Already Time to Say Goodbye

I just started making some friends, getting a little comfortable with the language, and somewhat used to the spicy food and then my time came to an end. I spent my last few days saying goodbyes, eating at my favorite Chawarma restaurants, and shopping in the Medina. After I was already packed my friend’s mom gave me over ten pounds of homemade couscous, red chili powder, a Tunisian chickpea dessert, and a few other items. Luckily I was able to cram it all in my bags!
After two days of traveling I’m in the states now and feeling extremely jetlagged. I miss Tunisia and my friends there! I miss the all the friendly shop owners, the Chawarma sandwiches, the cats, the bakeries, and so much more!

Lots of Cats, no Rats

I’ve written about the all the cats roaming the Sousse streets before, but just in case you’ve forgotten I thought I would write about them again. I’ve really grown to appreciate them these past three months. Unlike the dogs that roam the streets in the D.R., the cats are very quiet in the night, they take things out of the garbage cans instead of knocking the garbage cans over, and most importantly they take care of rat problems. As you can see in my pictures they really are everywhere; in the gutters, on the cars, on boats, in the parks, in the garbage cans, etc.  

A Haircut

I went with my friend to the hair salon this week and had a great time. They washed my hair (with warm water, unlike what I’m used to in the D.R.)), gave me a little head massage, cut my hair in layers, and styled it very nicely. And they did all that for just over $12 US!

To the North

In the past, when I would think about Tunisia; palms trees, deserts, and camels would often come to mind. I’d heard some rumors of mountainous forests and even snow up in the North of the country, but I had to see it to believe it.  
After two train rides my two travel companions and I found a nice little restaurant in the center of the medina in the town of Beja. There were no other tourists to be found, the prices where very cheap, and all the people we met were very friendly. 

  After a good lunch we found our way to the louagge station (shared taxi) and headed on to our final destination, Tabarka, a town along the Mediterranean sea and very close to Algeria.

Being on the road (or train tracks) for roughly 8 hours was a bit tiring but arriving in the beautiful town that looks like it came straight out of a storybook was rewarding. Our hotel was great too. It had a great view of the sea and the Genoese Castle, a fire place you could curl up in front of, and good meals.

   
That afternoon we scouted out the town for the next day’s adventure and walked along the sea. Fortunately we didn’t get drenched by the enormous waves hitting the rocks (some other tourists weren’t so lucky).

The following morning we walked along the beach, checked out the fishing boats at the fishing port, and hiked up to the lovely Genoese castle.

In the afternoon we took a bus up to a town even higher up in the mountains, Ain Draham, known for it’s forests of cork oak, wild boars, and snow. (I don’t know how often it snows there, but we were told that last year they had a meter of snow.) There we met two girls who kindly took us up to a forest and showed us around town.

The following morning we took another walk around Tabarka, packed up our bags, got some really good Chawarma sandwiches and went on the long eight-hour journey home.

More on Eid

Here’s a few more pictures from last weekends holiday. The first few are from my time with a family here in Sousse and the  second half are from my time in a smaller town called Sidi El Heni.