The adventure starts when I woke up this morning with a lip that was half swollen and a mind that was scared witless as to why.... As I attempted (Because anyone who has lived with me knows my weakest time is right after I wake up... My mind just isn't working at that time.... (My mom would always ask me if I did my homework right after she woke me up.... dawggone it!! :D )) to comprehend why my lip was so puffy, I noticed it was on the same side of my face that had been window side the 4-5 hours we were in the buss yesterday... Mytersaw as my cousins, Bryan, and I would say... It was sunburned!! That being the highlight of my morning, we boarded the bus for Sejnane village, a small place out in the middle of nowhere known for it's pottery works. After an hour or two of mountain roads, we were our amongst a bunch of hills and grass... Suddenly a tiny village showed up... Now, this would be a good time to give y'all some background on the North of Tunisia in comparison to the area around the capital, Tunis. While Tunis and the Eastern coast of Tunisia are relatively well industrialized, the north definitely is not! Take this for example...
It's almost that scene straight out of Gladiator... Or the Elysian Fields...
Known by the Romans as "Campi Magni" or a rough translation of "The land of large fields", Northwestern Tunisia was the "bread basket" of the Roman Empire. Very little outside of a big port we drove by was industrialized in any sort of way. Fields like the one in the picture above were commonplace every where you went.There were many instances of us passing men riding donkeys and large John Deere tractors.
Case and point.... This man was haulin' on El Senõr!!
Fewer cars and all of the heavy loading (most of the loads were of hay) was done by pickup trucks rather than the big 18-wheelers you saw every so often on the highways near Tunis. It was pretty neat, and the rolling fields of wheat were absolutely beautiful. From a people standpoint, the ones who lived in the North were completely different, more... old-school... for the lack of a better term.
This was especially evident in the village where we followed Proffessor Mounir to a collection of buildings that housed a few women who brought us over to a well with a bunch of supplies sitting around. The oldest lady there proceeded to show us how she made the pottery the village was so famous for. It was pretty neat, she even sang for us a little bit! It was cool to see the more traditional side of Tunisia. After the presentation, we went to an area where they had all their pottery laid out and I made sure to buy something for mom before we headed back to our bus to go to Bizerta
The lady who showed us how they do their pottery... She made that sucker pretty quick!!
Here's where the relaxation starts...After finishing our quick little lunch (a picnic out in a forest that could have been in the middle of Idaho... It just amazes me how much different parts of Tunisia look like other places I've been!!! haha!!) we headed off to Bizerta and the Hotel Residence Ain Meriam, the nicest hotel we have stayed in to date!! Situated right along the beach, we were given five hours to just sit and chill. A few of us went out to the beach and hung out in the sea for a bit. Luis and I decided to hop in a beach soccer game in celebration of the upcoming World Cup! We both kicked some Tunisian butt on our respective teams proving that the US & Mexico are both forces to be reckoned with.. Haha!!! After that, we went back in, spent some time at the pool before heading back in for dinner and chilling around until we fell asleep... Not a whole lot happened to day, but I don't mind... It was nice to just have a day to chill!!!
It's Idaho... In Tunisia...
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