Who says geeks can’t get chicks? For those who might not recognize it, this is Luke Skywalker’s home, otherwise known as the Lars Homestead.  The locals in Matmata know it as the Hotel Sidi Driss and I doubt it has quite the geek appeal that it does for us overgrown American boys. We didn’t have a chance to stay in the hotel, but we were given an after-hours tour by an enthusiastic Tunisian guide named Mohammed. And it completely rocked my Star Wars socks. Here are a couple more..

This is a traditional style of house construction in the Matmata region. It makes sense, considering how hot it gets in the summer, but it also just looks really cool. Of the many architectural styles we saw, this was by far my favorite. I can’t quite figure out whether the construction is Berber or Tuareg, and most sources are content with describing it as simply Troglodyte. This might be troglodite, a generic word for cave-dweller, or it might be troglodytae, a Red Sea Arabic tribe, which seems more accurate.

A couple more pictures while I’m on the subject:

In Episode IV, this is the sight directly outside Luke’s home. In reality, however, it is several hundred kilometers away in the middle a dry salt lake called the Chott El Jerid. It is a seriously awe-inspiring sensation to be surrounded by such a vast sea of salt. It looks like sand, but there’s a difference in the way it reflects and refracts the light. In a desert it’s possible to see inferior mirages. In a salt sea, it’s possible to see fata morganas. I was desperately hoping to see something like this. The interesting thing about a fata morgana is that once you start looking for one, you’ll see them everywhere. And when you do see something that your brain tells you can’t really be in the middle of a salt lake, you begin to wonder whether you’re seeing a fata morgana or whether you’re just seeing what you’re trying really hard to see.

When that something actually shows up in a picture, it might leave you uncertain of exactly what to think about what you saw.

This picture was taken at a maxed-out 35x optical zoom. In other words, it was really, really far away. Far away from us and far away from the road.

So that’s about all I’ve got to say about Tunisia, Star wars, or optical illusions. Later..

On a very literal, spatial level I can remember this feeling from when I first began to play video games. Specifically, I remember making my way through the levels of Wolfenstein 3D, finishing every level with the nagging sensation that there was a hallway I didn’t fully explore, or a door I had forgotten to open. I credit much of my sense of direction on the spatial awareness I developed while playing this game – a spatial awareness cultivated by a constant fear that I had missed something.

This sensation eventually transferred into other areas of my life. I began wondering whether I was following every path to the very end and exploring every fork along the way. It became infuriating to read a book, because it opened a thousand other avenues of thought which I felt I needed to explore. I couldn’t wrap my mind around Old Testament history when I learned that it was based largely upon earlier Near Eastern traditions. Similarly I couldn’t simply read about Kabbalah without first reading about Rabbinic Judaism. But of course this required an understanding of 2nd Temple Judaism, which required extensive foundational knowledge of Hebrew folklore. And it wasn’t only about origins; each subject involved an infinitely expanding contextual knowledge. To learn anything about Hebrew folklore, I needed to learn more about Canaanite mythology, Hittite mythology, Egyptian history, sacred Indian texts, and a whole host of other topics. Just the idea of researching a subject became daunting and seemingly endless task. I always felt that I had overlooked an enormous amount of material and that I would probably have to start over in order to put everything into the proper perspective.

The most recent manifestation of this neurosis involves one of the issues I’ve been having in mentally processing my trip to Tunisia. I had 10 days to explore an entire country that has developed over the past three or four thousand years. I visited 5 cities and a handful of smaller towns. I get panicked when I think I’ve forgotten to open a secret wall in Doom 3. It hurts my brain to think about all of the things I didn’t see. There are countless things I knew I was missing out on and those probably pale in comparison to the things I don’t even know I missed.

I don’t regret much about our trip through Tunisia. It was an enlightening experience in so many ways that I will most likely never be able to put into words. I understood from the beginning that I would only be able to see a small portion of the country, so I really don’t feel as though we managed our time poorly. There are a few notable exceptions (Damn you, Hotel Amilcar!), but I feel that we experienced more in ten days in Tunisia than I probably will over the next ten months. So I really don’t regret all the roads not taken or the cities not traveled to. But I will always wonder what still lies hidden away, around the last corner of the souq, behind the wall of the medina, over that next sand dune in the Sahara, and down that dark corridor under ancient ruins.

The expressions on the faces of men who sit on the sides of roads.

The distinct difference between Southern Maine wind and Northern Sahara breeze.

The strange tension of being surrounded by people with vastly different histories.

The sudden sadness at the idea of returning home.

The incredible longing to flee back to the safety and security of the Known.

The exotic smells of unknown spices in an unfamiliar market.

The all-encompassing fear at the sudden realization that you are lost, truly lost, in a foreign country.

The dawning certainty that things are somehow exactly the same and completely different everywhere in the world.

