Mississippi May 4, 2012: Next day in Dixie
From Greenwood to Indianola to Greenville
But first a few things I forgot from yesterday:
I brought copies of the piece we had done about Southern Echo in 2004. Most had gotten copies when it was published. But they all looked at the photos again and told me what had happened to each and every person pictured in those 20 pages. Good news and bad news. Some of the young people had gone to college. Some were married. Some were dead. And the hardest story for me was what had happened to an extended family of 16 people (who I remember vividly) living in a rusted broken down trailer with fly paper hanging everywhere. Just one month ago lightning hit a tree near the trailer and it fell on the trailer, splitting it in half and killing one of the young girls. (She was about 4 when I was there in 2004 so she was 12.) The family moved to a trailer a block away after the accident.
Ok on Thursday morning I left the shangrila of the Alluvian Hotel and headed to Indianola about 40 miles away. Population about 12,000, home to B B king museum (and Club Ebony which has historic roots as place he sang). My hosts were not fans of the museum which was developed by the Chamber (White-dominated) as a tourist draw.
My meetings in Indianola were once again intense, complicated, and full of spirit amid obviously challenging situations. After the meeting Betty Petty drove me around to help put things in context –the 99.9 % Black public schools (in pretty miserable condition complete with barbed wire everywhere) and the nearly 100 percent white “academies” or private schools. The areas of town where whites live and the area where blacks live. The bayous. The all-Black cemetery. The all-White cemetery. The area (all-White) where BB king asked to have a house built in exchange for agreeing to lend his name to the museum. The street the chamber offered BB a place to build his house and (no surprise) it was in the Black section of town. Apparently he comes to town every July and he just stays in a motel.
As Betty and I drove through the White neighborhoods it was difficult not to notice confederate flags — usually flying proudly next to US flags. By the way, corporal punishment is still prevalent in schools and every teacher has a paddle.
Then I drove to Greenville to a tiny organization that has (for its office) a desk in a barber shop!! I loved it. A little haircutting… A little local politics. The barber is the brother of the E.D. of the organization. The E.D. is quite a talker. I think I only asked one question and she took it from there for about 90 minutes.
The drive from Indianola to Greenville is on a two lane road going thru farmland. Cotton gins along the way and almost no buildings until you approach the town –and then it’s fast food city. I actually missed lunch completely because I thought I’d find an alternative. I finally came upon a BBQ but I would have either had to sit outside (90 degrees and equal humidity) or sit in the car with the engine and air running and drip hot sauce all over. So lunch never happened.
After my meetings I met up with the father of one of my ASU PhD students (who grew up in the Delta). It was an interesting conversation and a different perspective about the Delta (also an African American perspective– just different), which in some ways flips part of the issue to class. The father has a good job (though not college educated) and the family includes many professionals. When I asked the father if he ever thought his son and/or his other children would come back to Mississippi, his answer was quick and direct: “only for a Mississippi minute” (which although the pace was slow I took to mean “not in my lifetime.” Still the father felt growing up in Greenville was a good experience and that the schools were what you made of them.
Conversations with my interviewees about education and expectations always came around to kids coming back to the Delta and the importance of family in the Delta. Betty told me her organization raised funds to take a group of teens to Chicago and that when they came back, they all wanted to move to Chicago. Which wasn’t a surprise but did prompt lots of discussion.
Finally, after a really long and intense day I headed back to Greenwood arriving just before dark with about 30 minutes to see the town where “The Help” was filmed. I opted to try Delta Bistro (which is where I began this note) for dinner having already had dinner at Giardinos at the alluvian the night before.
I naturally ended the evening with emails, prep for Friday, and figuring out what info I still needed to get.
Ok. More tomorrow
Fern
Hi y’all,
Well I’ve never sent travelogues when moving about within the US. But these past days (and actually past weeks) it’s been more like being in a foreign country. So it seems appropriate to chronicle appropriately.
I was traveling along the Texas border a week ago but now I’m deep in Mississippi traveling along the Delta. I’m working on a project that involves a broad array of totally amazing organizations that are organizing extremely impoverished communities (or low wealth communities, as they refer to themselves — indicating that they may be poor financially but strong in other ways) to build a broader movement toward social change. They are funded – in part- through the marguerite Casey foundation, our client
Anyway. I arrived Tuesday in Jackson ms. And began what would be a series of very long, complicated, and fascinating interviews. And a memorable drive up the delta terminating in Memphis At the moment as I write to you I’m devouring a plate of (what else?) fried green tomatoes with “comeback sauce” and waiting for my blackened catfish.
Now I just need to get it off my chest that I’m tired of being called ma’am and Miss Fern. Ok. No more on that. The latter term is used by everyone.
Oh. You should know I’ve been to these parts a few times before. Twice in 2004 for a similar project and previously on a driving trip throught the antebellum south with a detour to tutwiler.
