Yadis Oasis Tozeur

... was the shop of a Berber who had a pet desert fox, which he let me hold!

As soon as the group returns from the jeep trip we go to lunch, followed by a carriage ride through the lovely and peaceful palm gardens of Tozeur. At the midpoint of the ride, we stop for a walk among the palms while our guide explains the pollination process and a man climbs up one of the trees in his bare feet to demonstrate how ...

We get an early start from the hotel in order to be at the famous La Ghriba Synagogue at the 9am opening. Of course, the man with the keys is 10 minutes late, but we walk through the village and talk with some school children on their way to classes.

Continuing to Douz, we experience one of the highlights of the tour – riding camels into the Sahara ...

... narghilè ma che sia qui sia in egitto si chiama shisha... devo ricordarmi prima o poi di cercare la differenza fra le due cose, se esiste). Durante il tragitto abbiamo fatto una sosta tattica a Kairouan, purtroppo resa piuttosto difficile dal fatto che il presidente aveva avuto la nostra stessa idea, le strade erano in buona parte chiuse (e abbiamo inaugurato le potenzialità fuoristradistiche del carotone per aggirare gli ostacoli) e la città era ...

... Oriental. Thankfully, the tour guide laughed at me when I asked if there were scorpions. Apparently it's too cold for them here right now. After spending the night in the desert, we'll be getting back into town pretty late and probably won't get to a computer until either Saturday or Sunday night. Hopefully the next cafe I go to will allow me to upload stuff and then you'll all have a TON to read and sift through. Hope you're all doing well!

(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: we spent ...

... how practical this clothing was after all. After a lunch in Douz, we travelled on across the great salt lake of Chott El Jerid. A thousand years ago, this lake was part of the Mediterranean Sea. But no more; now the dry lake bed is used to harvest salt. We end our day at the town of Tozeur, on the edge of the Sahara desert. And again we're at a grand hotel; the Sofitel, for the next 2 nights.

... a considerable amount of pressure on us to enter, we sought refuge on a calêche, which had two young men as drivers. They took us on our first tour of the palmary, which we were really too tired to enjoy fully, giving us an explanation in French of which I only understood about 40%. But the palmary did look beautiful, with its 200,000 palms and many other fruit trees and plants, running water for irrigation, and bird song. We chatted happily before falling into a deep sleep.

... and a rather foolish one at that. The oases were Chebika, Tamerza, and Midès and the best part of the trip was some of the scenery we took in when we would ask Mohammed to just stop at various spots along the road. While we were sometimes overwhelmed by the large tour groups, this was our competitive advantage that gave us some peaceful moments to enjoy by ourselves. Or at least between ourselves and the 10-year old kids hounding us to buy a ****** bracelet for 5 dinars.

... You can't travel independently there and all tours are rigidly controlled, it's as hot as Afganistan so he would probably like the climate, the outdoor furniture business is pretty big in the region and a perfect cover, and the thawing of relations might be a smoke-screen to throw his pursuers off the scent... Just kicking some ideas around...

... and got to wander around and take photos, I have quite a few. After that we drove to the top of another dune and watched the sun go down looking out towards Algieria. Very cool! Remember to drink lots of water! Oh ya, the Lonely Planet recommendation for top end in Tozeur, at least the one we picked, sucks. And we now know what the Survivor contestants feel like when the food cravings start. Ask me how many people I would kill right now to have a bowl of oatmeal, go ahead, ask me!