But mostly, I find myself constantly returning to reflecting on my own limits. I don’t really mean limits in terms of my capabilities, but more like finding the furthest edges of myself – the greatest possible difference from the center of me to the outermost ethereal borders. The “I” that I identify with right now seems to be of a totally different quality than the “I” that I was in the desert. Who was I in Tunisia? Who was I in conversations with souq merchants in labyrinthine medinas of ancient cities? Who was I in conversations with Saied or Mohammed? Certainly not the Same person who now sits in front of a computer screen typing furiously into a blog, checking my email, downloading applications for my phone, and talking to truck drivers on the CB. But, of course, I am these people. Somehow there are multiple levels, forms, and incarnations of I rattling around in this head. And somehow they are all struggling for some sort of cohesion.

And I suppose it is about limits after all . I like to imagine myself the intrepid explorer who remains unafraid in the face of the unknown. I have a new understanding of how small and weak I am when removed from my comfortable surroundings and dropped into the turbulence of a culture I barely understand. This realization has been humbling and empowering in many ways. I (by which, of course, I mean “we”) survived and that is a testament to unbelievable willpower and strength of mind. But with this survival came an undeniable sense that the world actually is larger than me. For a devout solipsist, that is something unimaginably huge to grapple with.

Strangely, I also have a new sense of Chrisbarr the American. This is something I’ve never had and never expected to have. I won’t say anything silly like “I’m proud to be an American” because I find that as meaningful as saying I’m proud to be 5’10″.  But I understand that I AM an American, and that actually means something to me now. I’ve been given a glimpse into another culture, another world entirely, and it’s shifted my perspective enough that I feel as though I can more fully appreciate my own culture. I never expected that or would have even attempted to achieve such a perspective, but I’ve got it. I’m pretty thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to expand my view of the world, no matter how slightly.

I guess that’s all for disjointed thoughts today. More later, I suppose. Still struggling with Picasa and Flickr to try to upload the rest of the photos. Should be fully uploaded by tomorrow afternoon sometime.

~

today has been beyond amazing!

after the stress of leaving tunis, we headed south on route nonumber. this can get a bit confusing because it has the same number as all the other routes. luckily the signs pointed us in the right direction to sousse. i’m just a little ashamed to admit how happy i was to see an american irving-style convenience store on the side of the highway. we got gas and bought twix, chips, coke, and fanta orange soda. oh, and we’ve also started indulging in shark, the tunisian energy drink. it’s red bull, with arabic writing and a picture of a shark. kind of amazing, really. it was so comforting to walk into a store lit with flourescent lights (attended by a bored clerk who hates his job) so that i could pay too much money for maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated whateverthehell. as i said, i’m a bit embarrassed to admit it. sometimes those kinds of things are comforting.

so we made it to sousse and wondered why the hell we wasted so much time in tunis. well, that’s not really true – i still love tunis and i still love the hotel laico (except for the staff. have i told you how i want to watch them burn in.. nevermind). but check picassa for pictures of our hotel room and you’ll see why i have such an immediate love for our place in sousse. it’s utterly unbelievable and the people are so nice. of course, they all want money and each one of them has a brother with a store just down the street, and come, let them take you there, the best store in the city, good prices, only a ten minute walk, come, jewelry for the madame? gifts? you like gifts? they show you the finest in tunisia. just walk with them as quickly as you can down the twisty mazess of the souq..

but really, the people here have been so helpful. even the ones who aren’t trying to sell us something are helpful. but the pushiness of the shopkeepers came close to unbearable today. it is possible that too many things were purchased for too high a price. but man, oh man, was it fun. i didn’t get as many pictures of the medina here as i did in tunis, but you can get a bit of a feel for how beautiful it was. trinkets, endless trinkets, and even some quality souvenirs and gifts in the hidden nooks of the labyrinthine cobblestone streets. it has been said that, in the city, it is possible to fall in love a hundred times a day. in sousse, i fell in love with the city at least a hundred times today. we were standing inside walls that are 1200 years old. i walked on bricks that were 40 times as old as me. bewildering.

i ate a chuwama today and it felt like i was french kissed by the gods of food. it was hot enought for me to taste (which is saying a lot) and it tasted like nothing i’d ever eaten before. and while i ate this wonderful god-given morsel, i stared at an arabian-style tower that was 4 times as old as my country. these are the things i can’t fathom, no matter how hard i try..

now we are back at the hotel and we’ve had a couple drinks. tunisians apparently don’t drink a whole lot, though, because the two that i had barely left their mark. or mayhap i’m just a silly american drunk-

(AND HOLYGOD! must share this with those who might care! think back to venture brothers season 2, episode 1. remember the rave scene where brock catches up with doc venture? that song, remxed, is playing in the discoteque RIGHT THIS SECOND! i kid you not, i’m listening to it from just a few feet away. not a great song, but one with energy – makes me wish i was dancing.. man, i love the world!)