Following a fascinating 4 hour session with the co-founders of Southern Echo and becoming totally immersed in their very impressive organizing, community building, and organizational building model I headed to Lexington MS in a total downpour complete with lightning and thunder and my total fear that I’d confront a tornado. (Was on the phone while driving in this awful weather, and Mike suggested that if I see a funnel cloud I should get under an overpass. Problem is there aren’t any overpasses. Someone at my office said if I see a tornado I need to get into a basement. First: houses are few and far between. Second: they don’t build basements here).
Southern Echo was founded about 25 years ago with the robust goal of ending racism in Mississippi They work throughout the delta with African American families and communities … And while they have a long way to go to accomplish that ambitious goal, they can cite numerous victories (but many more challenges as they attempt to navigate school district politics, redistricting, voting rights, and other critical issues). Anyway I had met the executive director many times but this was my first meeting with the co founder — who turned out to be white, a former SNCC activist from Harvard—via Brooklyn!! So after some fun conversations about our shared heritage we moved in to more important stuff.
Ok. No tornado and finally made it (about an hour late) to Lexington. Here, I’m meeting with a bunch of activists–some of whom I met years ago and was anxious to get caught up.
Lexington has a population of about 2,000 people. Unemployment is recorded as 35 % but it’s probably well over 50 %. My meeting place was a tiny house converted into small offices for the nonprofit Nollies. The walk from my rental car (with West Virginia license plates) was on a slippery mud path. (not good with sandals).
Won’t go into detail on meetings but it was great to reconnect with these folks but simultaneously depressing to hear their continuing struggles. One of the people at Nollies was Diana Freelon Foster who I met in Grenada Mississippi in 2004 soon after she had been elected as the first female and first African American mayor of the 15,000 population town. Diana was one of the students who integrated the all-white high school in 1966 and was beaten on the first day. I remembered her vividly from 2004 — proud of the coalition she had built and of her ambitious agenda as mayor and of the African American community which gained hope and experience thru her victory.
It was bittersweet to hear Diana explain that after just 18 months there was some kind of annexation and redistricting which led to a new election with different voters and she lost her coveted seat. She now runs a poorly funded nonprofit. And she explained how demoralized her constituents were. Many were newly engaged residents who were buoyed by the victory and now feel cheated and uninterested in remaining involved. But for Diana it’s just “on to the next” fight.
I left Nollies and headed to Greenwood (about 8 pm by now) to a charming oasis called the Alluvian hotel. Which may be a politically incorrect place to stay. When I was in this area in 2004 I stayed at the usual highway motels (pretty depressing) but one night I heard about a special restaurant in Greenwood and drove 25 miles for dinner. While there, I noticed a small hotel adjacent to the restaurant and was told the local economic development story: A guy from Greenwood married into one of the wealthiest families in town, became an architect, and was designing homes for wealthy people. He couldn’t find really really high-end stoves for the houses and so he designed one. Then he realized other home chefs wanted this item so he developed the Viking line of stoves and appliances. He put the factory in Greenwood. Then he opened cooking school, to teach people how to use the Viking stoves and for high-end cooking. Then he created a restaurant. He renovated old buildings downtown for these functions and then created a first-class hotel. So that’s where I rested my little head on Wednesday night. Tuesday I was at your basic chain hotel except that the band in the lobby was singing Johnny Cash “Going to Jackson” and I was right there… in Jackson.
Fading. Will describe next day when I take a break. The days have been incredibly long and the sessions very intense.
Fern
Ps. I’m having lots of language problems harder than foreign country.
FRANCE February 2012: Part 2
Bonsoir
Very long and busy days…In fact, it’s now after midnight on Thursday and when I finish this note I’m headed to bed (have to be up at 5 am to catch train to Nice to fly back to London — long story).
Wow – where to start.
We’ve had several wonderful days exploring Provence towns, and Avignon itself. And I’ve been leading a total double life: from 9am until 6pm driving around, visiting medieval towns within a 40 mile radius of Avignon; from 6pm until dinner and then from dinner until about 2 am catching up with the office, and doing my share of projects.. So I feel as if I’ve been gone about a month! I’ll skip the work details and just focus on Provence and our experiences.
For those who have been asking, we never did move into the house in Vaison. We’ve stayed here at the Cloitre Saint Louis in our little loft rooms and it was probably the right decision. The frozen pipes did get fixed, but we had to make some decisions or lose the good rate we had at the hotel and risk not having a room at all. So, that was what we did.
Over the past days we visited Gordes, Vaison, Cairanne, Sablet, Seguret, Orange, and others.. We’ve had great dinners, good wine, good conversation.. and some funny (and also some annoying) experiences. I’ve been doing the driving and it’s been fun, especially since Carol is a good navigator! I had actually been to most of the towns we visited in the past, but it was fun to see them again (and feel like I knew my way around a bit) and also to see them in the winter without any tourists… Ah, no tourists.. but the tourists have been replaced by freezing cold, and today a real mistral, with winds howling through the night at 70mph. It’s been really, really, really cold.. traces of snow are along the roads and fountains are frozen.. Once the sun comes out, it’s really beautiful with crisp, clean shadows.. and it even feels tolerable (in fact today was about 9 degrees — a true heat spell), but the wind is the killer.
