Le Diar el Barbar Matmata

Well what a day. We drove in 4x4 to an oasis in the Sahara. Arrived in time to swim in the hot spring which was actually cooler than the air temp. At dusk we went on a camal trek into the dunes. K was terrified for about 10 mins and then was a pro (by her own estimation). It was blowy and we were well wrapped. Pics are on K s camera so I will put those up later. Off to Douz today.

Imagine...they have internet in the Sahara.
Currently we are sleeping in a cave or old berber house as it is locally known. K is in heaven of course. I will attempt to upload pics soon. Off to Sahara proper tomorrow.
It is f...ing hot. 42 today.
We are having a fab time ...


Mel could you post the link to blog on Centre peel and ESL TEACHERS conf please.

... lo sono già chiesto, ma stare li in mezzo al nulla più nulla possibile a pascolare le pecore... ma perchè? Dopo questi 70 km si arriva in un surreale gruppetto di abitazioni in mezzo a cui la strada finisce. Di fronte, sabbia. Intorno, sabbia. Solo un angolino della visuale è occupato da una mandria di palme... e dopo, sabbia. Cavolo. Ma sarà ben ostinata la razza umana... Con un po' di difficoltà ci addentriamo nell'oasi (va bene il ...

... of it. Dusty houses in the ground, followed by a dusty bar (the Star Wars set, looking a bit old and faded now) and then a dusty hotel. with dusty floors, dusty beds, dusty walls, smelly loos, blocked loos, You get the idea. We left early. Then the bizarre beach sculpture park. You have to see the photos, freaky.

... first we encountered was the reg, which stretched for miles to see... As we drove further towards Matmata you could start to see circular craters built into the rocky hillside. These formed the "rooves" of the hundreds of ...

(NOTE: I've had WAY less internet access than I thought I would.. haven't been able to transcribe my written journals and post them, but I thought I'd just post the pictures to satisfy you guys for the moment. Keep sending me emails though! I'll send another email when I finally do post the actual writing. Love to all. -Chels) Today in brief: Left Ksar Ghilane ...

... the Starwars theme, it sometimes turns out to be ET or Superman). There are lots of old bits of set lying around (well, stuck to the wall). Did you know that in those futuristic pipes were just there to hide the palm trees inside? After breakfast I wanted to go to the Tashi station to pick up some power converters but the manager said I had chores to do before I wasted time with my friends ...

Alquilamos un auto.....y nos fuimos a pasear por todos lados... geniallllllllllllllllllllllll. Dormimos en Matmata donde se filmo Star Wars (La guerra de las galaxias) Usamos el auto de colectivo y levantamos a todos los que hacian dedo por el desierto....

... since we didn't stop there, our driver did, we didn't cave in. Instead we just sat there on the curb until Mohammed gave up and jumped in the driver seat. We jumped in too and we were off to Matmata. Just outside Matmata, Mohammed stopped us again as one of the area's famous underground, so called "troglydyte" homes. This was hands down the worst part of our entire trip as we were reluctantly paraded around these people's home. We did get a ...

... but once I found out that ferries sail to Tunisia from Sicily getting here became possible again. When I found myself on the punctual 6am train to Gabes I knew it would all work out. Gabes is a non-descript, fly-blown coastal town but soon after arriving the louage (8 person taxi) I jumped into was blazing across the scorching semi-arid ...