Wormhole Activity (Tunis, Tunisia)

[Author's Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10^th, 2010 and left two months later. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia on December 18^th, 2010. I missed the festivities by about a month or so. Some would say I dodged a bullet but I cannot help feeling like I missed the boat. How often do you have the chance to watch history unfold from the front row? It is interesting for me to go back and read about my experiences at the time. Yes, I could almost taste repression in the air but if you told me the powder keg was about to ignite I would have been incredulous in the extreme. Yet, there it was boiling just beneath the surface. Keep this in mind when reading my Tunisia posts. It makes for a fascinating subtext.]

Sept 14^th, 2010 - Europe was a detour premised on an ill-advised gamble involving a member of the opposite sex. I enjoyed my time but to be honest it all felt a bit too familiar. It was nice to relax and soak up some modernity (riding a bicycle via an actual bike path, Starbucks, going to the movies, etc.) and visit friends (folks I'd met earlier on my sojourns) but in the end something was missing. 

After Prague I decided to move to the next logical destination: Tunisia (perfectly logical if you account for wormhole activity). It felt like time for a new continent. About a month ago I read an article regarding this country on the Mediterranean and believed it was time to have a look. So here I am…..in Africa. Cue Shakira, Waka, Waka.

Upon my arrival in Tunis I was greeted with beautiful weather and a laid back atmosphere. For some reason as soon as I left the airport I felt instantly at ease.  My arrival in Tunisia just happened to coincide with the end of Ramadan (Friday, September 10^th) and the commencement of Eid ul-Fitr (the celebration of the end of Ramadan and the breaking of the fast). Tunisia is a secular state and although 99% of people are Muslim the government has taken great pains to suppress fundamentalism and extremism. In other words there is little to fear for westerners choosing to visit Tunisia.

'Set It Off' & The Funky Cold Medina (Tunis, Tunisia)

[Author's Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10^th, 2010 and left two months later. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia on December 18^th, 2010. I missed the festivities by about a month or so. Some would say I dodged a bullet but I cannot help feeling like I missed the boat. How often do you have the chance to watch history unfold from the front row? It is interesting for me to go back and read about my experiences at the time. Yes, I could almost taste repression in the air but if you told me the powder keg was about to ignite I would have been incredulous in the extreme. Yet, there it was boiling just beneath the surface. Keep this in mind when reading my Tunisia posts. It makes for a fascinating subtext.]

Sept 16^th, 2010 - I saw a man on the main street of Tunis wearing a t-shirt adorned with 'May I Have Your MSN? I'm a Hotmale'. Sweet. I thought it a might queer (as in odd or strange) that folks would be celebrating the end of Ramadan by driving through the streets while honking, screaming, and blowing plastic trumpets. It turns out they were merely getting psyched up for the Algeria-Tunisia soccer match. I'm silly. 

Although the context is currently Tunisia I've noticed that outside Western culture there is little adherence to the concept of a line (or queue as it were). Want to eat? Get a cup of coffee? Buy a SIM for your mobile? Tram ticket? Put your head down and plow through. Otherwise, you will be standing on the periphery for ages basking in your own politeness. It is not that folks are necessarily rude (probably), it's just that custom dictates a free-for-all. Take no prisoners.

Bardo & The Picky Pocket (Tunis, Tunisia)

[Author's Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10^th, 2010 and left two months later. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia on December 18^th, 2010. I missed the festivities by about a month or so. Some would say I dodged a bullet but I cannot help feeling like I missed the boat. How often do you have the chance to watch history unfold from the front row? It is interesting for me to go back and read about my experiences at the time. Yes, I could almost taste repression in the air but if you told me the powder keg was about to ignite I would have been incredulous in the extreme. Yet, there it was boiling just beneath the surface. Keep this in mind when reading my Tunisia posts. It makes for a fascinating subtext.]

Sept 18^th, 2010 - Allow me to vent: Blaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Arrrrrrrgh!! S#$t!!!! F%$k!!! Son of a b###################tch!!!!!!!!!! A thieving assface hath purloined my wallet (by wallet I mean a binding clip with my ATM card, credit card, driver's license, and more money then I should have been carrying). I decided to stuff my skinny ass onto the local tram in Tunis. Dumb. Just plain dumb. Some dipshit reached in my pocket and made off with the loot. I am not exactly sure how it happened because as soon as I realized I was vulnerable I became acutely aware of the danger. By then it was too late. Fiddlesticks.

To be honest I am not sure exactly when I lost it. I had tried to board the tram ten minutes prior but it was so packed I could not get on. It is possible I was hit then. Who the hell knows? I remember that shortly after snapping the photo below a woman standing on the tram started pounding on the glass from the inside. I thought she may have been requesting that I cease and desist from taking photographs. Perhaps, she actually witnessed the act of thievery and was trying to warn me. Who the hell knows? 

Zionist Plots, Saddam Hussein, & Ashraf (Tunis, Tunisia)

[Author's Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10^th, 2010 and left two months later. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia on December 18^th, 2010. I missed the festivities by about a month or so. Some would say I dodged a bullet but I cannot help feeling like I missed the boat. How often do you have the chance to watch history unfold from the front row? It is interesting for me to go back and read about my experiences at the time. Yes, I could almost taste repression in the air but if you told me the powder keg was about to ignite I would have been incredulous in the extreme. Yet, there it was boiling just beneath the surface. Keep this in mind when reading my Tunisia posts. It makes for a fascinating subtext.]