That said, we’ve been real troopers and haven’t let the cold keep us down!
We managed to reach the famous market in Vaison just as it was closing (not sure how that happened); we almost couldn’t get our car out of a parking lot because the toll machine failed and it just wouldn’t register that we paid (wound up having two technicians come to try to help without success, and finally someone had to escort us to our car and manually open the parking lot gate; finding hats has become a bit of an obsession, but alas neither of us is returning with a warm hat; and so it goes.
We drove to Vaison and we think we found the house that we were going to stay in, which looked wonderful. But in some ways staying in Vaison would have been difficult (even had the pipes not frozen). The beautiful medieval town is really shuttered closed in February — the hotels were closed; no restaurants were open; nearly all shops were closed for the season; and we didn’t see a single person walking around. We would have had to rely completely on the “new” part of Vaison and that would have made things hard. For some reason, Vaison was more shuttered than any of the other towns we stopped in. The others had shops that were open, restaurants were functioning.. and people were clearly going about their business in spite of the cold. Even Cairanne (where Mike’s brother has a house) which is much smaller than Vaison, was more alive — restaurant open, shop open, etc.
But, I think the most memorable town of all was Gordes… about 40 km east of Avignon (which Mike and I visited more than 30 years ago, because I wanted to see the then-recently opened Vasarely Museum) …
It’s a spectacular town rising above the village area of Luberon. The village of Gordes is located on a giant calcareous rock that dominates the valley. Gordes is home to a castle that was rebuilt in the early 1500s.. and a Romanesque Abby which we visited (and which is completely surrounded by fields of lavender (of course not really evident at the moment in the freezing cold) and the Village of the Bories… ancient houses made only of stone… The huts were built using locally extracted, 10 to 15 cm-thick, pieces of limestone. While they were built as early as the 7th Century and were inhabited as recently as the late 1800s. We also
We’ve also pretty much walked the entire interior of the ramparts of Avignon.. today (Thursday).. through the streets and squares of the medieval ville historique (where the hotel is located). .. strolling through and around the palais, through the narrow, winding streets, in and out of shops (naturally!), stopping for an occasional chocolate, and ending up at the Hotel Mirande (a former residence from the 15th century meticulously restored and maintained) for high tea. We stumbled on a little shop called George.. sort of like a little atelier… Carol got a great coat (perfect for LA?!) and I got a sharp vest. We both got broches (“for humanity” as George explained — I think they are made in a developing country and the proceeds go back and the shops that sell these things don’t take any money). Anyway, the clothing was all handmade (by George) and quite unique (and importantly, quite inexpensive for France).
For the foodies among you, we’ve had all our dinners here in Avignon, but lunches en route to the various towns. The hotel restaurant at the Cloitre was actually quite good the second try (maybe it had to do with the selection). We ate at a restaurant called 83 Vernet and another one called Numero 75 (They seem to have a think about naming restaurants with numbers.) Both were on the high on the hip scale, small, with limited menus that changed nightly — but quite good — sort of nouvelle French (and maybe with a touch of Asian). We also had a great pizza and salad in a cute little cafe in Gordes, Casa Rosario, just off the main square (and were served by an adorable young French guy who managed to tell me — when I mentioned that I had been to Gordes 30 years before — that he wasn’t yet born at that time).
Tomorrow morning — at the crack of dawn — we are taking the TGV from Avignon to Nice, where we will get a plane back to London (where Fed Exes await with work from the office, and where I’ll settle into a bit of a routine and prep for Monday’s meetings. The decision to take this rather circuitous route to London was the result of getting to London a day early. It all started with an effort to stop in Paris (to have lunch with my god daughter) en route to London. To make this happen, we went to the train station in Avignon — and discovered that to change just the time of the ticket (keep day the same) would add about $100 to our tickets; to change the day — which is what we really wanted, so that we could add a day to London and shorten the France part by a day — would add about $400 to each of our tickets. So, after much searching, we found a flight from Nice to London that cost less than the train tickets we had purchased. This would get us to London a day earlier but would not enable us to stop in Paris. (So, now a reason for another trip?) We figured we’d drive to Nice (which of course is in the total opposite direction of where we are headed) — a 3 or 3.5 hour drive. A few hours after making this decision, I began to think that after only 4 hours sleep, a three hour drive didn’t sound so great and looked into trains.
The Avignon to Nice train seemed like a good option. So I’m signing off now to get a few hours sleep before taking the train.
Bonsoir
Fern
PS –Didn’t get to push “send” last night… so now I’m back in London..after taking train from Avignon to Nice and then taxi to Nice Airport and flight to London/Heathrow (couldn’t get anything to London City Airport) and then train to Paddington and taxi to hotel.. Piece of Cake!!
FRANCE February 2012: Part 1
Greetings from Avignon – February 13, 2012
For those who didn’t know it, I had been planning a short trip to Provence which happily was coinciding with a project the office is doing that involves a program in London.
