les aventures en tunisie!!

Sorry it took me so long to write this post. Somehow, last week turned out to be busier than I thought it would be. So now... TUNISIA!!

Sunday 17 Feb
I woke up long before the crack of dawn. Our friends T. and J. were picking me up at 5:55 and then Hart in order to get us to the airport in time for our 8:15 check-in time. That was not so pleasant especially since I stayed awake until like 3am the night before! But we all made it the airport in one piece, and T. and J. are total angels for taking us since we would not have been able to make it there in time if not for them. They also promised to pick us up the following week.

We made it to Djerba after a 3 hour flight. Just looking out the windows of the plane was a thrill. There were palm trees and sand! It was amazing! On the way to the hotel, we saw camels and donkeys and all sorts of animals! I think we were about ready to bounce off the walls from all the excitement. The hotel was huge and right on the beach! We stayed in a little bungalow. So cool! We did some exploring of the place and had our first experience with Tunisian men and the lovely term "gazelle". Tunisians use it to refer to women... especially western women. It's okay though... we didn't mind it, and we've asked people about it and it's actually a compliment and they use it to mean a pretty girl.

We had a lovely buffet dinner and discovered our love for Tunisian food! Delicious! We also met some pretty cool people at the hotel (including a French guy who studied in England, so he was thrilled to find English speakers at a French resort) and went to the entertainment for the night.

Monday 18 Feb
We had a departure time of 8am, so we had to get up and be ready by then. Not fun. We got separated into the 4x4s and met our new French "family" for the first time. This family was so lucky to gain three American daughters for a week. I'm sure the teenage son just loved that.

We drove off of the island of Djerba (the views were amazing!) onto mainland Tunisia. We stopped in a little town and met our guide and learned about our itinerary for the day. The first stop was Medenine which had a lot of buildings/homes made out of stone. We went to a Tunisian culture museum and met a tour guide who spoke English, and of course, he immediately wanted to be our friend. We also wandered through the town a bit, saw the markets, noticed the lack of women anywhere. All in all, a good stop.

Next, we stopped in Tataouine to try the local speciality "cornes de gazelle", a sweet dessert that is like covered in honey. We were also given free time to wander around the markets there. We tried to stick by the French people as much as possible. Always a good plan when you're three young western women wandering around small town Tunisia.

For lunch, we stopped in a small mountain town of Chenini where we had a yummy lunch of couscous and then hiked up the mountain through the small village. Next, we drove on a small path in the desert. That was a little rough! We stopped at a "Nomad cafe" which was literally the only building you could see for miles! There was no roof and the ground was sand! When we left there, surprise! No more road whatsoever!! This was our first experience racing over sand dunes in 4x4s! So much fun!! We also got to stop and play in the dunes as well! Lots and lots of fun!!!

That night, we "camped" outside. I say "camped", because the tents were pretty nice and there were mattresses on the ground and blankets. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold!!! We pushed our mattresses together for body heat, but somehow, I ended up getting my blankets stolen from me in the middle of the night! Hart and Katie felt horrible for that.

Tuesday 19 Feb
It was so cold when our French mom woke us up the next morning. We didn't want to leave the covers, but we did... to go to a horrible breakfast. I seriously think they tried to feed us sand. Just kidding... it only looked like sand!

After leaving the campsite, we did the best thing ever! We stopped along the side of the road with a little cafe. It made very little sense until we saw them. Camels!! We were going to ride camels! We got suited up in robes and scarves (no idea why) and got on up! Our driver made sure we got three camels together. My camel had some issues... he kept making weird noises and slobbering all over the place. Katie's and Hart's camels were tied to mine, so they kept getting really close to me and liked using my legs to rub their heads against. It was a lot of fun though! Katie and Hart made up new words to Britney Spear's "Piece of Me" to fit our camel riding experience. And then, we stopped in the middle of the sand dunes where we got off and explored there. Hart got a camel ride by a nomad that was passing through! Fun! Getting back on the camels... not so fun. Mine had issues staying down on the ground, and when I was halfway on him, he decided to stand up, so I fell off. Luckily, he wasn't all the way up and I fell into a sand dune. But still! Ouch.

