N. Africa
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The
word for the day is “scam”. Following another scrumptious,
calorie laden breakfast we prepared to head out on a tour to
Nabuel. It is known for it’s pottery. I was sold this trip as
a journey to a nearby city to see their mosque, a festival and
the medina which is a bazaar. The price was dirt cheap, 1
dinar or 80 cents. I assumed that the guy got a cut of the
money you spent at the medina, therefore enabling the trip
price to be cheap. It ended up being another scam that took us
to a carpet weavers shop. I guess it falls back to the old
adage, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch!” The only one
who was mad about the scam was the guy who sold it to me. He
pouted the entire way back to the hotel. We on the other hand,
enjoyed the free trip to town.
TD
saved some fruit, rolls and cheese from the breakfast buffet,
which combined with chips made a delicious though repetitious
lunch. We walked the main drag outside the hotel searching for
a nonexistent internet location, while AD returned to the pool
tables. We found him watching a bicycle race (in German) on TV
when we returned. There is only intermittent CNN on our TV, so
anything we watch is in a foreign language.
It was time to go to archery before we knew it. We had agreed
to play today. The group was much larger than yesterday which
decreased your chances to shoot but did increase the fun. Few
people speak English, so we are left to sign language and the
few words we know in German, Dutch, French and Spanish as
communication tools. We laughed and cheered a lot for good
hits and bad.
Aerobics started at 4:30 so I trotted down to the disco where
it is held and had a rousing good time. The music was
stimulating and the instructor is very enthusiastic. He really
makes me want to continue going to his twice daily groups. I
left AD at his home away from home, the pool table and walked
energetically back to the room for a shower. TD was sitting on
the veranda so I joined him for a glass of wine before
showering. Dinner was another grand buffet. We had agreed to
skip dessert which isn’t usually as good as it looks. This
time we had the usual array described yesterday with a beef
roast slicing station, ribs right off the grill and a sautéed
vegetable station. The news flash though is that at the
dessert station, they had a gentleman heating fresh
strawberries in syrup to top your ice cream with and several
other delicious looking items. So-o-o-o!!!!
My
morning routine of walking before 7 AM continued today. It is
surprising how many little shops are already open by 7. Small
outdoor cafes have plenty of men sitting, drinking coffee or
sweet mint tea. The school children are walking to school and
workers are riding their bicycles to work. After a shower, I
head down to the breakfast room to read and wait for DW & AD.
My plastic bags with lunch foods were already packed by the
time they arrived.
The first order of the day is to find a rental car at a
cheaper price than the hotel. DW & AD stay in the room doing
school work. I walked the main road, which has many car rental
businesses, checking prices. There is no reason why Tunisia
should have the most expensive cars we’ve rented! Budget was
closed. I hoped to find an English speaker there. A guy in the
no-name brand next door called me in. I complained about the
cost and he cut his price to an acceptable amount. With the
deal made, I returned to the homework battlegrounds.
We
ate lunch in our room on the balcony. The view looks out into
a thick forest of mixed trees. There are lots of birds flying
about, making a racket from dawn to dusk. At 13:45, we went in
a van with some other guests to Nabuel for a camel trip in the
surrounding hills. There were two strings of five camels lead
by a walking guide.
Most people don’t know how uncomfortable a camel is to ride. I
don’t know about horses but I am of the opinion that walking
is probably better than riding any animal. Maybe it’s just the
saddle/seat that’s the problem but it’s pretty uncomfortable
wobbling along up there. What you save on sore feet, you get
other sore parts! The ride was over an hour long and took us
up into olive groves and farm fields. We stopped at a nice
vista to see the mountains, surrounding the farms and the sea.
The
camels can walk at a fairly fast clip and a smooth rhythm.
It’s frightening when they go down or stand up. You need to
“hold on”! My camel got up because the others were getting up
while I had just swung my leg over. I held on tight, afraid
that I would fall down the over 6 ft height of the animal.
They are wearing a woven muzzle to control their spitting. One
of the animals pulled his muzzle to the side and was drooling
a thick frothy substance from his immense tongue. I can only
imagine what a camel spit wad would be like. Can you?
Evenings at the hotel center around the large lobby. AD has
met a 9 year old Russian boy who speaks wonderful English. We
had hoped for some children at the hotel but none of them have
spoken any English until Dima arrived. Much by coincidence,
Dima and his grandparents sit at the table next to ours. The
two of them raced off after dinner to the pool table, leaving
the adults without a translator to help with the conversation.
We depend on sign language, mixed with the few words that we
know.
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