Anyway, I arrived early in London and settled into a great little hotel in East London (Hotel Zetter, where I’ve stayed before) — the new hip section of town where everything is gentrifying so fast it’s hard to keep track. As planned, Carol (a long time friend from LA) met me later that day. My early arrival was great because I brought a lot of work with me and I didn’t finish as much as I thought I would on the plane trip over. Once Carol arrived we took a stroll for a few hours. London was cold (about 40 F) and overcast, but ok and bearable.
Met up with Mike’s niece and boyfriend for a great dinner near the hotel (Modern Pantry)… and then started at 6 am (today) to head to St. Pancras to catch the Eurostar and then change to TGV to Avignon where we were to pick up a car and head to Vaison where we would stay for a few days before heading back to London (and my meetings).
There’s a lot of construction going on everywhere in London — some due to the Olympics.
Anyway, even at 6 am there was a lot of traffic, but we made it to the station and on to Paris’ Gare du Nord where we exited and had to take a taxi to Gare du Lyon to catch the connecting train to Avignon (not really quite so connecting given that the two stations are about 10 kilometers apart). We had opted for business class seats on Eurostar which was good, because we got fed a really nice breakfast and could relax. But the Eurostar was about 30 minutes late, making the connection to the other train a bit tricky. We got to the other station (Gare de Lyon) with about 30 seconds to spare and were panting as we ran with the bags..
The trip from Paris to Avignon was pleasant, but we were really surprised to see all the snow on the ground during the entire distance of the trip. As the train pulled out of the station in Paris, I got an email from the woman who owns the house we would be staying in Vaison… She wanted to alert us to the fact that the pipes froze and so there was no water at the house and we couldn’t stay there. It was too late to just toss it all and head for a nice hotel in Paris.. .The train goes direct to Avignon — no stops. On the train I made good use of my global iPhone service.. looking up potential hotels in Avignon. We considered not picking up the rental car, but then realized we’d be lost since we really no longer had a destination.
As we left the station to get to the rental car place we realized just how cold it was… much colder in Avignon than in either London or Paris.. about 28 F and then 40 mph winds.. definitely not the tourist season. We picked up the Peugot, attempted to figure out the GPS system (and also how to get the gear shift out of Park) and headed to the Centre Ville to get some lunch.. It was about 2:45 by now.. we navigated ourselves to the center of town fairly well — into the ramparts through one of the many “doors”.. but parking was a challenge. Eventually we headed towards Les Halles which had a garage above (hidden quite well by a “growing wall”.. The Peugot was one of the larger cars so we (I’m the designated driver) had to do a lot of maneuvering.. I had been in Avignon about two years ago so I remembered that there were many restaurants from which to choose. What I had forgotten was that 3:00 is really the cut off for lunch in France and they are pretty persnickety about that timing. So we wound up with the equivalent of French fast food on the main square and I will make the following pronouncement — It is possible to get bad food in France.
Anyway, we are now comfortably situated in the Hotel Cloitre Saint Louis – which is a 16th century building that was originally a Jesuit seminary (I think they lived pretty well!), and was later a military hospital. It was restored and modernized and turned into a hotel about 20 years ago. It’s a pretty pricey place in normal days, but having this freezing cold weather we were able to cut a really good deal on rooms..but they also put us into rooms on the top “garret” level… sort of like living in a wonderfully charming loft space.. in the eaves of the building. To get to our rooms (there are 4 like this)… you take the elevator to the top floor of one side of the building.. and then midway on the floor you walk through some arches and climb a flight of stairs..and then there are doors.. When you open each of these four doors there’s another flight of stairs (with a landing and turn)… and then you’re in the room. It’s totally great with a big circle window that looks out on the courtyard… bathroom is on the lower level.. shower on the upper level. All modern amenities and very design-y. Apparently the modernization was done by Jean Nouvel, the Pritzker award winning architect who designed the Arab World Center in Paris and the Torre Agbar in Barcelona and the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.. So we sort of lucked out in spite of all the problems… We are likely to stay here in Avignon through tomorrow night, and then — depending on the situation in Vaison — decide what to do for the next few days. Weather prediction is not good. Coldest, snowiest, windiest winter in decades.
OK.. I have to get back to work; still have deadlines.
Bon Soir…
Fern
TUNISIA January 1 2012: Americans in Tunisia — Day 12
Happy New Year!
We’re hours away from leaving Tunisia.
Spent a somewhat leisurely day here in Sidi Bou Said, soaking up the incredible views and this picture-postcard hillside town that rambles up from the Mediterranean Sea — with extremely narrow and curving streets (several of which are pedestrian only, and many of which should be pedestrian only since it’s next to impossible for cars to make any of the curves necessary to go up the hills. It must be beautiful when the sun is shining.. we had only moments of sun; most of the time it was overcast — but did not rain.
