The deal was that I needed to be gone while Connie and her Roommate Lina were gone at work and so Today I woke up at 730am and got ready to leave for Sidi Bou Said (The City of Blue and White) Instead of leaving right away I went into a hotel lobby and crashed for a few hours and then I got some food at little market. The train station wasn’t far so I walked there and bought a ticket. The trains were pretty ghetto but it was anthropological to be able to watch all the people getting on and off. I spent most of the day at Sidi Bou Said because I flat out loved it so much. It was so incredibly beautiful and it reminded me of a children’s book my Dad use to read to me. I think it was Pinocchio but I’m not sure. I actually had a lot of fun haggling with everyone there and that was truly the anme of the game in Sidi Bou Siad. It was nuts, constantly people are telling you “I give you good price” and leading you into their store. They are very pushy and they will take you for all you have if you let them. I was once quoted 140 Dinari for a tiny wooden box one that I had bought earlier for 5 Dinari. Sometimes I would talk them down just for fun and sometimes I would actually buy things the whole day was fun though. There were also some amazing views of the Sea and of the city. I ate at this little restaurant that was playing music and I was dancing a bit while I ordered and so this girl in the restaurant was dancing with me and the guy cooking the food, he was probably about 25 was trying to talk to me but he didn’t speak English at all. It actually got kinda weird, he would look at me while I was eating and would smile and say, “pity, pity, pity.” I have no idea what he meant or what he thought he was saying. Then he told me to take off my hat and he really loved my hair… A little too much. After I was done eating I asked If they knew a place to get Ojja and he said that he could make it for me and then asked what time I would be back. I told him I didn’t know and then he motioned for me to follow him out the back exit, the back exit lead to the street same as the front did so I followed and he tried to say something about facebook and I just ignored him and then he felt up my but and snapped my underwear… So that was my first and only time getting hit on by a very gay Tunisian man. It was not an experience I’d like to repeat. So needless to say I didn’t return to that restaurant … ever. I did however hike down to the beach and I found a cool café that was kinda famous with writer’s way back. I also got rained on a bit and got some presents for friends. After a while I made my way back to the train and headed off to Carthage.
Carthage was really nice and I did get some cool things there. I also found a deer path that I hiked down into the woods and that was really beautiful. Tunisian wild life is just so so different I couldn’t get over it. The Mosque and ruins in Carthage were beautiful and I took enough pictures to wallpaper the great wall. As I was standing outside the massive ruin complex in Carthage I asked a random American to take my picture. Turns out he’s a famous photographer and he gave me all kindsa pointers on photography and then when I mentioned what kinda SD card I use he gave me his 8Gb ultra, I was pleased and I licked him right on the face in gratitude. Then I walked back to the station finding some cool broken pottery on the way and taking some pieces. When I got back to Tunis I had heard that there might be some “manifestations” (riots or protests) and so I went looking for them. I saw some people gathering but it wasn’t too extreme so I went to the medina instead and tried to haggle some more. Before long I went to the girl’s apartment and met Lina as she was going to buy some food. I went with her … it was the best ever. Then we were in the apartment, We tried to get some pictures of some possible rioters outside and of all the guards. We had a 8pm curfew so I helped Lina with an English resume and then some dudes came over and we watched a movie. The movies was called Triangle… It was… the best ever. After the movie the dudes left and Lina and Connie and I talked. Then Just Connie and I talked. After about 100 hours of talking we went to bed and I lied there just thinking about everything.
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