[Author's
Note: I arrived in Tunis on September 10th,
2010 and left two months later. The Arab
Spring
began in Tunisia on December 18th,
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.]
Nov
4th,
2010 - Our arrival in the southern city of Tozeur was
met with a rather rigorous test of patience. We managed to complete a
couple of full circuits through the center of town before finding our
hotel of choice. Driving through any sizable city in Tunisia feels a
little bit like a video game as much for the pure challenge as the
surreality of the ordeal. Close your eyes and pretend you are
playing Frogger.
You're
the frog. Now pretend you are afflicted with a unique form of
'traffic astigmatism' (inability to see moving vehicles) and have not
even a cursory sense of situational awareness. Cross the road. Now
you pretend you are the douchbag behind the wheel (i.e. me) and throw
in a chaotic mass of frogs. The level of obliviousness is
mind-boggling. The boggling of my mind has been a frequent
occurrence. It's almost as if folks have taken the pedestrian's
'right of way' as some sort of immutable law of nature that drivers
are compelled to obey. You truly have to experience it to fully
appreciate the phenomenon.