But then again if you come when the sun is shining in the non-winter months I imagine it’s a real tourist trap. At this time of the year, it’s quiet and easy to just meander. Still, we have seen more tourists here than in any other place we’ve visited. And still, no Americans. The French are all over as are Italians and Germans… and there are Tunisian tourists, too.
Last night’s New Years Eve was nice. We went to Dar Zazrouk — just across from Dar Said (where we are staying). It was very elegant and the crowd appeared to be a mix of Tunisians and Italians with maybe one or two tables of French families. Food was beautifully presented, but a bit disappointing as it wasn’t the best we’ve had here in Tunisia and it wasn’t at all inventive. Frankly, that’s always the problem with New Years. I suppose most restaurants think doing a special fixed meal makes sense, but it’s never as good as ordering from a menu (in my humble opinion). So several fish dishes as starters — they were good: a mixed fish appetizer with jumbo shrimp, caviar, some local fish, and salmon.. followed by a shrimp bisque, followed by sea bass with two sauces (one cream, the other ?) ..and then some other fish that came inside a pastry rosette, and then lamb with vegetables.. and then chocolate mousse and platters of assorted Tunisian sweets and cookies. Hats and masks at midnight, a Tunisian three-piece traditional band…lots of wine.. and thus we toasted in and welcomed 2012 — which we all hope will be a lot better than 2011.
Today was leisurely — no carpet purchased (for those of you taking bets).. Had some cheese and fruit out on the patio.. and focused on work.. Been doing a bit each day, but today seemed like the time to transition back to what we’ll each be facing as soon as we hit the ground on Tuesday.. So why not get started?
We’re packing now (since we have a taxi picking us up at 3:45 a.m.!!!)..and then we’re off for dinner at Vieux Temps — a bit down the road with a great view of the sea. Tomorrow at the crack of dawn we head to London (via connection in Rome).. for one night and then on Tuesday — back to California.
It’s been a good trip; lots of experiences — many that I forgot to include in my daily reports.
I’d definitely recommend Tunisia. The people are great, there’s so much history, it’s safe, and it’s unique… I think I expected it to be more like Morocco than it is.. It’s a proud people, especially at this moment. There’s so much we didn’t get to see.. So, more trips in the future.
Best for 2012 —
Fern
TUNISIA December 31, 2011: Americans in Tunisia — Day 11 (No Carpet)
Bonne Annee from Sidi Bou Said
Finally! We are at Dar Said — which is exquisite. A complex of about 20 “suites” with about three or four suites sharing a little entry court. We have a view of the Mediterranean, a canopied bed, a charming sitting room (that also looks to the sea). Simple decor, tasteful — and thus far, everything works!
This morning while still at the Kairouan hotel, it was a little comical as the shower curtain and rod fell from the wall (while I was in the shower) taking the wall mounted soap dish with it, and the wall-mounted lampshade turned upside down—all on its own. Breakfast at the hotel was buffet style; fortunately they had yogurt, since much of the other stuff looked like it was left over from last night’s dinner buffet. The Kasbah Hotel (the one in Kairouan) had very dim lighting and in some areas of the public spaces, there was no lighting all. This reminded us of a lot of hotels we stayed at in the old Soviet Union in the 1970s. Then and now, I think it’s obvious that these countries do so much better when they encourage small hotels that can really show off the culture and the hospitality of the people. They don’t do well with large 100+-room wanna-be-Hiltons that require a different kind of maintenance, expense to operate (especially when they are nearly empty) and staffing and management style. It’s too bad these hotels feel the need to create these more American and/or European-style places, because invariably they can’t work… and probably everyone is frustrated: guests as well as staff.
Before we left Kairouan, we strolled through the medina to the Grand Mosque (every city in Tunisia has its own “grand mosque”) but this one is the oldest Muslim place of worship in Africa and is commonly referred to as the fourth holiest site in Islam (after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem). We were the only ones there… Strolled around the town and eventually headed back to the hotel to pack up and then drive to the Tunis Airport to drop off the car (and get a taxi to take us to Sidi Bou Said — where we felt we didn’t need a car, since the town is supposed to be very walkable..) Also, in this way, we can take a taxi to the Tunis Airport for a very very very early flight from Tunis to London on Monday morning to meet up with Mike’s niece Julia and boyfriend for lunch… and then we’re off —back to the US.
The drive from Kairouan to Tunis was fine, except that it rained much of the time making driving just a wee bit more precarious — but the road from Kairouan to Tunis (a toll road costing about $2) is good, so all went well. Found the airport just fine.. but then figuring out the rental car return was a bit more complicated. Along the way to the airport, my phone rang and it was the Europcar guy.. asking where the car was. Apparently they seemed to think it would come back at a particular time of day (same time as when we picked it up a week prior). We explained that we were on the way and that seemed OK… but then I asked (in bad French) where we should bring the car once we get to the airport. He said to go to “P”arking and then to Avis and leave it at Avis. Seemed a bit odd to leave the car with a competitor, but oh well. We got to the airport, found the parking, found Avis and “double parked” because there weren’t any spots. Decided to call the Europcar guy, because now we didn’t know where to leave the keys. The guy said to wait with the car, he would come to us soon… which he did (by car)… He checked the car (mostly to see if the spare tire was still there), and then said we needed to go inside the airport to his “office” to “settle the contract.” We said we had to go to Sidi Bou Said and he said he could take us. It was raining; he drove off (I assume to park his own car somewhere); and we started to head to the airport building– walking and dragging/wheeling our bags in the rain.
