The never-ending bus ride

Mar 31
We “checked out” of our Jerba apartment by leaving the keys in a nook in the wall.

Then skedaddled to the bus station for the 8:30 express bus to Tunis. The bus arrived but it was already nearly full! People jammed on anyways. C. was pushed by an aggressive (normal) woman behind her. The woman actually extended her arms shoved. And there was nowhere for poor C. to go. Things weren’t looking good. Would we have to stand who whole way? Perhaps using Kung Foo to defend ourselves as we did? We then learned there was a second bus.

The ride took an enormous 9.5 hours. There were far more stops then we expected. For example, there was a lunch stop and about half-an-hour later a dessert stop at a place that sold a variety of sweets. It was hot and I felt bad about limiting how much water R. could drink but –hey- there was no washroom on board.

Of course, we made it to Tunis and we can feel pleased about saving a couple hundred bucks versus taking the plane. Coming from France Tunis didn’t seem cosmopolitan but now coming from the South it actually does. There isn’t tons of sand blowing around the streets for starters.

In a bookstore I flipped thru a book in French that teaches English. The book cautions new English speakers not to confuse “poodles” and “puddles”. The sentence “Don’t let your poodle step in a puddle” is offered.