Day 112: Bedoiun Bedfellows

Wandering around in a strangely lawless post-revolutionary society has its challenges of course, but I'll find the silver lining in any situation - I've had many glimpses at ancient monuments, pre-Roman even, and all to myself. The police are gone and the military guard the shoreline... there's general immorality in the towns and when I get frustrated at the young boys throwing rocks at me, the mothers only say boys will be boys and if there are no police to stop them, then that's what they'll do. Every other society I've visited has had the parents stepping up a bit more actively in cultivating their son's behavior. Odd. But the Bedoin families have been taking me in with open hospitality and smiling friendliness under their black face-covering veils. The desert is nice when I can find it and the shoreline duney and tranquil, though absent gulls, seashells, or fishermen. Unexpected. I've passed through Alexandria and am heading toward Cairo visiting the oldest Christian sites I've seen. Otherwise, lots of date palm farms and fig orchards and noisy tuk-tuks careening along sand roads. Computers are hard to find... I'll look again in Cairo in a short week or so. Safe and sound and occasionally up to my ankles in da Nile =)

Day 105: Flight to Egypt

Rats rats and rats again, an issue of security as I approached Misrata... lacking a official visa, I was invited to leave the country 'immediately' by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Detained, deported on Day 101, onward to Egypt by minivan. The overland flight lasted 16 hours and though I saw a good deal of the Sahara in the area of Ben Waid, the mountainous, more interesting parts passed me by during the frigid moonlit night. Heavy sigh. The Libyan people I met were all very nice. The country has a lot of patriotism, a lot of natural resources, a lot of potential. One day, the political climate will be better suited to a pilgrim by foot.

Because the minivan to Egypt passed across the border at 4 in the morning, the driver wouldn't let me out until either I was with a man (no volunteers among the other 4 passengers) or until it was daylight. I finally descended about 250 kilometers over the border in a town called Fuka and resumed my walk without a hitch. New culture, new food, new atmosphere entirely, and only Arabic is spoken... I'm learning quickly; immersion is really the only effective way to pick up another language.

More later... I'm safe and well along the Egyptian coast heading toward Alexandria - 3 more days, I reckon, and not many internet opportunities.

Summary of Days 37 to 69 Morocco to Tunis

037 Tanger 1377 kms MOROCCO
038 Tanger 1377 kms
039 Tetouan 1434 kms (arf!)
040 Amsah 1464 kms
041 Taryah 1500 kms
042 Znasniche 1542 kms
043 El Jabha 1567 kms
044 Tazayrt 1617 kms
045 Raoud 1657 kms
046 Al Hoceima 1687 kms
047 Ouled Amrad 1730 kms
048 Dawar Chabe 1768 kms
049 Nador 1818 kms
050 Zaio 1925 kms
051 Tefaghalt 1963 kms
052 Oujda 2017 kms
053 Algerian Border/Nador 2032 kms
054 Aboardship 'Wisteria' back to SPAIN
055 Almeria
056 Murcia
057 Benidorm
058 Hospitalet de l'Infant
059 Barcelona
060 Aboardship 'Barcelona' on to ITALY
061 Civitavecchio
062 Aboardship 'Sorrento'
063 Tunis, TUNISIA
064 Tunis
065 Tunis
066 Still in Tunis
067 Tunis
068 Tunis
069 Tunis again...

Day 97: Taste of Freedom

Now literally on the shores of Tripoli... rainy shores with flooding in the streets... and a few minutes on the computer of the underused library of the sole remaining Catholic church in Libya.

The weather for weeks has been pleasantly in the upper teens (60F) but for the last few days downpours. I plod on, of course. People continue to be kind - finally recognized as an athlete, they drive by slowly to hand me a bottle of water, a banana, a juicebox, a Snickers bar out the window, coffee with too much sugar, when it's been particularly wet, and a hot sandwich or two... really terrific. The beach has become too interupted with industry to walk along for the final approach to the capital city, but the typical urban unpleasantness is spiced up here with colorful graffiti capturing the new found freedom of expression.

The graffiti alone is an expression, but that some of it is written in English - Libya Tastes Freedom! - and some in the heretofore oppressed Berber language with an amalgam of Greek and Cyrillic letters with what look more like Phoenician characters, is a secondary reality of the moment. It's no longer forbidden. There's a sense of law and order; I've not seen anyone with sidearms or other weaponry except for the clearly marked citizen patrols, their outfits looking more like the pages of a Cabela's catalog than Soldiers of Fortune. The citizen patrols are patriotic, dutiful, and accepted as an interim solution - so many of them told me (always offering me a chair for a rest, some cigarettes (don't smoke, thanks), and some food) - a dentist in real life, an office worker, an accountant, a mechanic... One fellow told me that the remaining outbursts are only the result of alcohol being now more widely available to people unaccustomed to it. Frat-boy behavior.

I still see fragments of the Roman road lacing together time and distance... onward and eastward...

Day 96 To the Shores of Tripoli!

And I'm in =)
Lots of negotiations at the border, hours and hours of champion-building, finally, an unrestricted stamp in my passport free to travel through Libya for up to 3 months. I'm one happy pilgrim. The people have been terrific - scores stopping to take their photo with me, happier to find out I'm an American. All the men telling me 'I'm your brother' in a warmly protective manner. It's been terrific. The only trouble has been getting internet service as the country transitions from free service for all to privatized capitalism. So, I apologize for the delayed update. I've been walking for three days, mostly along the quiet beach, popping out to the road from time to time, but to do so is to be politely and tactfully approached for a photo op. People calling out to me 'welcome to Libya!' 'thank you for coming!' 'tell the world we're free!'. Really, though I've only got a minute here on an i-phone, it's been a grand three days... yes yes yes, I'll be prudent in the unpopulated stretches, but be assured civil order exists, no violence, calm commerce, everyone's getting on with life. I'll try to update at least once a week, but the reliability of the internet service isn't a sign of bad tidings, just positive transition. Happy New Year!