I thought this was crazy. He already had our credit card number; he’d already checked the car; why would we need to go to the office? Mostly, I didn’t want to go inside the airport with our bags because as you approach the door of the airport you start a preliminary screening with an x-ray machine and you have to lift up all your bags. You don’t need to take shoes off or put cameras on the belt… but all suitcases go on, etc. So I said we should just take a taxi and leave it all alone. Mike thought we should “do as we were told.” Anyway, we headed to the taxi stand (where we were ceremoniously surrounded by about 7 “helpers” who all wanted to help us “select” a “really good taxi.” We hopped in the first one and got to Sidi Bou Said, which even in the rain is very special. We are hoping it clears up tomorrow and we have some sun. We fully expected the Europcar guy to search for us or at the very least to call us (since he has my cell phone number). But we haven’t heard anything. We’ll see what the Europcar charge looks like on the Visa bill.
Just got back from strolling Sidi Bou Said — which is like a picture postcard.. with all buildings in the requisite white with blue trim…It’s been raining, at times hard, so we finally gave up and headed to our little home away from home — where we will celebrate the new year (and my birthday) tonight. We’re hoping for sun tomorrow — our last day in Tunisia, and our one day to really see this charming town. Will let you know how everything goes tomorrow. (We initially thought we’d eat in one of the local restaurants — of course Dar Said’s restaurant is local too, but I mean — in the town — but given the rain we’ve opted to eat here at the Dar… which we’re thinking should be quite wonderful given how well they’ve renovated and maintained the consistency of the hotel section. The restaurant is apparently across the way..
Oh — one last note regarding carpets: We were hounded everywhere to “just look” at the carpets, but resisted. Mike wound up buying the one we have on our living room floor in Oakland two years ago when we were in Konya, Turkey — and he bought a smaller one (also in the Oakland house) on our very first trip to Istanbul in the ’80s. So, it’s big news that we did NOT purchase a carpet anywhere in Tunisia. It’s tempting; many are quite spectacular… and it’s hard to resist the smooth talking salesmen and those who have “brothers” who can give us a good deal. The guy we bought the carpet from in Konya two years ago was so smooth it was scary.
More tomorrow.
Happy New Year
Kul ‘am wa antum bikhair (in Arabic)
Bonne Annee
Fern
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
TUNISIA December 29, 2011: Americans in Tunisia — Day 9 (No Carpet)
Greetings from Tozeur, Tunisia –
Just arrived in Tozeur after a long (and probably grueling — for Mike) drive from Djerba, made much more complicated by the difficulty of finding the hotel in Tozeur (another story — later in the note). I must say that the world of the Internet has certainly changed both my capacity to track news and feel in touch — no matter where we are… I had to laugh last night as I responded to the request for funds for Barbara Lee’s re-election from Djerba, Tunisia. A bit ironic, but good!
Last night’s dinner at Dar Dhiafa was the meal that we had to order a day in advance. We had a lamb dish that gets cooked inside a terra cotta urn-shaped container that is sealed at the top with a thick pastry dough. I think the lamb, along with the vegetables and sauce cooks in the vessel for many hours. Really tasty; a good choice. The second dish was a fish couscous, with a whole fish.. also great, but struggled with the bones. A fig dessert, a bottle of Tunisian wine. and we were happy campers.
Left Djerba after breakfast and headed toward Ajim where we caught the ferry to the “mainland.” It was pretty windy, but the ferry ride was fairly smooth. It’s a short ride, and it was cold, so we opted to sit in the car. But getting on the ferry required a really, really long wait, so we were off-schedule by about an hour from the get-go. The drive to Tozeur was to take about 4 hours, but door to door it really took us about 8 hours, including stops, getting lost, the ferry, finding the hotel, etc. We decided to get gas again because we had no idea what kind of “services” we would find on the route.
Initially, from the ferry we headed toward Mareth and then back toward (but not into) Gabes and then headed west (SW a bit) to Kbili and then south southwest to Tozeur. On the outskirts of Gabes, we stopped for lunch on the roadside. A typically Tunisian place — a guy grilling kebabs on the street, with the meat being tenderized with the pollution of cars and motorcycles whizzing by; a very small inside section (maybe 4 tables) and an exterior “porch-like” area behind the barbeque and in front of the inside area…with views of traffic. But we’ve gotten used to these little “restaurants”.. and can probably do a little Zagats guide on them. It was a busy place, and there really wasn’t a table, but the enterprising young guy found a table in a storage area and then dug up two chairs.. and we were set. Ordered one mixed kebab and one chicken.. and then waited. As we sat waiting for the food we glanced around and realized that two tables were occupied by about 4-5 Islamists (long black beards, long grey coat-like outfits)… at each of the tables. The guy making the kebabs wanted his photo taken (multiple times), but I decided to avoid photographing the Islamist guys at the tables. Anyway, we laughed because there was a sign saying that the restaurant was “fast food”… but I’d say more like “slow food”… Took more than 30 minutes to get our kebabs. They served a really good hummus with the kebab and also a tart yogurt with garlic. Yummy with the chicken. Total cost for lunch about $3 for the two of us.
