And Why Not?

It's been over a month now since I returned to Seattle. A terribly valid question would be - in fact has been nearly every time I've run into someone in town - What have you been doing with your time? This question has a Siamese twin that follows with, What are you...

I was sitting in a cafe in Cairo the other day contemplating the quality of this trip. One obvious benefit is that I get to start sentences with statements like the above, and that carries some weight. I had come to a crux: after a few days in Egypt the time had come...

I took a little tour of some old stone buildings today. The way things work in Cairo: upon check-in to a hotel the staff present you with a tour-arranger, a cul-de-sac of information who helps set up tours to places throughout the country. Tourism is extremely...

As I prepare for my departure from Tunisia this Thursday (2 October), I’ve thrown together a couple reflections, in sum and whatnot of my travels so far in this tiny North African country. Tunisia has been a rough go. I speak in euphemisms, and will not dwell at...

I returned to Sousse this afternoon: I needed to escape the little town where I'd been staying, and I wanted to do some further exploring as well. I had read about some catacombs just outside the Medina, and I was terribly proud of myself after eventually finding them...

We began the morning at 8:00, climbing north out of the desert and doing a little off-roading along the way. The day was spent visiting several ksars, which is a Berber word that basically means fortress. Ksars were built for defensive living: located atop mountains...

Mohammed picked us up in his white Land Rover at 9:00. Gen and I piled in and we began heading east, through the Chott el-Jerid, a massive salt-lake that slowly stretches down into the Sahara. The Chott reminded me of the Bonneville Salt Flats outside Salt Lake City...

In the late morning I took the bus from Enfida to the town of Kairouan.  Kairouan is one of Islam’s most holy cities, the place where the Arabs first established a base as they began to move eastward into North Africa in the 7th Century.  The town has gained a...

This little town where I’m staying is, by virtue of being a small town, simultaneously representative and non-representative of Tunisia as a whole. It serves as a microcosm in that the country is mostly composed of small, conservative, rural towns like Enfida. But...

Takrouna is a small village that sits atop a hill slightly Northeast of Enfida. The city was originally settled by Berbers, and is presently an artisan community. I was driven up to Takrouna on a small scooter by Slim (Sa-leem), the young man in whose house I'm...

When you think of Sidi Bou Said, a wealthy suburb resting on the Mediterranean east of Tunis, think of two things: white and blue. The city's located on a hill that climbs up and abuts a cliff, looking out eastward over the Sea. it's a beautiful area of small, winding...