Boat Maintenance and Tunisian Foods

It rained more throughout that night we woke the next morning (yesterday) to dark gray skies, intermittent light rain, and cool temperatures. It was almost cool enough to need a thin long sleeve shirt, but not quite. Shorts and tees are still comfortable, but barely. We are so happy about the change in the weather. After a year and a half of perpetual summer, we are ready for the cooler temperatures of autumn. We are most happy for those celebrating Ramadan. Life without water will be so much easier with it being relatively cool out.

Since our trip to the desert had been long and exhausting, yesterday was a quiet, relaxing day aboard Kosmos. Our big adventure was going to eat. We tried the Tex-Mex place. Turns out there were a few Mexican food items on the menu, but they hadn’t posted them outside for some reason. The rest of the menu was pretty standard western fare, with pasta, seafood, steaks. The Mexican items looked a bit scary. Fajitas and burritos were listed under the “cold appetizer” section. The main courses were totally non-descript, such as “Mexican Fiesta Platter”. Christi decided to stick to normal western fare. Eric, ever the optimist, ordered a burrito. Out came Continue reading

Quad Riding in the Sahara and Lightning Storms

Continued from yesterday”¦ From the hotel/set we walked over to another one of the privately owned underground houses that the owner has turned into a “museum”. This house was similar to the second house we saw, except that the living room was at the end of the entrance tunnel, near the outlet to the courtyard, rather than at the front of the tunnel. This is the owner in her living room.

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We found out that several families used to share these houses, with communal kitchen and storage areas, and each family lived in one room. The rooms are Continue reading

In-Ground Houses and Star Wars Set

Last night a storm blew through. There was a lot of wind, some lightening, but just a little rain. We were up at 0500 and out the door at 0600. The sun rises at 0700, so it was dark out. We got on an inland two lane highway running south.

The ride south was almost all farm land dotted with little towns. We did pass through one moderately large town. The vast majority of the land was covered in what seemed like endless olive tree plantations where the trees are planted far apart from one another in perfectly symmetrical rows. The land beneath the olive trees is ploughed, so we assume that other crops have been recently planted underneath the olives. Many of the olive tree groves had their property “fenced” off with a hedge of nasty looking cactus. We did see a few other crops actively growing in plots that did not contain olive trees, none that we recognized, though.

At one point we went through a small town where every single building, as well as the fences in front of the buildings, were covered with garlands of red chili peppers. The farm land surrounding the town was mostly the same crop, chili peppers. There were people in the fields picking the fruit, and once again, we were filled with amazement that people could be doing manual labor out in the heat with no water.

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The day was mostly overcast, so the sun wasn’t beating down as hard as it had been the last few days. The air outside was noticeably cooler, but just as humid. So while it wasn’t nearly as bad, it was still muggy and uncomfortably hot out. The air was scented with that wonderful “after rain” perfume.

There were a lot of people Continue reading

The Bardo Museum in Tunis

Today we went to the Bardo Museum. We have figured out that Tunisians seem to have a map aversion. No one likes to show you where things are on the map. Nor have we been able to find a precise map. So, last night, after dinner Ramses drove miles and miles out of his way to take us to the Bardo Museum so that we knew exactly where it was and would be able to find it today. Talk about nice.

On the way to the museum, in Tunis, traffic was interrupted by a herd of goats crossing the street in town. We were amused.

The museum is housed in an old palace. The palace is beautiful. The ground floor has a few remains from the Phoenician era of Carthage days. They were mostly clay sculptures of assorted gods they worshipped. In addition to the full figurines, there were lots of little masks with incredibly expressive faces. One of the gods was named Baal and the Phoenicians actually sacrificed new born babies to him. Little is really know about the why or frequency of the practice, and there was a display on different theories.

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The vast majority of the museum is devoted to Roman mosaics. These mosaics are mostly floors from the homes of the wealthy. They are intricate and many are absolutely enormous, like two stories tall and so wide they take up two giant walls. By this point we have seen a lot of Roman ruins, most of which contain impressive mosaics, and we were nonetheless bowled over by the mosaics on exhibit here. They are truly incredible. We can’t imagine how much time and energy must have gone into making each one. There are also a few other artifacts, as well, including some statues, sarcophagi, jewelry, and tools.

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There is also a section of the palace with Arab era artifacts. This display is eclectic, featuring everything from Continue reading

The Medina and Special Ramadan Dinner

Today we made sure to have a big meal in the marina complex before leaving to go sightseeing. We each ordered the biggest breakfast on the menu, the Arab breakfast. It came with eggs and bread, as well as a healthy serving of a thick soft cheese covered in honey. The cheese is different than anything we have had before.

We can see how it would be easier to be faithful to Ramadan when there are no restaurants open, you get to go home from work early, and everyone around you participating. But we don’t know how the people who work in Port Yasmine Hammamet do it when they have to watch tourists stuffing their faces and don’t get to go home early. So we asked our waiter about fasting. He said it was a way of life and you just deal with the headaches and thirst and stomach pains. When we pressed him about how hard it must be to serve food while not eating, he commented it would be a heck of a lot harder for him to resist Tunisian food than it is to resist the western food.

Anyway, we drove back to Tunis. Yesterday we forgot to comment on the driving. Driving in Tunisia is significantly better than in Italy or Turkey, but still crazier than America. The roads are nice and wide, which helps a lot. In Tunisia, red traffic lights are viewed as a yield sign. They slow down, and if Continue reading