Eventually we made our way to the smaller road that would get us to Kbili when we would start our way across the Chott, the salt lake bed that we had to cross for about 45 miles. Along the way, we saw herds of camels (Naturally we got out of the car to photograph and then met the camel herder who was happy to be photographed.) The road to Kbili took us through many, many tiny villages.. where the men sat and played dominoes, smoked, and drank coffee.. and women were less visible (and when visible seemed always to be coming or going somewhere — always in small groups). We also passed a good number of “palmeries” which seem to pop up out of nowhere — hundreds of palm trees rising from the desert… We stopped a few times en route, but were determined to reach Tozeur before dark, which was a challenge.
We approached the Chott el Jend at about 4 pm.. It’s an eery landscape… driving just a foot or two above the “lake” which is dry in many places but has water in other areas close to the road. In all directions you see a mirror-like reflection that seems to go on forever. The view was made more spectacular (and also a bit more difficult for driving) because the sun was setting quickly. Along the road there were little “hut – cafes” made of reeds… They sort of “announce” themselves by having “sculptures” made of the salt from the lake.. sitting behind or adjacent to their shops — but out in the dry lake bed.. It looks a lot like the kind of mudflat art that used to be out on the Bay by Emeryville and Berkeley. Many of these “sculptures” are camels.
Followed the signs to Tozeur and then the fun began. Tozeur appears to be a pretty busy and lively town and a bit larger than we envisioned. Anyway, we roamed and roamed to find the hotel … without success. Stopped lots of people who gave contradictory directions, and next thing we knew we were on a street that was totally grid locked because there was some kind of fair going on. We stopped at another hotel and nearly checked into that one, but then asked the reception desk how to get to our hotel.. and he gave yet different directions. In any case, we made it here… just several hours later than we had anticipated and now have to decide how to deal with tomorrow (given that we had planned to stroll through Tozeur today and then again tomorrow morning… )
The hotel is quite modern. It even has a hair dryer! A big plus since my look has changed tremendously as I’ve been pretty much a curly headed person for the last five days. And we have a television in the room.. a big flat screen (well big for us, since we have such a small screen at home), and it has CNN! Speaking of television, I failed to mention in other emails that the Tunisians seem to have a lot of soap operas that are well watched. In many shops you can see shopkeepers watching intently.. easy to spot the over-dramatized acting.
One other observation of Djerba — lots of medical facilities and many that do “aesthetic surgery” which I take to be plastic surgery, so I’m thinking that Djerba may be one of those places that has embraced medical tourism as an economic driver. Just my observation; no facts to back it up.
Had dinner at a local restaurant — Le Petit Prince (rather than the hotel restaurant which looked pretty canned and filled with European tourists — a buffet, which I really despise)..
We had a brik that was called Fatima’s Fingers (brik with meat) and the chef’s couscous (which had chicken and lamb) and the leg of lamb.. Way too much food.. a bottle of Tunisian wine, sparkling water… all for about $40 in a very upscale restaurant… Many Europeans and some Tunisians. So far we have not run into any Americans (except for the suspected CIA guy in Tunis who actually lives in London and says he has a British passport.. so he probably doesn’t qualify as an American any more).
OK… that’s it for today.
Hope all is well.
Trying to keep up with news in the states — reading NY Times most days (at least the abbreviated version that comes daily to my Blackberry). Even read the article about Jean Quan.
Fern
TUNISIA December 28, 2011: Americans in Tunisia — Day 8 (No Carpet)
December 28, 2011 – Day Eight
Greetings from Djerba (more specifically from El Erriad) — where I’m sitting in one of the many nooks within the Dar Dhiafa “lobby” where I can get Internet connection — as dusk sets in — hearing the call to prayer beckon in the background.
Dinner last night was at Dar Dhiafa which is where we are staying (and– unknown to us — is in the Erriad neighborhood within one of the two Jewish sections of Djerba.) Jews were living in Tunisia as far back as Roman times. Apparently the Jewish population of Tunisia was as high as 110,000 in the 1940s. Then beginning in the 50s, about half moved to Israel and half emigrated to France. Now, there are less than 3,000 Jews in all of Tunisia… with about 2,000 in Tunis and the remainder living here in Djerba. There are supposed to be several synagogues here, but the only one listed anywhere is El Griba (which we visited briefly this afternoon). One other point of note, apparently after the Arab Spring, the leader of the moderate Islamist party sent a delegation to meet with the Jews living in Djerba, assuring them that they have nothing to worry about in a democratic Tunisia and he sent gifts to seniors at the Jewish nursing homes.