We did more exploration of the Sahara. Our driver liked parking at almost a vertical angle so we would have a hard time climbing in and out of the 4x4. At our hotel, we had lunch (buffet again) and somehow we got seated with some other tour group. And get this, they knew Chauny!! It was some people from Reims ( a town about 40 minutes from here) and the one guy knew a Chauny postal worker. Haha. Small world. That was better than the normal reaction we would get. Nearly everyone in our group would ask us where we are living in France, and we would say a small town in Picardie. The reaction was always the same. "Oh! Mais.... pourquoi? (Oh, but why?).

After more exploration of the area (including an oasis), we got dropped off in a small village near our hotel and we walked back. It was interesting to see the people and their homes... not to mention all the animals in the street. And the children are so adorable and thrilled to see a bunch of westerners walking through their village.

Wednesday 20 Feb
We drove across the Chott el Djerid which is a huge salt lake, basically. Right in the middle of the desert, there's this huge salt deposit. It's so cool! We got to get out and walk across it. It's like sad only salt. Hart was tempted to lick the ground.

Next, we arrived in Tozeur. We got a tour through the old part of the city before heading to the botanical gardens and zoo. We didn't understand much of the garden part of the tour. Those words are too specific for us to have any idea of most of them. But the zoo was cool! Well, kind of. It was small and you could pet the animals. But it was also a good example of animal cruelty. They like poked the lion to get it to growl. They gave the camel Coke to drink. That was cool to watch, but it cannot be good for the camel. That camel also decided to try to eat my purse and Hart's hair. That was hilarious though!

In the afternoon, we had our Star Wars excursion. We got to see where the camel races occur, hike up sand dunes and such, and... race over sand dunes in the 4x4s! We're talking going vertical practically and then racing down huge piles of sand. It was adrenaline pumping. Our driver kept laughing at our reactions. Then, we visited a set from the film. It was pretty cool considering I've never seen any of the movies in their entirety.

After dinner, we decided to venture out of the hotel. That lasted for about five minutes, and we quickly returned.

Thursday 21 Feb
We drove along a road with tons of camel crossing signs. That had us cracking up! Then, all of a sudden, we came to a stop. There were actual camels crossing the road! Like 30-40 of them! We all climbed out and took pictures. After, we finally made our way to Chebika. It's a small ancient town in an oasis in the middle of the Sahara. We hiked around there for awhile, saw the Algerian border, and had fresh squeezed orange juice. Next, we stopped near another oasis. We could actually see the border... it was only 20km away (that's about 12 miles!). Then, we went to see the "Grande cascade" (big waterfall). Umm... it was probably the smallest grande cascade ever. It was like a trickle of water! There was also a market there, so we did some shopping. I got a few bracelets.

We had our afternoon free in Tozeur, so we went shopping. Shopping in Tunisia is stressful. You have to bargain for everything. And even getting a starting price out of anyone is difficult. We started laughing every time we heard the words "Pas cher. Bon prix." (Not expensive. A good price). It's also swarms of Tunisian guys swooping in. It also seems like the same three people would own all of the stores on the same block. We did manage to have some success, and Hart is a great bargainer. We also got some free mint tea and henna out of the deal.

That night was the Tunisian soiree. Only 9 of us went (including us 3 and the 3 people in our French family). It was so fun though! There was drums, horse acrobatics, sword fighting, and fire breathers. And that was before we went inside for dinner! Inside, there was more music and entertainment including belly dancers and people who could dance with 10 jugs sitting on their heads! Impressive! The meal was delicious, and it was bottomless wine! It was great! That night at the hotel was an interesting one (not because of the wine), but our guide took care of us. Let's just say that we managed to get Tunisians kicked out of a Tunisian establishment, but hey! Not our fault!

