Tunisia, Ibiza, and the like

We decided to pay for the bus tour in Tunisia because we didn't really know much about the city or how to get around. Our tour guide spoke very good (british) english, and introduced himself as Lotfi, which was not to be confused with Lofty. They do not have daylight savings time, so it was an hour earlier locally, and our bus drove through rush hour traffic but it wasn't too bad. We were dropped off at Government square, and learned a little bit about the layout of Tunis. The whole city is called a Medina. The Port we landed in was called La Goulette, or "The Throat", because it is the passageway between the seawater and the lake of Tunis (which would be the Stomach in this analogy). Government square was so named because it was surrounded by government buildings, literally the department of the interior and the department of finance and the department of you name it are all located in the same square. The square is protected by a Casbah, or an ancient fortress. Within the Medina and protected by the Casbah are several Markets called Souks. Since trade was one of the principal components of the ancient economy, it was important to protect the markets. We visited several markets, starting with essential oils and hats and moving on to rugs.

At the rug market we got a presentation during which I learned more about rugs than I have in the rest of my life combined. There are three types: woven, woven and embroidered, and knotted. Woven carpets are a solid color, or contain bands of color. They can later be embroidered to introduce patterns. Knotted carpets are the most time consuming, as every thread is added to the carpet individually. Think of each knot as a pixel on a screen. Higher quality carpets will have a larger number of knots per square meter. The highest quality carpets have a MILLION knots per square meter, and are characterized by intricate patterns woven in silk threads. One girl was particularly eager to take one home with her.

Depending on the thread count, the carpet may take between a few months and a few years to create. Unsurprisingly such carpets cost a couple tens of thousands of euros. It was quite interesting to watch the presentation, which is neatly tailored to act as a tourist trap. The carpets could very well be machine made, but you will attribute more value to it if you know (think) someone has spent years making it. Also, there was free shipping! But a 20% discount if you chose not to ship. This was an interesting way of framing it, though it probably attracts more buyers than saying "add 25% for shipping costs". They also gave us mint tea (which was really good), and were quick with a joke and a smile. Handshakes also seemed to linger longer than usual, presumably to keep your attention for an extra second or two. 

From there we wandered around markets as we wished, usually speaking french or spanish rather than english. We found identical pillowcases that ranged in price from 4 to 35 euros depending on bartering ability. 

Then we went to Carthage. Carthage has a fascinating history, which I have probably heard before but hadn't really assimilated until I visited. A princess fled from Lebanon to escape the tyranny of her murderous brother (Pygmalion!), and bought a small amount of land in Tunis. The ruler of Tunis charged her an enormous amount of money and said she could claim an amount of land "no greater than the size of a cow's hide". The clever queen cut the hide into thin strips and encircled the area that was to become Carthage. They quickly became enormously successful, which angered the tunisians to the point that they eventually helped the romans sack the city. There were 3 Carthaginian wars, but the Romans used some propaganda and called them "Punic wars". The word Punic is meant to downplay the importance of the carthaginian empire (because it sounds measly), and is derived from the Phoenician origins of the Carthaginians. 

We visited 3 sites, the Toffit, the ports, and the roman baths. The toffit was described to us as a sacrifice site for children for about 5 minutes, and then the guide totally turned that around and said "most historians actually don't think this anymore because there is very little evidence supporting this". The ports were very pretty, and were the first man-made ports in the world (probably) equipped with mechanisms for lifting the boats out of the slat water to protect them from corrosion (and expose them to dryness, kind of out of the frying pan and into the fire really). The roman baths were some of the largest in the world, despite no fresh water sources. It was an Imperial Bath, meaning the Roman Emperor ordered it to be constructed while Carthage was under Roman rule. 

In the end Carthage lost every war it fought and was sacked by every major empire of the age. But it was a beautiful vibrant city that everyone else was jealous of. We rode a Camel.

We then started our 22 hour cruise to Ibiza, a trip that spanned over 500 nautical miles. We spent our time on the boat playing ping pong (ding dang), eating free gelato, watching french variety shows, hot tubbing, and eating the bottomless gelato. We also got to watch a storm brewing behind the boat at night. 

Upon arrival we walked to the castle (which was steep), and then walked around town and bought tapas and tickets to pacha. Pacha opens around midnight so we had a nap and arrived at 1. 

The next day we started the Journey back to France. 

Crystal was surprised that I showed up for work on Friday. Friday night we went to a Villa after meeting up with yet another Terp in Nice. The next day was beaches and picnics, followed by a trip to Monaco. 

Monday we got back to work, and I was happy to see that we had 2 new WWOOFers! They are both american, from the West coast. We planted seeds using the seed-o-matic 8000, which worked like a dream after we fixed it with tape. I spent the next 2 days building a greenhouse floor, and then went to pick up Bob. 

Bob flew in from America, arriving Tuesday night. We gave him a quick tour of Nice and a place to stay in exchange for his company, and then the next day he went off to start his own WWOOFing adventure. 

Thursday was a day of weeding at broc, but we got some more interesting stories from Joelle. One of her friends is a russian fox-coat maker, and analyzes generational changes in foxes. Interestingly, domestication results in a noticeable and heritable change in demeanor and coat color, which I thought was due to some epigenetic changes. 

Also, essential oils were distilled. 

The huge metal container was filled with flowers, and heated to between 90 and 100 C (Ideally parsing the different boiling points of fragrant oils and water). Cooled under reflux, the phases separated naturally. What you are seeing is droplets of water falling through an oily organic layer.