The camel that drank coca cola
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2008
1
3
17
Trip End
Feb 23, 2008
Tozeur,
Tunisia
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Then we started on our walk to the zoo, called Paradise zoo, although I am not sure all the animals found the small cages to be paradise
tozeur brickwork
! The journey involved walking off the beaten track, through a local, quiet neighbourhood, and eventually into the palmary. The sun shone, and we were struck by how friendly everyone was - it was normal to say good morning to every passer by, and Paul Eric said he felt like a film star, with the attention and gazes of the people around him. As we adapted to the different culture, I found it quite preferable to the Norwegian "pretend I haven't seen you" attitude. A group of children were playing in the street, casting stones at tin cans piled up in a tower. They laughed and said "Bonjour madame et monsieur", and we felt the stones gently hitting our legs after we had passed. A woman shouted out to us when we looked lost, " Do you want the zoo de Paradis"? Yes, I called back, and she indicated the direction. It turned out to be a long walk through the palmary, but we enjoyed it.Arriving at last, we paid the small entrance fee, and really enjoyed the collection of different creatures - a friendly monkey, rodents, jackels, lizards, wild boar, several types of dromedaries and snakes. After we had relaxed with a drink, some staff members came out, and gave demonstrations for the visitors, the number of which had now increased - not only foreigners but also Tunisians. A very brave man held a snake. When I asked if it was a dangerous snake, he said, "Yes, 15 minutes and you are with Allah!" to which everyone laughed
tozeur medina
. He also placed a lizard on people, who had their photos taken. But the star attraction was Ali, the coke-drinking camel. He made us all laugh by drinking from the coke bottle and then throwing it down when empty. Finally we took a stroll in the pretty tropical garden.We were glad to find a taxi on leaving the zoo, and headed for the old medina we had missed the day before. The cab-driver was of course able to put us off at the best entrance, a wide gate displaying the special Tozeur architecture. This consists of a pattern of brickwork, where some bricks are jutting out, to form an intricate and stunning pattern. It is found only in Tozeur and in nearby Nefta. Unfortunately, the tourists shops were all clustered at his focal point, and we were left in no peace to just take in the atmosphere. We brushed off the offer to show us the medina, and tried to look around for ourselves. But it was not very big, and we quickly found ourselves at another exit. This was not where we wanted to be, and we re-entered the medina, seeing the most important mosque, and finding our way out of the main exit again. I bought half a kilo of dates, which although it was long past the high season, were plentiful and good. Many stalls could be seen selling one of my favourite foods!
We ended up back at Salim's shop, and felt secure that we had found a good friend in him. He was able to recommend a good place nearby for lunch, where we chose lamb couscous and turkey. Delightful! Back at the shop, we decided Salim was the man we wanted to buy from, and that it was a good idea to buy several things from the same person, for the sake of the price. We spent a long time, enjoying the conversation and the decision-making. We finished up with a burnous for Paul Eric (a desert-cloak which is large and warm), a small jacket for my 2 year old nephew, a doll in the costume of an Ottoman soldier, a leather hat, two pairs of leather slippers, and 2 cushion covers, all for 80 dinars! (400 kroner). Wow, were we pleased! Laden with our wares, we headed for our new home, but were stopped by a man with a caleche who wanted to drive us up the road. It was not far, so I declined, but when he insistantly lowered the price I could hardly refuse any longer. We bundled in, and heard his story about Fran, his friend from England, who had visited him 5 times and eaten couscous in his home, and saw his photos of her. He offered to take us around the palmary on Monday for just 5 dinars, also an offer we couldn't refuse, and he made the time and place clear.
In the evening, we returned to Dar Charaït, where we visited the stunning exhibition of Tunisian history, from the "Big Bang", cavemen times, through to many episodes from Tunisian history - Hanibal, Roman conquest, arrival of Arabs, Ottomans, etc. The people in front of us were hearing the French commentary, whilst ours was in English. We had to take our time, so as not to run into the wrong language. Having again managed to escape the pushy shopkeepers, we dived into a local restaurant for peace and Berber pizza! Sport was obviously on the menu inside, and Tunisian men filled the small restaurant. We braved the slight chill, sitting outside, taking it in turns to wear Paul Eric's burnous. The day ended with a caleche home.
