Monday, October 19th.
Today was a great day! We drove out of the oasis palmerie and saw the ripe date fronds covered with a light weight material to protect them from moisture and birds. Our journey south east to the coast began crossing Chott el Jerid, Tunisia's largest salt lake, a crystalline expanse covering 5,000 square kilometres. This depression preserves evidence of ancient seas that once covered North Africa. We stopped for pictures beside a brilliant white landscape. There I watched as Brett tried to buy a desert rose from the only seller out there. He was quite a character and called himself Ali Baba. A 'desert rose' is made from gypsum and is created when mineral-rich water evaporates in arid, shallow environments; the crystals flatten and fan outward in circular, blade like petal patterns. We also stopped at an artesian well, where hot water is forced out of the ground and pumped into a series of cascading layers in order to cool it for use. We stopped in a local town for lunch and people watching on the busy streets. There was a statue of a man on a camel and I caught a photo of two women on a motorcycle riding by, I thought that said something about change. Later we came to the interesting Berber village of Matmata. Here, ingenious adaptation to harsh climate produced one of humanity's most distinctive building traditions: homes carved directly into soft sandstone, creating subterranean courtyards surrounded by chambers that maintain comfortable temperatures year-round. These "troglodyte" dwellings, some over 400 years old, demonstrate how local people learned to survive in this harsh and hostile climate. The circular pit design captures cool air while radiating heat upward. We visited a local family's traditional home, where we saw how the architecture shapes social organization. There was one doorway through a narrow tunnel that lead to an inner open air courtyard off of which there were numerous rooms, a kitchen, living room, bedrooms and even halls to other people’s homes with the central courtyard serving as communal space while individual rooms provided privacy. After visiting the homes we drove into town to the Berber Restaurant that is famous for being the site of the restaurant and bar in the first Star Wars movie. We had an excellent lunch there, with spicy soup, salad, a fried piece of pastry with an egg in it, and couscous with chicken, lamb, carrots, potatoes and squash, with dates and watermelon for dessert. From there we drove towards our final destination of the day, the island of Djerba. We drove through the Atlas Mountains, climbing up and over a few passes on a series of switchbacks overlooking beautiful dry desert landscapes. Djerba is connected to the mainland by a Roman causeway still in use after 2,000 years, although obviously rebuilt several times, and is now being expanded to four lanes because if there is an accident on the two lane portion traffic gets tied up for hours. Djerba has maintained a distinct cultural identity through successive conquests and it may have been Homer's legendary land of the Lotus Eaters. This is a large flat island and we drove for a half hour before reaching out very resort like hotel in the touristy beach area. Brett and I had to walk about 75-100 metres to get to our room at the end of the very long hall. We have an incredibly large suite, with a walk-in closet, a large bathtub, and a sitting room. And we’re here for two nights! We went down and had a couple of beer in the empty (it’s off season) lobby with Russ and Brett before heading off to bed.
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