TUNISIA December 30, 2011: Americans in Tunisia — Day 10 (No Carpet, though in Kairouan — land of carpets)

Kairouan, Tunisia

Before I begin today’s tales, I should note that we had originally scheduled four more days in Tunisia… but circumstances were such back at our offices that it made sense to cut four days off the trip. Now we can see why we originally had these other four days. Some of how we did the cuts related to where we had hotel reservations and also when we could get a flight over the ocean (from London) on days that were pretty popular due to New Years.. So these last two days have really been rushed and in the process of cutting we eliminated the Ksars further south, that we really wanted to visit. So, we are already thinking that next year we might return — skip the northern part that we’ve seen pretty well (and where we have New Years and the day after — in Sidi Bou Said).. Indeed we’re thinking that maybe next year a few days in Sicily and then head back to  the Tozeur area (Tamerza) and south from there. But we’ll see… maybe even include Libya.. who knows?

Anyway, our hotel in Tozeur was quite luxurious and filled with French tourists (lots of families).. I can see how it is possible (after spending that one night in this hotel quite removed from the center of town — really only one kilometer, but in experience miles and miles away) to travel here and really never see anything. Most of the hotel guests were lounging by the beautiful pool; there was a golf course down the road; children of hotel guests had all sorts of activities.. Last night we saw them having lots of fun with a “counselor” and they were all in a circle doing “the chicken dance.” On the other hand, I have to admit it was really nice to be able to take a great shower where the water pressure was strong and the hot and cold levers worked well… and the hair dryer..

Oh well.. bourgeoisie to the core.

After breakfast and checking out, we roamed Tozeur. Nearly every building in the town is made from mud bricks (made I assume from the clay of the dried lake bed/chott which we drove across yesterday.) which are laid in all sorts of interesting patterns, creating bas reliefs all over town. Mike and I split up and met at the car so that we could each go our little separate ways. Thanks to cell phones and good connections we caught up with one another. And then we headed to Kairouan which is about a four hour drive from Tozeur to the north east. Flat desert landscape for most of the drive.. through tiny towns… We stopped for gas again at one of the little “informal” gas stops…

At this one, a man and his wife both operated the station. It took a while because the guy had to go into his storage area (dozens of plastic multi-gallon jugs filled with gasoline– scary) to see if he had the right kind of gas for our car. Once he determined he had it, the process began: filling the bucket which had a cloth on it (the filter) through a funnel and a hose.. The hose goes into the gas tank. At the end they lift the bucket high to get the last ounce of gas into the car. Even though you ask to have the tank filled up.. they can’t really do that since they don’t know how much gas you have in the tank at the start and the jugs are a bit rough in terms of the amount going into the tank.  We documented the whole process; they thought it was all quite funny; all done in Arabic — no French, no English…. just Arabic here at the gas pump.

About halfway into the journey we decided we needed to eat (seems like my notes are really all about our eating patterns).. so we searched for one of those little barbecue places on the road.. But this journey was really through very desolate and rural places, so the pickings were few and far between. Stopped at one place, but they only had coffee. Spotted another place that we thought had food… and they did — sort of. They had apparently recently slaughtered a sheep (the skin and other remains were quite visible)… it was a little like going into a butcher shop.. but they had only one choice of meat (no chicken).. and they didn’t have much of it. But we were already out of the car, so we decided to give it a try. Not much French here either, so we winged it (with sign language).

They showed us the “kitchen” quite proudly.. A young guy was chopping hot peppers, tomatoes and some other stuff together into a salsa-like accompaniment.. We had some kind of meat.. sort of ribs but cut unlike any ribs we’ve had… lots of bones.. no utensils.. good bread (which is true throughout the country — fresh good bread everywhere)… and the accompaniment and the meat.. and some olives. Finding the meat on the bones required the skill of a cat to get the meat between the bone and the fat.. I pretty much gave up; Mike took the challenge head on. They also gave us some Turkish sodas (very sweet)…

Then we were on our way to Kairouan. Didn’t get lost because we stopped somewhere to ask about our hotel.. and of course some guy on a motorcycle miraculously appeared to “show us the way.” We tipped him; it was great since it’s the first time we didn’t get lost once inside the city; the tip was  10 Dinar about $6 (for 10 minutes of work), but he asked for additional dinar to “cover his petrol costs!”.. . Headed out of the hotel quickly to see the town before dusk… The medina and souks here are a real maze.. much more complicated than in Tunis or Sfax. We’ll probably head back in tomorrow (Day 11) as we visit the Great Mosque… and later in the day head to Sidi Bou Said, which will be a nice ending for our days in Tunisia (Days 12 and 13).

This hotel is challenging. It has great potential… but it’s not quite there yet. Unfortunately its prices indicate it thinks it is “there.” Soon after we got back from walking the medina, I asked about wifi, but they said it was only in the lobby, so I opted for a cable to connect in the room. Mike thought he’d try the lobby wifi. His experience is hysterical.. First they couldn’t find an outlet so they unplugged a lamp (actually outlets are few and far between in the Tunisian hotels — even the expensive ones. Generally there is just one extra outlet. I’ve taken to unplugging every lamp and television and whatever other gizmo they might have in order to charge my gear, two cameras, a computer, a Blackberry, and an iPhone (from time to time my iPod). Then there’s Mike who has a computer, two cameras, an iPod, a Flip, a Blackberry, and a Kindle… so it’s like science figuring out how to time all of this. At the moment, Mike has his computer charging in the bathroom and I’m using the only outlet in the bedroom area.. and I’ve got various attachments plugged in to my computer (charging attachments to iPhone and Blackberry.. So, in the lobby, they could not get Mike connected at all.. with several people helping.. But no luck.. then to make matters worse, when he tried to get back to the room the elevator didn’t work and he had to use the stairs but the lights were not on in the stairwell.

Dinner at the hotel. We decided to eat in, because it just seemed to be too exhausting to leave. Not surprised that dinner was about as disappointing as the hotel. So, as I was saying.. the hotel has potential. It’s the original Kasbah in the town… but the “renovation” into a hotel was not done well. This could be a fantastic place, but it’s lacking in every way.. from ambiance to heating to interiors to food… But we’re fine; we’ve stayed in a lot worse.. I just hate when they try to be more than what they are.

Several of you asked about the signs of Arab Spring.. and whether or not we’ve seen or heard anything about Mohammed Bouaziz’s self-immolation to protest  police corruption and anything about the fleeting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January to Saudi Arabia. .. given that all of the start up of the Arab Spring began in Tunisia just one year ago..  Since language is a challenge, we haven’t had any “conversations” about this.. but we do see signs and graffiti that indicate messages about December 18, 2010. Not sure people would speak easily about this even if we did speak the language, since I assume it would take a lot of trust to speak about these issues to foreigners. In any case, people do seem open. In a few cases there was mention of the fact that tourism is increasing since the elections and as a result of the current situation in Tunisia.

All is well with us.

Looking forward to two days in Sidi Bou Said and then overnight in London with Mike’s other niece and her boyfriend (whom we have not yet met).

Bon Anee..

Fern