-so yes, perhaps i’m just an american drunk who expects pizza villa drinks wherever i go. meh, it was a tasty beverage nonetheless. now the discoteque is raging and we may just pop back in to shake our groove thangs. that’s how it’s done, right?

gots to go..

gordon introduced me to louis ck. there is a fantastic video of this man on conan o’brian, which i think should be seen by everyone. if i didn’t enter that link in correctly i demand you look it up for yourself.as the name impies, it deals with the fact that everything is amazing and nobody is happy. i won’t even attempt to quote or even paraphrase his thoughts, but i’m finding them endlessly applicable to this trip. i try to keep in mind that, yes, the clerks at the hotel laico tunis hate us and, yes, we will probably have to pay for wine bottles that were never stocked in our mini bar and, yes, they even charged us 26 dinar for delivering red wine insted of white to our room, but WE ARE DRINKING WINE IN TUNISIA. and, yes, we’re even drinking it in the sky – 13 stories in the sky. when i think of it like that, it’s hard to get worked up about the details that don’t seme to go our way.

so it’s been a stressful day today. it started with issues involving the bill for out hotel. expedia has apparently not paid the hotel, which leaves it to us to pay the hotel directly. doesn’t sound so bad except that the hotel charges (way) more than expedia does, and the charges are already pending for the expedia. dammit. we had to spend a couple hours worrying about this and making phone calls this morning. it was all set, but now there is a new snag and it seems we’ll have to fight it out again tomorrow. man, do they hate us. not sure why. i love the hotel, but the staff could burn in the heat of a thousand desert suns and i wouldn’t mind watching it happen. i would even offer them red wine as they burned.

more importantly, becca isn’t feeling well. she’s had a difficult time dealing with the food and tonight the tunisian pastries didn’t seem to sit very well with her. worried about making the drive to sousse tomorrow.

the swell parts of the day have been beyond swell. they’ve been absolutely capital, as the hip kids are so fond of saying these days. it was a capital adventure through carthaginian ruins. we saw caves, lizards, fighting feral cats, a tophet, a necropolis, roman baths and columns, and we even got to dip our feet into the mediterranean. it was capital. simply capital. the pictures are up, if you’d like to take a look. annoyingly, they’re not in any sort of order and i can’t figure out why that would be. i had more faith in the picasa uploader. i have another complaint about google, while i’m on te subject. the maps are nt correct. it’s strange that a print book is more up to date than google. i have guide books with the proper maps and yet google maps doesn’t even contain some of the major motorways in tunisia. annoying, but whatever. it is still amazing, and i am happy.

from here we head down the coast to sousse. we will stay there tomorrow night and then wed and thurs night we will be in douz. we just booked fri and sat in tozeur. things are hopefully going to get easier in the whole OHMYGODWHERETHEHELLWILLWESTAY? department. we learned very quickly that spending 5 hours looking for a hotel is not fun. damn you hotel amilcar. damn you to the fiery pits of gehenna. damn you into the maw of moloch himself.

so i have no idea when we will have internet access again. will do my best to update. dr mcdougal, thank you so much for the laptop – this would have been impossible on the g1. and please please take good care of my cats. i miss the little guys..

good night, known universe..

it’s been a strange day and i’m glad that it’s behind us, i suppose. learned a lot, but it was a learning experience. it was an adventure that resulted in FAR too much time in the car, as well as possibly too much money spent, but the experience was worth it..

i put up some new pics. they’re not organized yet, so it’s difficult to tell what you’re looking at, but i’ll try to fix that as soon as i have a free minute. most are of the bardo hotel..

and before i go, a few disjointed thoughts:
1. there are no driving laws. there are suggestions, but the cops are armed with whistles and no cars, so it’s not like they’re ever acknowledged.
2. THERE IS NO HOTEL AMILCAR! damn anyone who tells you otherwise. damn the entire town of sidi bou said for pretending there is. there is also no rue mufasta or hotel deville.
3. in tunisia, cows are kept on leashes and vultures are the size of children.
4. $6 sprite tastes like $2 sprite. don’t be fooled into thinking it is the urine of the gods.
5. children, if allowed on planes, should be checked in with luggage. if they are allowed as carry-on, they should be forced to wear muzzles. or, even better, they should be stored in the overhead compartments – in plastic bags.

there is much more, but becca is unimpressed at the sound of typing.

Okay, so things have improved immensely in both the world and my mood since the last post. After that harrowing car ride from the airport to the hotel, I was pretty sure that I was going to barricade myself in the bathroom, make friends with the tub, and pray to Allah, Jesus, and a few malevolent Norse gods in return for the ability to ride out the remainder of our time here undisturbed.

Turns out I was just tired, scared, and bitchy. Becca forced me to wake up and we spent the afternoon walking through the souq (marketplace) in the madina (old city). It was absolutely thrilling and my head is still spinning from sensory overload. We’ve got quite a few pictures and several videos to post, but most of those will have to wait.

Now it is time to eat.

Also, I realized that I had commenting abilities restricted to the point of uselessness. I’ve fixed this and now anyone should be able to comment on any post. You don’t have to log in or have a username or any of that silliness. It would be swell to hear from anyone back home, if anyone has a minute.

We’ve made it to tunisia and I would very much like to crawl into bed never to show my face to the light of day. It’s eleventybillion o’clock and it’s still bright. I watched the sunset over the atlantic, only to watch it rise again a few hours later. There was darkness without night and sleep without rest. Now I’m being kept awak against my will by my beautiful tyrant of a girlfriend until the next dark o’clock.

More later..