Friday 22 Feb
We had an early wake-up, because we were hitting the road at 7am. First, we stopped at a tiny cafe to stretch our legs. Then, we stopped in the middle of a field! We were like "What the hell?" Apparently, we were supposed to be admiring the irrigation or something. Next, we stopped in Gabes to visit the market there. Afterwards, we made another brief stop to see some other Star Wars film setting. Before lunch, we stopped to visit a troglodytique house (a house that is built underground). The woman gave us bread and mint tea. Delicious!

Our last stop for the day was made up on a mountain. There was a funny sign that said "Vue Magique" (Magic view) with an arrow pointing. It looked over a small village. It was a pretty sight to see though.

To get back to Djerba, we took a ferry. That was enjoyable! We got some fresh sea air and just enjoyed the sights we saw! Back at the resort, we said goodbye to our family and to our driver who we loved. He helped us to understand the guide (who spoke pretty bad French... even the French had trouble understanding him!) and I think he was just thoroughly entertained by us... especially with us sharing the Arabic phrases we learned. I'll get to that in a moment.

That night, there was a Tunisian soiree at the hotel. It was okay, but somethings dragged on far too long. There were drummers, belly dancers, and a guy who walked on glass and nails and fire and the like. There was also a snake charmer (who did not even play a flute!). Poor Katie, who had fallen asleep, got a microphone shoved in her face and then taken up on stage. Not fun for a non native French speaker. We felt bad for her, and we all bolted out of their the moment she got down off the stage.

Saturday 23 Feb
We had a lazy morning and afternoon. We went to the pool. Laid out in the sun. Sat on the beach for hours. It was heavenly! Then, we made our way to Midoun, the closest town to our hotel. We did some shopping and became officially sick of bargaining for every little thing. We went to a cafe (only girls there!) and had delicious mint tea and split a pineapple pizza. After that, it was starting to get dark, and one shop owner told us that we better get back to our hotel and literally pointed where the taxis were. We took his advice and got out of there.

We enjoyed our last dinner in Tunisia and then went to a cafe at the resort for tea before going to one of the bars and hanging out with a bunch of the workers.

Sunday 24 Feb
We sat on the beach for awhile before climbing onto the bus for the airport. We said goodbye to Tunisia and took off for Paris. We weren't quite sure if we had a ride home or if we would be taking the RER and train back. We hadn't heard from T. or J. since we arrived in Tunisia. (They had sent us a cute message about how much they missed us and that they went back to the airport for a few hours after they left us there to explore the terminals and watch planes take off from très près! (very close)... they had never been to an airport before and it's not like planes usually fly over Chauny. They also said the airport was empty without us! All together now... aww!!!!) So as we walked out of the arrivals gate, we had no idea what to expect, but then we saw J.! We were beyond excited to see him. T. was driving around so they wouldn't have to pay for parking, but we all just wanted to give him a huge hug when we saw him as well. It was great.

And that's my week in Tunisia.

Some great things about Tunisia that hasn't been mentioned yet:
- Camels everywhere!
- Fresh oranges. Literally, right off the tree. I've never tasted oranges this delicious before.
- Flavorful food.
- Tunisian baguette is better than French baguette (even the French agreed with us!)

And of course, we learned very useful words in Arabic (our driver got a kick out of these). No idea how to write them (even phonetically) so I'll just write their French and English equivalents.
- Bisous (kiss)
- Je t'aime (I love you)
- One up high! One down low! (Basically high and low five... the French don't really do that, so it was lost on them).

Pictures
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Album 4

Katie posted some great pictures that I wish I could share with you, but I am unable to link to her Facebook album. But if you have me friended on Facebook, you can look at the pictures I was tagged in.

I still have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. So coming up soon: T. takes us to Disneyland! And my birthday in Chauny!

Wow. That was a long post.