adventures in north africa

well, the photo says it all, or almost all. after this was taken, i gave my hat to Marcia who was nearby in a caleche, and my new Bedouin friend Malek and i went off for a nice long gallop over the sahara in the south of Tunisia. i started off on a camel but when Malek offered a ride behind him on Alix, a snappy little chestnut, who could resist? this was the most pure exciting fun i've had in quite a while.

another highlight, but no photos possible, was going to a hammam (traditional Turkish-style bath) in the town of Hammamet (the name means 'baths'). our Tunisian tour leader Mamdour was from that town, and he asked his mother to take two of us to the neighborhood hammam she and his sister use. she supplied Christa and me with towels, shampoo, bath gel, and a loofa, since we were not equipped for this experience.

there was a central sort of courtyard all whitewashed under a round dome for undressing, dressing, and relaxing after the bath. Five or six women and several children and a baby were chatting, drinking tea or water after the bath, though the children ran in and out several times. Christa and I undressed (keeping our underpants on). i can't say that i felt exactly thin, but by comparison with several women both old and young, i didn't feel specially fat even with my clothes off. those large tent-like overgarments that older and more traditional younger women wear hide a lot of lovely fatness. one very large older woman who was wearing a necklace with small coins, a thong, and nothing else grinned at us and did a little dance as we entered the steamy bath.

we were shown into one of several small doorless tiled stalls with two little stools and hot and cold taps and several plastic buckets of various sizes and told to get ourselves wet. (the language was French punctuated with universal gestures). Then Christa and i were taken into a hot steamy wet room with a raised tile platform where a youngish woman in a black camisole and black shorts (?) scrubbed us all over, front and back while lying down, with a black mitt of a coarse material, and we were led back to the stall where she washed our hair, scrubbed us again but with little nylon mesh puff, and poured lots of buckets of water over us.

then we went back to the first room, got dressed, had a drink of water, and relaxed until it was time for Mamdour to pick us up. the same women and children were there; the baby was under a heavy blanket enjoying a bottle. we gave the madame ten dinars each (about seven dollars, including a generous tip; by contrast, hotel hammams listed their baths and gommage-scrubbing--as fifty dinars or more.). We felt very clean and relaxed.