I was warned that all I would eat on this trip is couscous. I didn't have any idea if this would be a good or bad thing. I mean, the first time that I'd eaten couscous was here in Europe anyway...at the cafeteria where we eat lunch. It's an option in the salad bar every so often. Anyway, I loved the sauce that the Tunisians serve with their couscous. Everyone else didn't enjoy it, but I loved the stuff. I guess it's the same thing with me and my 1st year university experience of Residence Cafeteria food. Shepherd's pie and macaroni cheese? So different from the Asian food that I was used to eating every day, so it was such a novelty.
We went to the Bardo National Museum which has a lot of mosaics on display. It's impressive the detail that went into these things. It's amazing what was produced without the technology as we know it today. I'm not saying that you need a lot of technology to make a mosaic, but I don't know...I segway in weird ways.
For the first time I've visited an amphitheatre, I've gone onstage and pranced around. It was a blast. This is in Carthage.
Sidi Bou Said reminded me a lot of some of the Greek islands that I visited in Greece. I'm pretty sure it was because of the blue and while buildings.
At our Christmas Eve dinner (at a really classy/chic restaurant), this was our dessert utensil. I've heard of "forkchops", but this thing is new.
Souks = Markets. I like markets. There's so much activity going on there and sure they're often tourist traps, but at the same time, you get a sense of what locals are like as well. And plus, I love to bargain. It's so fun.
We visited a coliseum in El Jem. I have to say, it was better preserved than the coliseum in Rome. I know that I'm really ignorant when it comes to world issues (past or present), so my mind completely didn't make the connection that Romans existed outside of Rome. Duh.
We happened to be in Tunisia around the time of Eid. Each family would be sacrificing a sheep so we passed by lots of sheep markets. The markets were pretty ad hoc designs. A shepherd wandering the side of the highway with his flock and presto, it was a market.
No desert is complete without cacti. I think you can eat these things.
Another tourist picture opportunity, this contraption on top of the camel is used to hide the bride to be at weddings.
In Kariouan, we visited the Barbier Mausoleum. While I was happy to be able to see things like this, I felt a little uncomfortable. I mean this was a place of worship and our group was going in and looking around the place, making noise and disturbing their practices. I guess they're used to it though.
When we went to Turkey, our tour guide took us into a "rug factory" so that we could learn how rugs were made. WHATEVER. It was more like a commission stop. At least this commission stop involved a demonstration!
I don't know much about the Muslim faith, but I know a little bit more than I did before this trip. This is the Great Mosque in Kariouan.
Okay, I've been to Rome and seen the coliseum there. I've been inside of it too. This one was so much well preserved and there was so much more freedom in terms of wandering territory. We could even go down to the pit - which was cool, because we could play gladiator.
In Tozeur, we took a carriage ride into the palm groves where they harvest dates. They have to artificially inseminate the trees and then they climb them and pick off the dates. It's pretty cool. There were also banana trees...as well as pomegranate trees. Another first "tree" experience.
Just look at that colour...
Look at all that fruit! The dates were so good. The too-ripe ones were so soft that they just melted in your mouth. Yummy.
Look at these amazing ruins. I sort of feel sorry for those who'll have boring brick houses to look at in thousands of years.
Such a beautifully mosaic-ed christening pool.
I'll never get a real tattoo, but I'm not against the idea of henna. Well, obviously, because here's my hand...with henna on it. It lasted for a long time too. A month or so.
We were driving around the desert in 4x4s. On the 1st day, our driver was a rally car driver so he was all into doing crazy stuff in the dunes. It was really exciting. This picture is taken from the top of a dune looking down at a camel that was taking a break from his work.
They still have parts of the set left over from the original Star Wars movies in the desert. Why? I guess because they know tourists will visit it.
There were a couple roads in the desert, but often we were driving through the sand. I guess camels find it nicer to walk on the road too, although they do slow traffic down a fair bit.
Yeah, we know.
The camels were drinking from the side of the road and as we were the first car of the convoy, we got the best view of the most incredible experience ever...…
One of the camels was either startled to see that we were coming up behind them or that is just lost its footing and fell into the quicksand. Yes, it was real quicksand and the camel was completely stuck. It tried to get out on its own, but to no avail. Our convoy stopped, and the drivers tried to pull it out. Here, they're putting a rope around it...the other end of the rope is attached to a 4x4. After some serious tugging, the camel was safe although it lay on the ground for awhile, not getting up. Obviously it was in a little shock, but it got up and joined the rest of the group, which sort of kept its distance for a little while. Some people in our group swear that the camel actually stretched its neck out a little further to help the rope go around its neck. Makes you wonder - did the camel really know what was going on, and sat their calmly letting the humans help it?
We rode an old train called The Red Lizard. It was straight out of a movie, much like many other experiences that I've had in my time here in Europe. These canyons reminded me of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Tunisia just has so many different parts to it. This was
literally, minutes away from barren desert.
Sigh. Fabulous.
Ha ha ha ha.
That's me riding a camel through the Sahara!