Sept 22^nd, 2010 - I decided to mix it up. Why confine myself to meeting strangers on the street when I have the internet at my disposal. Enter Ashraf. Ashraf contacted me via Couchsurfing to say hello. Seeing as I am always interested in gaining local perspective I suggested we meet up. As I waited in front of the theater on Habib Bourgiba Street I had two more random encounters. While I was enjoying some of the Tunis' youth engaging in a break dancing sideshow a young gentleman approached and inquired as to whether or not I was awaiting a performance at the theater. I answered in the negative and told him I was waiting for a friend. He seemed to want to know exactly when my friend would be arriving. I said he was on his way. A strange conversation about Facebook ensued whereby my new friend wanted to know if in my 'Profile' section I indicate that I am interested in meeting men, women, or both. Riiiight. I am not really sure if this was a covert way of asking me what team(s) I play for or what the hell was going on. Could the area in front of the theater be a sub rosa cruising range? Dunno. When I replied that my profile indicates 'women' he seemed to be a bit disappointed and departed.

The gentleman standing to my left then asked me if I liked watching the break dancing, to which I responded in the affirmative. He mentioned something about having a marketing job and then submitted his resume for approval….to me. Wasn't really sure what to do with that. Luckily, Ashraf showed up just in time to save me from having to give some sort of critique or interview. Obviously, unemployment is a big problem in Tunisia.

J.I. - Jesus Incognito (Tunis, Tunisia)

[Author's Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10^th, 2010 and left two months later. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia on December 18^th, 2010, a day after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. I missed the festivities by about a month or so. Some would say I dodged a bullet but I cannot help feeling like I missed the boat. How often do you have the chance to watch history unfold from the front row? It is interesting for me to go back and read about my experiences at the time. Yes, I could almost taste repression in the air but if you told me the powder keg was about to ignite I would have been incredulous in the extreme. Yet, there it was boiling just beneath the surface. Keep this in mind when reading my Tunisia posts. It makes for a fascinating subtext.]

Oct 1^st, 2010 - Tunisia is 98% Sunni Muslim. If I were a Christian missionary I suppose I could view that statistic as the basis for an act of futility or choose to see it as one 'hell' of an opportunity. Think of all the potential converts. Fish in a barrel? Only one problem. It is technically illegal for non-Muslims to proselytize to Muslims. Missionary groups are allowed to be here but not allowed to go full throttle, at least not with the 'yet to be convinced'. They are allowed to preach to the choir, so to speak, but considering the very small population of Christians (or Jews for that matter) it is not as if there will be large revivals. And even then there are strict requirements on gatherings. It is legal for a Muslim to convert to another religion just not at the behest of a non-Muslim. What if they see the light on their 'own'? Well, game on I guess. 

Sooooooo you are allowed to be a non-Muslim. Muslims are allowed to convert but it has to be....organic and spontaneous....I guess. Non-Muslims are allowed to practice their faith but are not allowed to proselytize. Non-Muslim foreigners are allowed into the country but not allowed to conduct any type of 'missionary' activity, at least not with those outside their faith. See where I'm headed with this?

Sa-HA-ra!!! (Douz to Ksar Ghilane, Tunisia)

[Author's Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10^th, 2010 and left two months later. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia on December 18^th, 2010, a day after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. I missed the festivities by about a month or so. Some would say I dodged a bullet but I cannot help feeling like I missed the boat. How often do you have the chance to watch history unfold from the front row? It is interesting for me to go back and read about my experiences at the time. Yes, I could almost taste repression in the air but if you told me the powder keg was about to ignite I would have been incredulous in the extreme. Yet, there it was boiling just beneath the surface. Keep this in mind when reading my Tunisia posts. It makes for a fascinating subtext.]

Oct 4^th, 2010 - I teamed up with a fellow American (Phil) to conquer the Sahara. We were both excited by the prospect of experiencing the largest hot desert (there's a bigger one in Antarctica) on earth and frolicking among its dunes. From what we both read it was an experience like no other. It turned out to be quite an 'experience' just not the one we had anticipated and hoped for. At least we had each other. 

An all night bus from Tunis led us to Douz, a small town on the edge of the Sahara. Our plan was to rent a 4WD and blaze off into the desert with nothing but 80 gallons of water (for when we got lost) and our wits (maybe a bit of cous cous for nibbling). The oasis of Ksar Ghilane is the southern-most tourist outpost but we were willing to head all the way to Tunisia's southern tip if need be. Yeah, our balls are that big (inverse relationship to the size of our brains).

Escape From Bamako (Mali, West Africa)

March 24^th, 2011 (December 2010)– So there we were. Back in Mopti with 11 days left before we were supposed to be in Timbuktu for the Festival in the Desert. We were so mentally exhausted from gallivanting around Mali that we came to the difficult conclusion that we simply could not take any more.

Although we genuinely wanted to experience the festival (that was the whole point of coming to Mali) we realized that if we had to occupy ourselves for 11 days we would be so indescribably miserable for festival time that it would be pointless anyway. And the price of food and lodging would start to add up. Any way we sliced it the enterprise felt like a lost cause. Time to pull the ripcord. We raised the white flag. My exact words were 'F*** it!'

So determined were we to leave Mali in our rear view mirror that we each sacrificed the $50 deposit we left with the tour operator (Hamma) we met in Djenne to secure a spot for the festival. Seeing as he had so much time to find replacements we thought he might agree to refund our deposit. Yes, and acrobatic elephants might do somersaults out of my ass.