Tunisia Vol. II

Okay, here's some more stuff about Tunisia. Also, if anyone knows how to format pictures more effectively, please let me know.

Day 3: We left very early again, headed to El Djem. The major feature there was the Colosseum, the 4th largest ampitheater in the world. Four hours later, it's about 75 degrees and we're definitely in the desert. Scattered along the way are lots of troglodyte houses, marked by white or sand-colored walls with two blue handprints on either side of a blue fish above the doorway. We stopped at a house

where the guide knew the woman who lived there. I loved how the houses were designed - they were carved out of and sunk into the surrounding landscape, and maintained the same temperature throughout all seasons. There was a small courtyard, and about 5 rooms stemming from it. There was a kitchen, storage room, and three bedrooms, one that had a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Later, we came to Tatooine, where Star Wars was filmed. We also stopped at the lunar landscape at Matamar. I'm not sure exactly what that is, but it was a beautiful view. Finally, we got to Douz, which is the gateway to the Sahara Desert, and dropped off our stuff at the hotel. A little ways down the road, we came to the dromedary market, where we were handed scarves to wrap around our heads and black-and-white striped cloaks. Something I didn't know: dromedaries have one hump while camels have two. Dromedaries are very tall, and they kneel for people to get on them. They have very soft, hairy feet that plop along, very differently from horses' firm steps. We rode half an hour, dis-mounted and gave the camels a break while we watched the sunset. The sand of the Sahara is very golden and has the consistency of flour. The dromedary guide pointed to my nose ring, and then pointed to one of the camels who had a ring through its nose. He thought this comparsion was hilarious, I did not.

Day 4: Watched the sunrise on the bus as we made our way towards the salt lake of Chott el-Jerid, where we stopped to explore. The dried salt looks like frost on the ground, but in some places piled up into crystallized mounds. Since it had recently rained, there was a lot of water, but usually there isn't as much, and you can literally walk on the water because of the dried salt. A few hours later we arrived at Tozeur, where we would go to a Tunisian university to meet students studying Italian and English. It turned out that we didn't actually get to meet with them because they had a class, but all 45 of us were ushered into a tiny room with a giant banner that said welcome in English and Arabic, and the professors and staff of the school clustered around us, video-taping and taking pictures. Probably the time that I've felt the most blatantly observed in my life. After some questioning, the dean of the school told us that he had a surprise for us. We went outside and he ushered us into horse-drawn carts, which was definitely a cool way to see the city of Tozeur.

The destination was the date palm oasis. Here, we saw date trees

in various stages of growth and we watched some date harvesting. Date palms have to be climbed three times: 1) to pollinate; 2) to check for pests; and 3) to harvest. The trees are scaled barefoot. After this, we took jeeps into the desert to visit the mountain oases of Chebika, Tamerza, and Mides. Our driver was dressed in a khaki safari outfit, and was very gruff until we gave him some makrouds, and he taught us how to say "thank you very much" in Arabic, which is "shukran jazeelan". He put Tunisian music on the radio and drove 130 km/hr, which felt very very fast. On the way back to Douz, the water of the salt lake and the sky blended together in such a way that there was almost no horizon line. We st

opped again at the salt lake and watched the sunset. Everyone was in a good mood on the bus and we turned out the lights to look at the stars. Our professor taught us some children's songs in Italian until we got back to Douz.