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Many of our friends were concerned that we had lost the traveling bug since we hadn't been any new places for almost six months. Never fear, we are still nomads at heart and to prove it, we took a 10 day trip to one of the lands of nomads -- Tunisia.

Ancient Carthage, a good enough reason to go just to see this, was enthralling. The museum provided a great place to start with its overview to the era and concise interesting explanations. Then we visited several of the numerous archeological sites. Most of the "ruins" were from the Roman occupation because they had razed the city at the end of the Punic Wars. Our favorite spot was the thermal baths d'Antonin. The size of the buildings, especially in height, was astonishing. These could have kept a lot of Romans sweaty.

The extent of Roman remains were not restrained to Carthage, there are still prominent buildings scattered about the country demonstrating the incredible power of the Roman Empire. The colony of Africa, as they called this area, was an outpost. But it was hard for us to believe so with the beautiful cities containing theaters and temples decorated with fascinating mosaics still being walked upon. Some of the mosaics, Louie's favorite thing, are preserved in several museums and are still bright and vivid after all these years.

Our trip to the desert featured a visit to three oases. Not a place you would expect to find waterfalls, but there they were! One of only ten feet and another of over thirty were sources for large villages tending palm orchards that sheltered vegetable gardens and sheep. In one spot, a spring created a canyon over 100 feet deep.

We travelled mainly by bus and train. It was economical, on-time and comfortable. The food was very varied and cheap enough. A four course dinner for two could be eaten for $6.00. Finishing off a bowl of couscous, the national dish, was a real feat. Sandwiches came with salad, meat and French fries -- all in the same bread roll.

The thing that helped us enjoy our trip the most was our interaction with the people. They were friendly and seemed very happy. During our stay Tunisia played in the Africa Cup soccer competition. Each victory along the way was accompanied by joyous celebrations. When they lost to the eventual champions, Cameroon, in the semi-finals, the public took the blow with grace and seemed happy the team had done as well as it did (no police guards when the team returned home or other negative incidences). Also, as a comparison with other trips, during our entire ten days we were hasseled only three times -- this is not Morocco.

The following story demonstrates the laid back attitude of Tunisians. While traveling in a bus one day, we followed a pickup truck loaded with half-grown calves. We were shocked to see two of the calves tumble out of the truck onto the highway! Our driver expertly avoided hitting them and started flashing his lights and put up a continuous beeping of his horn to alert the pickup driver. However, the driver in front of us just continued merrily on his way unaware of his missing cargo. Shortly thereafter, a third calf plopped onto the highway and again the driver's skill avoided a collision. Eventually the pickup driver became aware of the problem, stopped, emerged from the cab laughing, and lashed tight the tailgate that had become loose. We assume he then went back to fetch his bruised livestock.

Needless to say, we like Tunisia and recommend it. Most visitors head for the nice beaches during the summer when the desert is 48 C. We decided to go at a less crowded time and were surprised by the colder temperatures than those we experience at our home in Spain. It was a good time to be away from the cold coast and in the warm desert.