Night in Tunisia

The Ride

I don't really know how else to describe it.

This past weekend Tiara and I visited a new destination in Tunisia - another big city and another tourist destination - but fun for all the artifice. We headed to a desert version of a club med. The hotel had 1200 room, acres of bungaloes, two outdoor pools, an indoor pool, hot tub - the full meal deal - and it was conveniently located on the mediteranean beach front. Nice. And the weekend we were there the temperature was settled at around 30 C. Nicer. But this post isn't about that...

You see, Tiara left on Friday afternoon. I taught Friday night. And so, I was taking the night bus - and this was a truly Tunisian experience.

Slim picked me up after my work on the button at 9PM, then we were off and headed for the louage parks. Hm. They're located in the southern corner of Tunis, in industrial parkland, opposite the Capital cemetary, and built over a mostly filled-in swamp. Which is to say, they're in a sketchy spot, with lots of foreboding (at that time of night) and its own particular aroma...

We drove around, got lost, asked for directions and eventually drove - the wrong way down a one-way street - to the louage warehouse. I don't really know what else to call it. As for what louage is, it's the quickest mode of transportation available. A van, packed with nine smelly people (usually men) that goes from one city to another. dot. Business is conducted in Arabic. That's why Slim was along. In his words, it's the fastest ground transport, the costliest, and the least sure. Having experienced, I don't doubt.

In any case, we arrived, I was loaded in the last louage for Sousse, in the last space (once they fill, they leave), between a guy with a broken arm and an elderly gent doing who knows what. I silently thanked the slumbering Tunisian gods that I had brought my mp3 player along. And then the surreal experience began. A surreal experience that was to cost me 7 dinars and 100 millimes.

For the full story, you'll have to check in tomorrow, because hunger is rearing its ugly head...

posted by Loren @ 12:25 p.m.