Day One

This is a lovely pic of me in the airport. The first day of traveling was interesting. We didn't know each other. None of us really talked a whole lot that first day. By the time we arrived in Tunis we were exhausted. We walked into the airport and found our guide, Islam, and the provider, Jerry (you'll hear more about them later) and went to the hotel. The hotel's name was Hotel Ariha. It was quaint, a little moth ballish but for the most part comfortable. We began to call it home later in the trip when we went on a crazy bus/train/taxi trip. I shared a room with a super awesome girl named Katye. She was quiet and easy to get along with. I was stir crazy and went out wandering the streets with the two guys in our group, Jack and David. Jack was determined to find a watch but we didn't really know our way around. He went up to a guy and was trying to ask him where to buy a watch. The communication wasn't going so well and I realized I knew what to say in French. So I walked up and started talking with the guy. Jack called me a super hero the rest of the day. He said, "I didn't know you could speak French" and I said, "Well, I didn't really know I could either." I knew I had a lot of French in my head but I didn't know I could have a conversation with someone. From that moment on, I was the default translator if we didn't have our guide. Everyone in Tunisia speaks French and Arabic (well mostly) so I could get around pretty well.

After finding a watch for Jack we headed to the zoo. I have never been to a zoo like this before. We saw a commotion and wandered over and saw people throwing bread at the bears. The bears were totally hamming for it. One would walk back and forth and sit on his haunches and beg for it. Then we found a guy letting us pet the rhino. So I petted a rhino, for a dinar (which is about .75). I also had to pay a dinar to go pee in the bathroom (which is common) and at the zoo it was a rip cause there was no paper and it was dirty (also very common).

Back at the hotel, we were picked up by the bus and taken around the city a bit. Islam pointed out landmarks and then the driver just dropped us off on the street. A man in a robe with a candlelit lantern showed up and took us through the streets of the old city. The old medina is a high walled city made of stone. We walked through the dark, narrow streets following the lantern guy. Very cool atmosphere. We went to a palace that has been converted to a restaurant.



We were serenaded by an oud player who had a wonderful voice. The food was quite good. We first had a course of appetizers, shown in the pic above. The typical choices are tagine (kind of a crustless quiche), brik (a fried thing with egg), grilled salad, and regular cukes and tomatoes with oil and vinegar. The main course was chicken and couscous. I enjoyed the food, although its pretty much the same thing every day. We had 14 total in our group. Everyone got along pretty well and there wasn't really any drama. The first day was such a whirlwind, and now it seems like so far away.