Tatouine the home of Star Wars !!!!

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Early morning took a shower and went to the louage station to catch a louage to Tatouine. I was the 2nd person in the louage and we had to wait till 6 more people turned up. Near the ticket counter there was this guy who looked like a student and fortunately he spoke English. I asked his if it was faster to go to Gabes and then get another louage to Tatouine as Gabes is closer to Tatouine and probably have more people in that route. He confirmed this and in fact he was going to Gabes too and I happened to buy the 8th ticket to Gabes. So our louage went to Gabes immediately. This way I also have the flexibility of going to Djerba if I change my mind because Gabes is the common point between Djerba and Tatouine.

In the southern part of the country the louage seem a little bit more expensive. There was this girl seated in the middle row and then I saw her getting to the back row. The student guy I spoke to earlier on was in front of me and he sat in the middle row as there was one seat vacant because the girl moved to the back and I ended up sitting in the back row in the middle of this girl and another random guy. The girl didn't speak much English although her body language very clearly wanted to talk. While going to Gabes I was going through the guidebook on what to do in the Ksour and she was looking at the book too and later she pointed out a few places in the Ksour which I had already decided to visit. We got down at Gabes and I went to buy my ticket to Tatouine and she was also at the ticket counter to buy a ticket to Medenine. After she bought her ticket she waited till I bought my ticket but I could see she was in a hurry as probably her louage was waiting to go and she quickly asked for my number. She took my number and called me to make sure it worked. She thereafter went her way and I went on my way.

The louage to Tatouine was about a 30 minute wait and then the last 2 passengers to turn up were two independent travelers. For the first time in Tunisia I have met independent travelers an English guy called Nick and his Australian girl friend Becky. They have been travelling in Africa for 6 months going back to the UK and then travelling 6 months in South America.

It was interesting to meet 2 more travelers and we were exchanging our different experiences. They have been in Aussie for 6 years and now planning to move to the UK.

We got to Tatouine around 1345. According to the guide book the louage station was like 200m away from the hotel, we were wrong. The guidebook didn't quite state that the long distance louage station was about 3 kms away from the hotel. So we walked for about 1hr and eventually found Hotel Hamza.

The hotel was 18 dinars for a single and 21 for a double. Clean toilets with hot water shared by 3 rooms.

After putting my backpack in the room I decided to roam about the town. I was looking for a camionnette or bus to Ghomrassen to go and see Ksar Hadada. Didn't find anything and the next bus was at 1745 after sunset so no point. There were these two guys who helped me and they bought me a “con de gazelle” which looks like a patty but which is sweet. The filling is out of almond, honey and the patty is fried and covered with honey. Later I bought them coffee. They wanted to know if they can accompany me on my trips in Tatouine. Alarm bell 1 and one of the guys were like if I can help him before I leave which was Alarm bell 2. I said since there is no transport that I was going back to the hotel and they gave me there number to call them the next day. There was a hill nearby which I climbed as there were some nice views of Tatouine and nearby mountains. I waited there till the sunset chatting to two random men. We spoke with their broken English and my limited I mean very limited vocabulary of French and Arabic.

After sunset I went to the market bought a chapatti sandwich some Clementine’s and went to the internet cafe. I got back to my room and slept at about 9pm.

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