This was our first camp site in the desert. Yes, now I think I can say I've gone camping. It wasn't the worst experience I've ever had, but I don't think I completely love it. I really didn't like the lack of toilets. It's not like there are a lot of bushes in the desert (although this picture shows otherwise - I learned that there are three main parts of the desert. The first is the one with the origial Star Wars set which is near the rocky mountains, the second is this one...near the salt lakes and home of many oases and the last one is what you stereotypically imagine the Sahara to be, sand, sand and more dunes of sand), but luckily the sand dunes are high enough that you can hide when necessary. The actual tent was made of camel fur/hair. Pretty basic, but it shows that you don't really need luxury to survive.
On New Year's Eve we had a special treat. We shared the campsite with a couple other groups and there was a great meal along with a performance and later on, dancing by the bonfire.
Some of us were hardcore and slept outside, under the stars. It was REALLY cold. I had frost on my sleeping bag one morning. I wore so many layers, was in two sleeping bags and two more blankets on top of that (one being a fabulous camel/wool blanket that the real nomads
wear). I was warm, but the frost made me realize just how cold it was outside.Our breakfast area! Our hosts made "sand bread" for every meal. The dough was rolled flat like a pita and buried in coals. The coals were then covered with sand. It was SO tasty.
The Sahara is everything that you would imagine it to be and more. Absolutely beautiful...that's all I can say. The sand was such a beautiful colour (although when in the "salt lake" area its a different colour than from the "stereotypical desert" area. It's more red in the latter. I've kept some as a souvenir (how tacky). I've never felt sand like this before. It was so soft...and smooth. The granules are so fine that it feels like flour. This is the stuff that they should put in sandboxes, although it doesn't pack very well - or maybe that's just because it was so dry. In the morning though, when there was moisture in the top layer, it was mouldable. As soon as the sun came up though, it was game over. I think I still have sand in random things that I brought back from the trip.
I wonder how long those prints lasted.
We stopped at a local village. This berber woman and child was there soaking up the sun. The skin colour of the berbers is something that I don't think I've encountered before.
The berber woman said that this goat was born that morning...and look at those little lambs!
These are troglodyte houses...carved into the rocky mountains. Incredible.
We visited a troglodyte home which this gentleman lived in. I couldn't believe that we were walking around their house and taking pictures and stuff. I'm sure that they were used to this, as they even had tea prepared for us to drink (we were encouraged by our guide to leave a tip at the door on our way out), but could you imagine a tour group traipsing through your house? It was a little strange, but I was thankful for the experience. Oh, and look at this man's eyes. Amazing. Berbers typically have red hair and grey eyes.
A Tunisian sunset. I love my life.
These used to be grainaries, used to store grain by the nomads. They'd come back every so often to get more before they went off in the next direction. This was also the backdrop to the movie, The Phantom Menace. George Lucas must have really liked Tunisia. 
It's near the town of Tatouine, which, you Star Wars fans should know that there's some planet in the movie which is named after this place.I walked in a couple of these places. Just like the troglodytes, I was in awe of the carvings, and the stairs and rooms that were created.
This berber woman sports some of the typical tattoos on her face. Of course her attire is traditional, and the plastic tub is awaiting tips from us tourists (we're in her house).
The town of Matmata is built on a hill.
The last stop on our trip was in Djerba. Known for being a little bit of a resort town, our hotel was aptly a 5-star place. All-inclusive. For a school trip, I wasn't a big fan, but it made me flash back to family vacations to the Domincan and Mexico. Anyway, one these last couple of days in Tunisia, I decided to go to a market (I love markets...the hussle and bussle. The colours and excitement.) I mean, look at this. It's amazing. I really wanted to get a tangine, or a pot to
serve soup (or rice - more practical for me), but I didn't fall in love with any of the ones that I saw. That, and I was running out of luggage space. Sigh. Shopping = paradise.
Look at this spice store. I bought a couple things even though I have no idea how to use them...I hope the recipients of the spices will fare better than I ever could. Look at the colours!
Ha ha ha...the cleaning staff made a swan out of towel. And left rose petals all over my room...weird. Obviously by this point, we're out of the desert...and into a 4-star, all inclusive hotel. Crazy school.
I did buy some ceramics. The colours were beautiful so I couldn't resist. The markets seemed to be divided in such a way that certain areas were dedicated to a certain type of thing. The produce area, seafood, ceramics, rugs, clothes, shoes, leather goods, jewellery, spices - the list goes on. While I miss the big malls of Toronto, I really did enjoy walking through the markets. It was a feeling that I can't describe.This trip was incredible. I really had no idea what to expect before I went, I mean, before Kenya I had a stereotypical idea of what Africa would be like, and a lot of it was similar, but Tunisia was a country that wasn't even close to coming on my radar. My ideas of Africa were that of Kenya, but I knew Tunisia would be totally different. Since people told me that we would be going to the desert, I pictured stereotypical Sahara images...still, it was a completely new experience for me. I feel so privileged. So incredible lucky to have had this experience and all of the other experiences in the past two and a half years. I had a goal of coming back to Europe after my trip in 1997, and in 2001, I wanted to do so by getting a teaching position. My dream came true, but I can't even describe how much this experience has exceeded my expectations - and you all know how high my expectations usually are. I never ever thought that I'd experience half of the things that I've been able to experience in my time here, let alone in my lifetime. Sigh.
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