12/24/06: Christmas Eve

Today things went from decent to spectacular. We hit the road early and first arrived in Tozeur, a town with a lot of markets and stands. Most of the things there sell here are junk, but walking through the food market was very interesting. At the meat stands they have the heads of camels, cows, and goats hanging so everyone can see them.

After that we had lunch and arrived at the hotel in Tozeur. The hotel is 4 stars instead of 5 but it’s by far the best we’ve stayed at. We had a couple hours of downtime after lunch so we played flyer’s up in the big indoor pool.

Then we set off into the desert in SUV’s. There were six people to a car and our crew was me, John, Engel, Fr. Gary, our travel director Peter, and Dirty D. Peter speaks French so he was able to coerce our driver into doing some extra stunts, so the ride was a blast. We sped over huge bumps and scaled steep hills like a roller coaster. The desert was beautiful, with sharp pink mountains dominating the horizon.

And then we arrived at the place I had waited all year for: the set of Star Wars. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru’s village. The buildings were made of stucco or something like that but were still in good condition. It was so cool. I took lots of picks and then paid 5 dinar to ride a camel. Those things are tall. It was a lot of fun.

I knew I was in the Sahara when we reached the sand dunes. The whole surrounding landscape, as far as my eyes could see, was rolling hill of fine sand. We stopped in the midst of the dunes to watch the sunset. I took off my shoes and ran down the sandhills much like I used to do at the Lot. After the sun set, we got back in the SUVs and headed to a camp for a fancy traditional dinner. They had a flameblower, Bedouin dancers, a band, and good food. After dinner everyone went out and sang Christmas songs, but I walked away from the lights to look at the stars. They were very bright and it was interesting to see the constellations from a different angle.

We rode back to the hotel and had a Christmas mass said by Fr. Gary. It was very nice but it still didn’t feel like Christmas. It’s hard to be away from home on Christmas, but thinking about it, I was experiencing something way closer to the actual birth of Christ. I saw camels, shepherds, and a starry night in the desert. It wasn’t all snowy with Christmas carols, presents, and lights, but it was special in its own way. I missed my family on Christmas Eve, but there were plenty of people there who I considered practically family. Overall it was an incredible Christmas Eve.