Sands of the Sahara

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So, long wait but Ive finally made it to Africa. And the Sahara is beautiful in an oh so desolate sort of way. I havent been able to go very far into it yet (I hope to spend longer when I explore the Western Desert in Egypt), but the splendid desolation of searingly hot dunes and terrain so flat and endless that it plays tricks on your eyes is something to see. Also, I have descided that Bedouin-style turbans suit me, and I intend to aquire one when I have the chance.

The single most wonderful thing I have found in the desert so far have been the dust-devils. The sight of spinning colomns of dust, hanging in the otherwise still air, is intensly evocative. Of course in a photo they come out as nothing more than a smear of dust, so Ill have to carry it in my mind rather than on a computer. You can see why the deserts of myth are places of spirits and Djinns; I felt that that was what I had seen in the desert, even though they were only there when we were passing in the bus.

The heat here is incredible. All of the guide-books talk about peak temperatures of around 35°. In fact its been close to 40° every day, and often muggy with it. The best annalogy for the heat Ive heard is that its like a press, squeezing the sweat out of your sore, weary body. It doesnt leave you much chance of forgetting to cover up; the fact that there is a nuclear furnace blazing away with nothing between it and me but a little bit of empty air is clearly evident. Unfortunatly my much-loved (read tatty) straw hat marks me out as an obvious tourist and thus doubles the price of everything I could posibly want and means people are constantly trying to sell me things that I dont, usually souvenirs or other things that tourists pay inflated prices for. And I only went into the Medina to spend one dinar on a chapati.
The net result is that, until I get my Beduin Turban, Im in my usual piratestyle bandana, now severly faded by the sun on the top of my head. That could have been my scalp.

Ive also had my first taste of some of the big travellers nightmares; my security belt, the one I wear next to my skin, went missing somewhere between the Tunis Metro ride to Carthage and getting back to the Hostel that night. It contained about 30 dinars (no big loss), my vacination certificate (annoying as I have to get it re-issued), my travellers cheques (annoying, but thats why I was carrying travellers cheques instead of cash, they were easily cancelled) and (drum-roll) my passport. The document that entitled me to be in Tunisia, which I need for hotel bookings, and to leave Tunisia. If youre reading this, Gran, thankyou so much for the Travelers Handbook. Nothing is more comforting in those circumstances than knowing exactly where to find the British Embassy. So thats been sorted out, and with that done I can sort out getting the travellers cheques re-issued and finally leave Tunis.

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