As our roadtrip continued further south and again near the Algerian border, the scenery became increasingly mountainous and dry. The towns of Mides and Tamerza are located in a particularly hilly area complete with some senic dry canyons. One of which was used for scenes in The English Patient. An abandoned walled mud town near Tamerza provided a scenic foreground for a palmeraie and rough mountains. Aptly named, palmeraies are the palm groves or oases found in the desert typically fed by underground springs. Locals manage these groves and grow fruit and vegetables in the forgiv [View Full Entry]

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the Jedi Mindtricks of: Sober-One Kenobi So, I Believe I left off with us stranded helplessly in the Sahara, sick with infections and horny camels... Oh wait-- Did I not mention that last little fun fact? Well, before I get started, that has to be addressed. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is breeding season for Tunisian camels this winter. That means the womenfolk of the camel-kind are either pregnant or craftily avoiding getting knocked up, but that is not easy feat. I've watched Animal Planet with boarder-line obsession, and I have never once seen what male camels do to attract a [View Full Entry]

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the amazing typing skills of: the now-freckled Robin Well, it's the sandy post you've all been waiting for, and I do believe my keyboard is hopelessly broken, so bear with me here. I'm having spacebar issues on top of the normal 'm' and 'a' changes. Crazy country! JAN 19th: the adventure begins! We ended today in the town of Kairouen. Known for it's famous cookies of condensed baklava-like douch, and filled with dates or almonds, we made a required stop at the best patisserie in town. Also, we saw the great mosque, which was beyond impressive with it's simplicity. Makes St [View Full Entry]

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Thought to myself about how weird my tombstone would look if I died on my 30th birthday as we flew to Tataouine at mach 2 in the Louage (even the locals looked uneasy). Tataouine disappointingly really doesn't have a lot to offer. Stayed at a slightly fancier hotel since it was my birthday! Walked around town a little but mostly stayed at the hotel with "the soldiers" (beer). Jen bought me a cool "Jedi" robe that all the older locals wear, Jamie got me 2 local hats, drank peach cooler that was in a champagne-style bottle, and even got a cake!! [View Full Entry]

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In February this year I was sitting in a lecture room on a big red boat crossing the Drake passage and one of the first questions we were asked was this... "How many people here are visiting Antarctica because it is your seventh continent?" Well, I suddenly realised that during all my previous trips it was something I had never actually considered, and later that evening in our cabin, myself and new cabin mate Sally spent some time trying to figure out just exactly how many continents we had both travelled and what was left. Even so , this year was [View Full Entry]

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Tunis, Sousse, El Jem and Sfax So finally we made it to Tunisia! My first time in Africa; one step closer to my life goal of settting foot on each of the seven continents of the world (only Sth America and Antarctica to go!). That ever-evasive ferry ride ended up being quite interesting. We met many of the Tunisians who were pushing in front of us at the ticket window in Trapani, and they all happily started talking us. It was a welcome change from their hectic shouting and shoving that we encountered in Trapani. We tried to communicate with them [View Full Entry]

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