Days 3-8 In the South

Day 4
Today we went to the University of Gabes for a guest lecture on the nationalist heroes of Tunisia. We then ate lunch in Gabes and continued to Matamata.
The local saying in Matmata is that it’s “the only place where the living live beneath the dead.” While due to recent development this is no longer true, many of the local Berber people live in the world famous troglodyte homes. Our first stop in the city was the Hotel Sidi Driss, it was here that Luke Skywalker ate breakfast with his uncle and aunt and the bar is where he met the first love of my life, Han Solo. While this place was without a doubt a tourist trap, I really didn’t care. Around half of my classmates stayed on the bus and talked down about people who would come to Tunisia to see Star Wars sites, once again…I didn’t care. I ran around the hotel in all of my middle school glory and unleashed my nerdhood for all to see.

After taking around a million pictures we walked behind the hotel to see a tiny museum that was a restored troglodyte home. Our guide to the museum was the cutest little old woman I have ever seen and upon presenting her with a tip, Kareem discovered that she only makes one dinar (around 70 cents) a day. (Upon my travels I have been told that Americans and Germans tip the best while the French are famous for giving nothing.) This is just a friendly reminder stressing the importance of tipping in your travels to developing nations.
After our day in Matmata we continued to the small village of Tamezret. I can’t imagine many tourists ever making here and without Kareem’s expertise I would have never known it existed. The village is perched on top of a hill with a spectacular view of Nefzaoua plains. We wandered around the village where I met a local girl who offered to take my picture and a group of boys who I attempted to play soccer with. After this we drank tea and watched the sun set from a local café.


Day Five
Today we drove through the town of Tataouine despite the name the town isn’t really that special. Our first stop in the area was the Cliffside village of Chenini. The village was founded in the 12 AD and is a crowded tourist destination. The effect that this has had on the villagers is evident in the crowds of children asking for euros and the brash young men grabbing at the female tourists. Other than this the view from the top of the village is quite lovely.

The next stop was quite possibly the highlight of my trip to the south. We traveled to the abandoned village of Douiret, the homes are like that of Chenini except the site is basically unknown to tourists and we got to explore the ruins at our pleasure. The ruins are a budding archeologists heaven and although the homes are ancient the residents left quite recently (The town was abandoned in the 1960’s due to flooding) leaving behind trash turned treasure. The abandoned village also houses a hotel and restaurant run by a NGO dedicated to historical preservation. To anyone traveling to Tunisia I highly recommend visiting Douiret and spending the night. The NGO offers guided hikes around the area and you will feel like you are living on mars with the desolate red landscape. If I had one more free weekend (and magical transportation) to spend in Tunisia I would return here.
After we visited Douiret we went to Tatouine for lunch and had time for one more moment of Star Wars nerd heaven in the city of Ksar Haddada. This city is the home to the distinctive orb-like Berber architecture. This was used as the slave dwellings in episode one and they are very remarkable in their own right. After yet another long day we returned to Gafsa hotel where I was reunited with my new friend Carl the Cockroach.

Day Six
Today we traveled on the short ferry ride to the island of Jerba. The island is famous for its pristine beaches but seeing as we visited in November (although the weather has still been in the 70’s) we didn’t go swimming. The majority of the trip was dedicated to shopping. I hate bartering and the shopkeepers where extra tricky with ripping tourist off, nevertheless I still managed to purchase some Christmas presents without the usual shopkeeper groping that some of my friends experienced.
The highlight of the trip to Jerba was the El-Ghriba Synagogue, as the oldest synagogue in north Africa, its name means ‘The Stranger’. The site was founded in 586 BC although the building we saw was built in the 19 century. The building is decorated with a wonderful mix of traditional Tunisian and Jewish styles. (For example the raised sanctuary for the torah is decorated with the hand of Fatima and the evil eye.) The Jewish community in Jerba is one of the oldest outside of Israel but was greatly lessened by the creation of the state of Israel and pressure to leave for France after Tunisia’s intemperance. Now the population is only a few hundred.

In 2002 there was a terrorist attack on the Synagogue where terrorists drove a gas truck through the barrier killing a total of 19, a tour group Germans and a few Tunisians. The building remained unharmed and it is for this reason that we had to pass through a metal detector on our way into the Synagogue. It was the tightest security I have encountered in the country so far and it proved to be an unnerving experience.

Day Seven
We began our day with a trip to a carpet co-op that makes a thin style of carpets called “maaguum”. Kareem let us go crazy in the carpet showroom and the madness that ensued was somewhat similar to the day after Thanksgiving. However, we all spent a lot of money so I doubt the owner was upset. After our purchasing spree, we where given a tour of the factory. The machinery looked like it was out the film “Modern Times’ and to be truthful it gave me the creeps. We didn’t get to see the women actually weaving the carpets but we did see the processes of dying and carding the wool.
After this we traveled back to the university of Gafsa in order to have a conversation with the students of English there (the conversations that I can have in Arabic are quite limited, are usually with taxi drivers and nearly always end with a marriage proposal). This conversation was a real learning experience and merits a blog entry of its own.
We left the university stressed and ranting therefore it was a real treat to be dined at the “Hamdy Estates”.
I’m not exactly sure of the details but Kareem’s brother owns the oasis that his family grew up on. We had a modest picnic that consisted of a huge tray of roasted vegetables, pomegranates that we picked ourselves, tea, pistachios, the only cheese I have ever liked, some incredible flat bread that we dipped in olive oil and honey and a ENTIRE lamb. After we had stuffed ourselves to the point of pain we rolled to the home where Kareem was born and I have to say (sorry dad) that being born in a cave in an oasis is infinitely more cool than in a house in Chicago.

What a wonderful way to end our last full day in the south!

Day Eight
The majority of this day was driving with the exception that we stopped at one of Tunisia’s eight world heritage sites, El-Jem.
There is no way I could possibly describe the feelings that rushed trough my veins upon being dwarfed by the massive coliseum. As I walked under the symmetrical arches and into the sun I could hear the roar of the crowd and the silence of the vastness of space. The coliseum was the third largest in the roman world and is now the best preserved (the movie gladiator was filmed here) and would even better preserved if not it being the site of revolutions in the 1800’s. Built between 230-238 AD the coliseum could hold 30,000 people, which was more than the population of the town. You can explore from the top deck of the upper seating to the creepy pitch-black catacombs underneath. This place took my breath away and I could have easily spent over two hours here just soaking it all in however, we had to make it back to Tunis sometime.


My trip to the south was an experience I will always remember. I encourage anyone visiting Tunisia to spend as much time in this region as possible!

-Katie

P.s I can’t believe it but I will be done with the program in exactly two weeks! Wow! Time has flown.