OK.. so now for the foodies — last night’s dinner in Dar Dhiafa did not disappoint (except for the strange cocktail that I ordered — comprised of Tunisian alcohol (a vodka type of drink) with a lot of fruits blended together.. Sort of like an alcoholic smoothie). Anyway — too rich, too sweet, and too thick for a cocktail. The dining room is small, charming, and elegant.. about 8 tables for 2-4 people at each table. Once we studied the menu and made our selections, we learned that the side of the menu we had been reviewing (with all the Dar specialties) require one day advance notice, so we ordered from the other side and made a quick decision to eat at the Dar again tonight to be able to order from the other side of the menu (a good decision since roaming around by car when it’s dark is difficult since streets are not labelled very well.) So we had an appetizer of small sizzling shrimps cooked in olive oil with tomatoes and onions and some spices (very good.. ).. and main courses of lamb noisettes grilled with fruit and stuffed with a tiny bit of cheese… and dorade – grilled and de-boned with vegetables. And a bottle of Tunisian red wine. Tunisian wine is quite good, not very strong.
This morning just after breakfast, we headed out for the day.. starting at the Homut Souk (the oldest neighborhood in Djerba, which includes the typical shopping area or “souk”).. It’s about 7km from the area where we are staying, so we drove. As we looked for parking, and were successful, we uncovered another little scam or effort to get tourists to trust someone to show them around and be a guide (Fortunately we did not buy the story.. since we had heard the same thing in Tunis and then we heard it twice more today.)… “I work at your hotel; Oh you don’t recognize me? That’s because I’m wearing a cap, see”… and then the guy knows “great shops” for you to see, carpets to buy (from his brother).. and he can take care of us all day. We politely declined and again professed not to speak English too well, since we are Finns (to which one guy asked if Finns spoke Dutch).
Oh, another interesting incident: we got pulled over by a traffic cop somewhere between the hotel and the Homut Souk area… a bit of racial profiling… Anyway, all he wanted to see was the ownership paper for the car — which we produced (thank goodness it was in the glove compartment).. and then we were on our way. No one else was being pulled over.
Strolled the souk area; stumbled upon a small woman’s collective that weaves and sews and makes table runners and other goods. Very sweet; wish we could have communicated more deeply. And I came close to buying one of those long floor length (would have had it shortened to knee length) lambs wool brown “coats” with black trim at shoulders and edges… the men all wear .. the ones with the pointy hoods in the back.. kachabiyya (sp?).. I tried it on, and the shop keeper was willing to do the shortening.. But it had two problems.. First I thought it opened with a zipper all the way down… But the zipper only goes a short distance from the neck.. so you need to put it on over your head… Second, they seem to come in only one size, so they are extremely wide… Mike said I looked like I was wearing a potato sack…Anyway, despite the fact that I thought this would be a good souvenir for me, I wound up declining..
After this we set out to see the coast which includes vast marsh areas, and we’re told that thousands of flamingos (we saw a few) migrate to the northern edge of Djerba in wintertime. From what we could discern they migrate to a tip of the island that is reachable only by boat. Mike was somewhat intent on seeing the flamingos, but I convinced him he can see them in Florida. So we drove on.. past an area called the Touristique section (waterfront area at the north east) where extremely large hotels have been built (including one by Radisson). These hotels are like armed compounds. From what we can figure out this coast area and these hotels draw French, German, and British tourists during the months of March through October. There’s also a casino, which I believe requires a foreign (non-Tunisian) passport for entry.
The island of Djerba is totally white stucco with blue trim.. consistent everywhere.. or 99.999% of everywhere. It’s a great image against the blue sky and the billowy white clouds. The topography is flat and low-lying; villages are all a few kilometers apart and each seems to have its own character. We drove to Midoun, walked the town, and had lunch in a tiny little cafe, where they had a terrace — actually it was their roof, which we accessed by climbing a ladder leaning against the wall. Once up on the roof, where there were three tables, the dividing line between the restaurant’s “zone” and the next building was a series of old doors lying horizontally.. not much barrier at the edge of the roof. We had some brochettes.. climbed the ladder down and found our way (miraculously) to the car.
We continued our drive across the island stopping periodically in small towns, and then made our way to Griba, the synagogue (operational)…It’s orthodox and I was forced to don a scarf for my head and Mike to wear a kippa …Two elderly guys were praying, but I have to admit that it seemed a bit posed. From what we’ve read and heard there are two Jewish neighborhoods on the island (obviously both close to the synagogue so that it is walkable on Fridays and Saturdays)… one of those neighborhoods is right where we are staying; the other is about 2 miles to the north. Not certain we’d know what these Tunisian Jews would look like as I’m sure they blend in to the larger Tunisian culture.
Got back to the hotel around 6. It’s now raining pretty hard out there, so I’m glad we avoided that. Hope it clears up by morning. We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow to Tamerza.
Ciao
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.
