TUNISIA December 27, 2011: Americans in Tunisia — Day 7 (No Carpet)

Greetings from Djerba

Been quite a day!

Left Gabes (after purchasing a pair of $4 sunglasses — which is really all I deserve since I’ve lost three pair of expensive ones in the last 18 months).. a bit chaotic as we attempted to find the road to Matmata (village of troglodyte houses). After several wrong turns, (including a detour through the city dump!) we were on our way.. the road was fairly good and Mike’s becoming quite a pro — weaving in and out with the best of them… I’ve opted to be the passenger and at times the navigator, although that is a difficult job. We brought a really good map of Tunisia with us (which has been helpful — at times), but our map has Anglicized spellings and no Arabic and when we get to small villages residents are accustomed to reading in Arabic; even their French is halting… We really haven’t been able to use English much (an obvious problem for us!). Anyway, the road signs are usually translated and thus are in both Arabic and the translation.. But words and town names are not necessarily consistent. For example, today we were looking for what the guidebook referred to as Erriad, but signs said Riadh and some signs said Riyadh… so the navigator’s job is really important..and also creative.

The drive to Matmata, on small roads, reminded us a lot of other trips into developing nations. It’s here in the more rural areas that you get a better sense of the country. Tunis is a far distant place and in another level of development from these rural communities. Along the way, we saw roadside stand after roadside stand displaying recently killed sheep. Vendors were trying to sell us entire slabs of meet. We politely declined (imagine bringing that back through customs). But I photographed the guys with the sheep and Mike photographed me photographing the sheep vendors.

We made it to both New Matmata and Matmata. Naturally as we approached the “centre ville” of Matmata we were followed by a young guy on a motorcycle who wanted to be our guide.. but we declined..although he was far more persistent than the meat sellers.

We found our way to the tiny Berber Musee (located inside one of the cave houses) and explored the many rooms and courtyard… The only other visitors beside us was a  group of about 20 Tunisian women (varying in age from about 20 to 50 and with some young children. They were totally fascinated that we were in Matmata (which appeared to be a first time trip for them). They were surprisingly open and friendly and also having lots of fun on this travel adventure… taking pictures of one another and a lot of group shots.. They also liked the echo-y quality of the caves and started to sing a song in Arabic… the trilling of the la la la…

When they left the little museum, Mike and I were all alone in the place and then I was totally alone as Mike went off to photograph from the top of the mound (which is actually at grade since the caves are underground)… Then as I was exiting through the tunnel-like connection to the outside… the women were taking large group photos, yucking it up the whole time.  I was actually behind them not wanting to spoil the picture.. but when they saw me hovering behind avoiding the photo they took my hand and put me in the center of the shot with the group of 20… I was looking for Mike to take a photo so we could have a copy…but “no Mike”.. Anyway.. it was fun.. and somehow I’m in this photo with all of these women.. many holding the Koran.  One of them tried to speak English to me but the only thing she could muster was “holy book” as she held up the Koran. They seemed happy; kids were playful. We then went our separate ways.. Went to explore some other troglodyte dwellings, some still in use, others abandoned…. I think that the women’s group was tied together through some Koran study group.. at least that is what my little conversation in French seemed to reveal.

We then set off for Medenine and on to Djerba. After getting lost a few times (not being able to find the road to Medenine (still can’t figure out where we went wrong).. we figured we better head directly to Djerba, since even that would be a challenge and we wanted to arrive before dusk. Somehow we managed to be on dirt roads, roads under construction, and occasionally on a real road… but found our way to Marek (sp?) a dusty town located at the intersection of a few main roads… Decided it was the place to stop for lunch so we meandered into some little “restaurant” (really a roadside stop with tables).. menu was only in Arabic, so we just said “cous cous… avec viande..”.. and so it arrived. Tunisian cous cous is fairly spicy.. I think they use harissa which was also used in Morocco… Good thing we like spicy foods. The cous cous dish and a very very large bottle of water (quart) cost about $3. Then we attempted to find the road to Djerba (only about three mistakes this time, and asked for directions from about the same number of people)… all directions are given based on roundabouts (rampeurs?) so counting the number of roundabouts as you go is another important job for the navigator.

Along the way, on these small roads, there are little stands where men sell gas.. they pour it through a funnel into the gas tank. We’re going to get our gas that way tomorrow.. and avoid OiLybia.  (Special note for Ellen W — We’ll try to avoid purchasing from one of the guys who is smoking on the job.) Many of the guys selling gas have mattresses on the ground behind the plastic gallon jugs of gasoline… to nap when business is slow.

Since Djerba is an island, a ferry is a required part of the trip (For the two of us and our car it cost about 50 cents for the ferry.).. We shared the car deck of the little ferry with a few trucks that were transporting sheep to Djerba (perhaps to meet the same fate as all those hanging on the roadside..poor little sheep — don’t know what’s coming.). Very short ferry ride (would have been longer if we had found the right road and taken the right ferry)… 

Then we drove across Djerba to the northern tip.. to find our little 14 room “hotel.”  As we hit the northern tip and headed east (as our written Google directions explained.. iPhone GPS couldn’t locate us) we knew we were lost. We must have stopped at least ten different people along the way.. each giving us contradictory directions. By now, I was almost resigned to just find a hotel–anywhere in Djerba (and although we had consciously sought out a small place, we knew there are big resort hotels on the water – frequented by the French and the Brits… it was getting a bit frustrating and also getting later and darker).. Alas, we found our way (somewhat miraculously) to Dar Dhiafa. Had we not traveled through rural Morocco fairly recently and stayed at so many totally special and charming little historic inns, we probably would have driven right by since there’s no real signage.

But here we are.. in our little room where all the structures are hand hewn and walls are stone and rubble and stuccoed over (about 18″ thick).. lots of little corners and crevices… and nooks. The toilet is a few steps downstairs from the bedroom and sitting area.. and the shower and sink room is a few steps up from the main floor area of our room. It’s a bit out of the center, but it couldn’t be lovelier or more authentic.  Our little “apartment” (bedroom, sitting area, and bath) is probably 40′ long, with the long side facing onto the courtyard; the depth is about 8′. The public areas and the rooms were renovated about 12 years ago. Whoever made the decisions selected beautifully crafted pieces for decorations. It’s simple, but delightful. Our room faces a small courtyard with a “pool” that is classically shaped.. You can walk up exterior stairs and walk on our roof and on the roofs of other adjoining rooms.

Given how thoughtfully done the place is, we decided to have dinner here.. which gave us a chance to relax… have a glass of wine.. and avoid driving into the center. That’s for tomorrow. We are here in Djerba for two days. Tomorrow we’ll explore the market, the center, and the two Jewish neighborhoods. Apparently Djerba has been a traditional enclave for Tunisian Jews (approximately one percent of the Tunisian population). There are a few synagogues operating today, and the Jewish community here is “ultra orthodox”.. will let you know more tomorrow.

By the way, if you get this email, you’ll know I was able to connect online in the lobby.. as we cannot get Internet in the room…The hotel only has wireless in the lobby. We do however get Blackberry and iPhone connection in the room… I tried my ATT line for the computer.. but it gets a very very weak signal and nothing connects.

More tomorrow.

Fern

PS — am now sitting in one of the many little alcoves and private areas of the entry “lobby” of the Dar… hand made couches with great cushions; thick arched columns (great sense of scale.. with arches at about 6.5′ and ceilings at about 20′.. the arched columns create all these wonderful small sitting areas… which are furnished with beautiful old carved (and some painted) wooden cabinets and chairs..Can’t wait to see what dinner will be like and what the dining area looks like.