-to-be undergoes hair removal (with sugar and lemon) getting ready for the big day. Ouch.

Detail of Guellela museum exterior

Also in the Guellela museum, a real (!) camel demonstrates the traditional way to grind olives into paste. I'm sure you noticed the beams of light.

Determined flower busts thru beach sand (Jerba public beach)

Headless status beside construction site (Houmt Souk museum)

A mannequin looks out of a display case to a sunny day. (Houmt Souk museum)

Inside of an old dome. Appears to be made of many ceramic vessels. (Houmt Souk museum)

Public beach in Jerba

Looking at the café on the public beach

At the café looking out

Taxiphone

Mar 11
Today we took the bus to the Island of Jerba (aka Djerba). It’s in the Mediterranean towards Libya. The bus drove right onto a small open decked ferry. I thought that was somewhat nifty.

We are going to have an apartment here. So a challenge – I have to use a payphone to call our landlord. No worse than expected: seconds into my conversation in French the payphone hung-up. I called back; this time feeding the phone small coins as we parleyed – the phone wouldn’t let me build up credit. He said he would meet us at the payphones at the bus station and I said bye. However as soon as C. asked me if I was sure that was the conclusion of the call I wasn’t so sure. (In Tunisia payphones are called “Taxiphone”s so was he asking us to take a taxi to the apartment?) Amazingly he showed up about ten minutes later.

The apartment isn’t quite as central as I expected. But it’ll be OK. Now it was time to play house. We walked to the local store and bought some pasta, canned tomato paste and pizza herb mix (“mélange pizza”) to make a boring but adequate meal.

Nerd Heaven

Mar 10
Today we took a day trip to Matmata where there are cool underground houses. Used for Luke Skywalker’s home in Star Wars. The clothes worn by the Bedouin men in Tunisia look suspiciously like those Jedi knights. Yes, we had a beer in the bar.

I bet George Lucas didn’t take the very crowded local bus we did – at least R. got a seat and we chatted with a woman who was studying English.

Star Wars set -- Luke Skywalker's home in the film. Originally a Troglodyte home.

Star Wars set -- homes were built underground to keep cool

Star Wars set -- some of the stuff is peeling off the walls

Hoser on Star Wars set -- I think "Bar" was added after the movie

Star Wars set -- not surprisingly after 30 years some paint is peeling

French influence in Tunisia

Sudbury, Tunisia

Mar 9
Before leaving Douz we walked around the Thursday market. It was the best market we’ve seen so far. Everything was for sale including livestock: goats, rabbits, donkeys and, of course, camels. We noticed the Italians who were staying at our hotel browsing through fatigues at one stand while they were already wearing some.

Then we moved on to most polluted town in Tunisia – called Gabes. So why are we here – and for two nights? I guess the answer is convenience. Its half way between where we were and where we want to be.

A hotel in need of a paint job in Gabes

Playground

The main minaret in Gabes appears of be unfinished -- like that palm tree

Douz-ing

Not much happened today. To get off the beaten track I aimed our party away from the town center and desert. We found an area of town with sand for streets and sidewalks. Could this be a ghetto - since water == wealth - I thought. After trekking around some and getting semi lost we returned to the regular paved streets.

Some boys said "bonjour" and asked for pens. Maybe the good tourists give out school supplies. But since we aren't up on that we had none on hand.

Douz-y

If you take a look at the photos you'll see us on the bus getting to the town of Douz. Then you - if you can - tolerate some arty pics of a nicer hotel we stayed at for one night for the pool. Then the good stuff. We walked from our second hotel to the edge of the Sahara desert and took an hour camel ride. Quite something - the drifting and blowing sand reminded me of snow in a blizzard. It was actually chilly. C. said was OK to post the pic of us in front of our camels after the ride with the camel driver so there it is. There are other pics of the camels lounging around waiting for tourists - but there were none. The apex of our trip?

I have to talk about the bargaining since bargaining for a camel ride is classic. The guy at the tourist office said the official price is 3.5 dinars but I should be happy with 8. This is per person for an hour. For the three of us on two camels, the bargaining began at 30. I got it down to 20 and left it there. 10 dinars per camel. Not bad.

On the bus to Douz. Too bad the desert outside isn't visible. Everyone likes to sit near the front.

Flip flops on tile floor at first hotel in Douz

Ceiling shows on pool surface at first hotel in Douz

Sunset over palmery in Douz

Chandelier is part of a constellation in gift shop at first hotel in Douz

After our hour camel ride around Douz's "Great Dune" in the Sahara. With camel driver and smiling camels.

Camels waiting for more riders

Sandy playground beside the desert

A camel caravan sets out

Rosters hang out in district of Douz behind the bus station

Building hangs out in district of Douz behind the bus station

Livestock area of Douz weekly market

Young camels for sale at Douz weekly market

Looking at the young camels

Tozeur Touristique

Mar 2-6
We looked around the old city of Tozeur.

If you get into Land Cruiser marked "Touristique" perhaps you are a tourist. We traveled this way to some mountain oasises. You can see my pic - by clicking on the above image - of Tunisian tourists taking their pics at the waterfall in one of these places. Also a photo of a camel temporarily blocking our way.
Later today we are taking the local bus to Douz where R. can ride a camel.

In the middle of Tozeur

Mar 2
During the six hour bus ride to Tozeur R. asked “are we in the middle of nowhere”. “Yes” was the pretty accurate answer from both her parents. A fairly desolate landscape. Tozeur’s reason d’etre is the huge palm tree plantation so we took a long walk through it. People were friendly again I’m glad to report. After a dusty walk enjoyed a cold Celtia beer.

Smoke from a garbage fire diffuses with trees in the Tozeur palm plantation (palmery)

Looking at the sun through a tree in the Tozeur palmery

Palm trees, fence of palm fawns, shadows of trees in Tozeru palmery

Tozeur medina (old town) and man on bike. Unique brickwork.

House over road in Tozeur medina. More brickwork.

Veiled woman and more of Tozeur medina on bright day

Chebika (mountain oasis) near Tozeur

Tunisian tourists photograph each other before plunging to their untimely death at Chebika near Tozeur

Canadian tourists enjoy the pool at the bottom of the waterfall at Chebika near Tozeur

Grand Canyon-like features at Midès (mountain oasis) near Tozeur

Camels briefly block our way returning to Tozeur in our tourist Land Cruiser. Sign reads "Tourisique" in case it wasn't obvious enough to people looking at us.