Lunchtime At The Oasis

Me Overlooking The Oasis



The Oasis in the Foothills on the edge of the dry plain



Myself Simone and Miguel in the River Bed in front of the Big Falls



Me in the Big Falls



On the Road heading towards the Oasis we stopped on top of the Hill Behind 25Km away



You know those lovely little camels with the cute faces, well they taste lovely.

Today we popped out for a long lunch as it was Sunday and we made a small detour to get a place near some local waterfalls. We turned up and found some water in them but you can tell that when it rains here these waterfalls really pour torrents of water. Where the water gathers in the valleys it creates an oasis and they look really nice in the parched surroundings. And from the top of the road looking out into the plain you can see the lower oasis and even further into the plain is a huge oasis that is basically a million date palms. I saw one lovely bird, like a small blackbird with a white tail and a white cap. Very startling in the brown coloured environment.

The restaurant was a tiny place but the food was prepared well and the service fast, and the camel steak was cooked to perfection if a little small. It was great to get away from the plant for a short while and have a change because the food is cooked on site by one of the guys working with us and it is Italian and I am not complaining as it is done very nicely but pasta everyday gets tedious, so going out for lunch was fantastic and real boost for morale. The weather as you can see is sunny as it is everyday and was warm but in the shade it was fresh and at night is positively cold.

One thing I have noticed about Tunisia is the real third worldness of the place. I never realized about it being third world but it is Africa and it is northern sahara desert, not quite total sand but a very close second. One thing you notice more than anything is the crappy houses and the lack of trash disposal, trash is dumped anywhere, along the road, on any spare ground, next door to your own house and quite a lot gets dumped into any ditch, even if this is the local river when it rains so consequently the trash accumulates in these ditches and locals seem to enjoy burning trash including the not combustible parts, so if you know the smell of brining trash it stinks really badly and around our hotel is the local kids playground and trash burning area and it smells awful. While driving around you see the horrible plastic bags and water bottles accumulating everywhere, it is a part of modern life I hate the most the non biodegradable rubbish that blights ours and all the other creatures lives that have to put up with it. Why oh why didn’t someone slap the scientist who was working on polymers and take him out for a beer and throw him in the local river when he was drunk.