Tunisia

"I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did. It's your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster, but an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the Empire."
--Obi Wan Kenobi



This past weekend I met up with Sam and Greg in Tunis. We arrived at the airport late Wednesday night and crashed at Greg's place. As I got off the plane, I realized that this was my first time inside a country that doesn't use the real alphabet. Lucky for Sam and I, Greg is all but fluent in Arabic. As a matter of fact, at one point in the trip he even went so far as to explain to our desert guide the process whereby American scrub nurses perform instrument and sponge counts after performing a circumcision on an adult patient. But I'm getting way ahead of myself...

We got up early Thursday and set out immediately for the south. We drove all day, stopping only for lunch and a quick viewing of the Roman Colosseum in El Djem. By dinner time, we had arrived in Matmata which is just north of Tatooine. We spent the night in the Hotel Sidi Driss, which you will recognize in the photo above as THE Lars homestead. Yes, my friends, for 19 dinar you can sleep in Luke Skywalker's actual bedroom. The place hasn't changed a bit since 1977, and you can almost just imagine our excitement to be eating dinner at the same table where Aunt Beru said: "Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him" to which Uncle Owen replied: "That's what I'm afraid of." When you're sleeping over at Luke Skywalker's house, you almost can't help but relive all the immortal whiny lines of Mark Hamill. For example, it is impossible to tell my sister Laura that something is impossible without her replying: "It's not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters." And let me tell you that when you're sleeping in a moisture farm, saying to your buddies: "But I was going to go into Tashi station to pick up some power converters!" never stops being funny no matter how many times you quote it.

We broke out Friday morning and joined a caravan headed south to the Sahara. We arrived in an oasis where the campsite was located, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and immediately saddled up for a desert camel ride out among the sand dunes. After dismounting to explore some Roman ruins in the middle of the desert, we rode back to camp with the sun setting behind us. Our plans to call it an early night were interrupted by a slightly inebriated member of the staff who showed up in our tent and invited us to join him as he built a campfire out in the middle of the desert. With the moon full enough to read by, the stars only partially obscured by several cloud formations, and the embers of the fire crackling in front of us, I couldn't help feeling like I might as well be on a different planet. Things were so different from anything we have back home.



Saturday morning we had made plans to see the sunrise on horseback, and watching the mist clear off the sand dunes was no disappointment. Our guide had promised us that if we rented the three Arabians from him, he would give us free rein (so to speak) to take the animals as fast as we felt comfortable. We were thrilled at the prospect of galloping through the Sahara on horseback, until it became clear that these animals only knew one speed and none of us knew how to say "spurs" in French or Arabic. Fortunately, once we were turned back toward the camp at the end of the ride they managed to kick it out of low gear briefly. Saturday night we made our way back to Tunis and enjoyed a birthday party for the five-year-old daughter of one of Greg's friends.