Red Light District

Even though I went here before my camera problems, I figured it was rude to take pictures of scantily clad females in the windows.

To my great amusement, there is not only a day care center but a church in the middle of the district as well. Inlaid in the ground in front of the church is a bronze sculpture of a hand grabbing a breast. The people loved it but the local government was offended. They made a compromise that if the sculptor came forward and paid the fines, they could remain anonymous and the sculpture could stay.

I went into the Museum of Prostitution and met three retired prostitutes there. I talked to them because I was interested in what the job was like. One of them became a prostitute because she wanted a dog and was impatient. By the end of the first night, she had enough money but enjoyed the job and stuck with it for another 17 years. They told me how they wished people would respect the woman’s career choice.
The flat rate is 50 euro for 15 minutes but special requests cost more. Prostitutes are not required to register with the government or be tested for STDs. Most work free of contract and contact a landlord weekly to schedule a work time. A woman always has the right to refuse a man. If something goes wrong, they hit a panic button and bodyguards handle the situation. If necessary, police are involved who are always in favor of the girl. They said they could easily separate sex and love and how some working prostitutes have boyfriends or even husbands. How safe they keep themselves is totally up to them. Men offer more money to have sex without a condom and it can be tempting.
Ignoring the psychological issues or physical risk, it sounds a banging job.

Towns

Small towns are pretty closed communities. They tolerate tourists to some degree but generally aren’t friendly to outsiders. Moving into the community and being accepted would be near impossible. They intermarry (as in others from the town, not their relatives) and houses are passed down through the generations.

Still an idealic little place.

Fun fact: every front door is different. The idea was that drunken men would their house and be able to get home.

Medina

Medina counts as a holy city in Islam and if you go there nine times, you no longer need to take a pilgrimage to Mecca. That’s a good thing for me because as a non-Muslim, Saudi Arabia will not allow me to enter.

Mosaics were everywhere on the inside. It seems to be their decoration of choice for holy places instead of paintings.

A prayer room that I’m not allowed in.

I can still reach my camera around the corner.

Clocks that tell the times throughout the day when one should pray. The times are a little flexible and one can even double or triple them up if they have a busy day.

Green is the color of Heaven so tombs of important people are painted in green.

This art piece is called Snowflake in Forest. Tunisia has no snow so I’m curious as to why and how this was done.

Mosque

A mosque is the Muslim place of prayer.
There’s something like 2,000 columns decorating the place recovered from ancient Roman cities.

This watch tower is the oldest of its kind in the world. Flags are raised when it’s time for prayer and faraway citizens can see them and start heading to the mosk. Bells are usually rung as well for the convenience of those nearby.

When praying, men and women are separated. This can be by a wall, a screen, or just a few feet of empty space.

A sundial marking the prayer times so those in the watchtower would know when to ring the bells and raise the flags.

A closer view of the sundial.

Troglodyte Village

Troglodyte homes are little more than tunnels dug into the side of a mountain. Originally, they were used as hiding places from invaders. People stay in them nowadays because they can be pretty comfortable with a natural way of keeping cool.

The paintings on this door are signs of welcoming to friendly visitors and a way to keep evil spirits out.

This was the entryway.
A sign of hospitality in Tunisia is to serve the guest mint tea. To refuse the tea is one of the worst signs of rudeness. In a real show of generosity, they made freshly baked bread with a mixture of honey and olive oil for dipping. Delicious.

The family was pretty open to 20 students stomping around their house taking pictures of everything. Everyone left a donation in thanks.

I could happily live in a house like this.

They have electricity, cable, and phone lines but they still do many things the old fashioned way. This woman is grinding up grain for bread between two flat rocks.

This little girl was adorable and insisted on showing everyone her pet chameleon.

I saw a Hummer last night. I wish I had gotten a picture of it because it looks so out of place on the road with all the Smart Cars.

Scattered around big cities are cigarette vending machines. They amuse me for some reason.

Everyone seems to own a dog. They're all mutts too. I like you Italy and your lack of pedigree pomp.

Cappacino

It's hard to remember that to make a "ch" sound, you write ci or ce. To make a "k" sound, you write ch.

Good God, the Italian youth are into PDA. I should not see people making out in St. Peter's. I'm not even Catholic and it offended me.

Pasta. Pizza. Pasta and pizza everywhere. All so delicious. All so redundant. I miss waffles.

To the Future

Arrived today on the longest flight of my life. I tried to sleep but all it got me was a crick in my neck and a near falling on the people beside me. Middle seats suck. Now I have jet lag and keep waking up during the night.

There are no speed limit signs. They have "suggestions" but no one cares how fast you're going so long as you don't do something stupid like push it to 90 down a narrow, one block alleyway. Buses abuse this like crazy. They go around the corners just slow enough to make sure all the wheels stay on the ground.

Italian land lines always start with a 06 where cell phones start with a 3. Also, there’s no requirement for the amount of numbers a phone number has to have. It could be 34532 or 354659895.

Around the city of Rome are fountains from the original aqueduct system. You can drink from them whenever you like. The water is so pure. The fountains are kept neat too. It would never fly in America. There’d be cigarette butts, gum, and litter all over them.