Sickness in the Sahara

We woke up early to head out to get on the bus to the Sahara to get our camel and Saharan camping on. As I walked to breakfast in our shady little cave hotel I heard a bunch of people had gotten sick apparently from the food at the super shady hotel the night before. Damn you Hotel Riadh. Next time I am is Sousse I will not be staying there. Obviously.

Well in the end 22 people were sick and really sick. We were supposed to leave and take a long bus ride, instead us that weren't sick went to a local berber village and saw the way they lived. It was really interesting to see the simple life, one of the berber women gave us bread and we were happy, it was amazing bread with olive oil (Tunisian Olive Oil) and honey. We then saw the way the woman made the bread. It included grinning grain by hand with two stones that spin. It was really interesting to see all the effort they have to go through to make such simple things like bread.

We went back to find the sick bus, and it ended up that we had to go to a local clinic so they could get treated. Three hours later we were done, and I was just happy I hadn't gotten sick. We made our way south to Douz for lunch and camel rides. When we got there it ended up that a bunch of the sickies weren't going to come to the camel ride or camping in the Sahara. They passed out in the hotel all day and night. Sweet Rachel, Anne and Zach and Cole were all sick, which kinda ruined the tent of 8 that we were suppose to sleep in, but somehow I forgave them.

I almost didn't go to the camel riding. I mean, Luke Jorwic on a camel? Really? But we went, got our head wrapped and got on some camels. The scene of 65 people getting on camels was pretty funny, except that it was super unorganized and as Michelle says my Lion came out and I just wanted to tell everyone to do. I didn't, obviously and we eventually all got on camels, as soon as I was on top of a camel I was loving it, looking into the Sahara I was happy I didn't let Loser Luke (LL)1 skip this experience.

Right as we entered the desert from the camp, Wills camel went apeshit. He was right next to me, and I saw his camel bucking him off, Will tried to stay on, but he got thrown off, off the front of the camel. He luckily stopped dropped and rolled away from that Camel really fast and popped up with a hilarious hair flip. As the camel guide was violently hissing at the camel will was offered a horse to ride which he said no to (apparently people get stolen on horses in the desert, they warned us) and he decided to get back on the camel. I was proud. I would not have gotten back on a camel that threw me off. Well the next hour was pretty much just me trying not to get thrown off a camel, but it was really interesting and beautiful to see. The Saharan sand is so soft and such a unique color (#StillBeige).

We went back to the hotel and got into some 4x4 vehicles and got driven into the Sahara to camp. The campsite was really cool, and we were greeted by traditional African live music.

We claimed our tents, it was coed. So risqué. We danced a little, and went into the tent to eat. The food was really good. I'm obsessed with Couscous. Sander said there was a really good Tunisian restaurant in Paris, my mom and sisters better prepare themselves because we are going. At the end of dinner Sander gave us a little speech about like when holding sand, if you close your fist the sand will fall from your hand, but if you open your hand the sand will stay, and that we needed to open our hands to the Sahara. I ate that shit up, I love sayings. We went out for more African style music and dancing.

Then we started sharing scary stories and after hearing that someone on campus had lived in a house with a secret room where the Columbian cocaine cartel were still actively trafficking drugs, and that people had been scratched by ghosts I was just so ready to go to bed. We went to bed, with all my layers and stayed asleep until I heard rain pounding on the top of the tent. Our tent was the only tent that didn't get super wet on the inside. Tents in the Sahara usually aren't that worried about rain.

We woke up and headed back to the hotel, we ate quickly and headed back out in the 4x4's to see the Chott el-Jerid salt lake. There were 14 of these matching SUV's, if anyone knows me they know I love two things. 1. When things match, and 2. Cars, so I was all about matching cars.

About an hour later we were there and it was one of the most unique things I have ever seen. The stillness of the water with the. Mountains in the distance and the reflections was so beautiful. I know I'll never see anything like it again.

We then went and checked out one of the largest Oases in Tunisia with 400,000 palm trees. Apparently the size of an oasis is measured in how many palm trees they have, and not hectares. There were also 24 mosques you could see from where we stopped, showing a really religious town of only 22,000 people.

Next we went dune diving in the 4x4's and visited a village that was constructed for a Star Wars film. It was cool, but all I wanted to do was get back in and do some more dune diving. That we did. We had the best driver ever, he was a bad ass, and even when there was roads, he wouldn't take them. It was an awesome experience. We then drove up small mountains roads up really beautiful canyons towards our hotel. We got to the Tamerza Palace hotel and it was gorgeous. It is a 5 star hotel which we didn't expect. It was gorgeous, and lunch was amazing. Again I love Tunisian food.

We headed to our rooms (which were amazing, with crazy views of the desert. I threw my stuff down and headed back to the 4x4s to go see two more mountain oases of Chebika and Tamerza. We hiked around for about an hour and a half, looking around and the rock formations of sedimentary rock were beautiful and the waterfalls were great. We went back to the hotel, had a drink by the indoor fire with a full service bar. It's crazy how different your accommodations can be from night to night. We had another amazing dinner, bought some wine, and went quickly to bed.

I woke up early and took a 5 star shower, having not showered since Monday to Thursday. Stephan would be proud. We headed to the Red lizard train on the buses. We looked into Algeria as we left our hotel. We took a train through the Seldja Gorge and canyons, stopping to "hike" and take pictures. The train was super old and some of the cars were very nice. It reminded me of the train from Wild Wild West, the Will Smith classic. The canyons were gorgeous showing some more of the sedimentary rock. The shadows the clouds put over the rock formations were really interesting, it seemed like the clouds were so close to the mountains.

At lunch, in another gorgeous hotel, one of the JFRC students ran in to a JFRC alumni who had taken the Tunisia study trip in 2004, and went on to be a FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR, and now works for an NGO in the states working with preserving relics of the Roman empire. She was on a trip with potential donors to her program. It was a crazy coincidence and a real testament to the impact the trip can have. We then got on another bus ride to see the Roman ruins at Speitla.They were another example of ruins of the Roman empire, additionally this was one of the places the US army fought during World War II.

Only three days left in Tunisia. I don't want to think about it.