I took my assistants on a ten-day tour of Tunisia in Arabic North Africa. We stayed for a week on the beach at Hammamet in a resort that was filled almost exclusively with Iranian tourists who were taking a vacation from terrorizing the rest of the world with their backward policies.
You may be familiar with the terms “shuttle diplomacy” or “gunboat diplomacy,” important concepts in the foreign policy toolkit. Neither of them however were useful in resolving the latest crisis between Iran and Great Britain brought on when Iran arrested British soldiers for allegedly trespassing and would not release them. Working as an envoy for our close ally the Brits, I employed a new tool which I am calling “adorable diplomacy.” I used my charms on those Iranians and wooed them into reconsidering everything they thought they knew about us Westerners.
The breakthrough came after a game of “stop-go” on the terrace where Mama says “go” and I run as fast as I can until she says stop. Three Iranian women watching the match snorted mint tea through their noses from laughing as I slapped my butt and ran like a jockey on a horse each time Mama yelled go. After the barriers were down it was not difficult to get them to admit they were being meanies and the rest, as they say, his history.
Southern Tunisia is like another planet – Tatooine to be exact. Luke Skywalker’s home in Star Wars was really on the edge of the Sahara and the film’s director took advantage of some interesting Tunisian architecture. Berber homes, still used hundreds of years after being built, are holes dug into the earth. They have a center courtyard which is open to the sky and cavernous rooms all around for kitchen, bedrooms, living rooms and even apartments for their goats.
The rocky, barren Atlas Mountains also serve as backdrop where I did some freestyle rock climbing. The extreme sport may look dangerous, but this was actually less than a 500 foot drop.
But the real highlight was playing in the vast sandbox that is the Sahara desert. The Sahara is several times larger than the one Papa made for me out of a cardboard box which now looks pretty lame to me. Mine doesn't even have real live camels. I enjoyed sliding down the steeper dunes and digging my bare feet into the hot sand. Looking out over the seeming endlessness of it all can really make a person feel small.
Until next time,
peace to all.
Omi, Baby Adventure Traveler
