A LONG ROAD TO ANCIENT CARTHAGE, BUT FUN!

WHEN YOU ACCEPT A LIFT, YOU HAVE TO GO WITH THE DRIVER, DON´T YOU? POST NO.18/IN (A 20 minute read) 

Our Moroccan friends really do have it tough as you can read through that previous chapter and just to summarize, I quote myself:

As you can see, the European doors are effectively closed to the Moroccans unless they are able to gather together a very large sum of money and show its legal procedence. When you earn less than two thousand euros a year, you are in effect trapped.

By contrast, thirty-seven European nations can travel to Morocco without a visa. France, Spain and Gran Bretaña are amongst them, of course!! End of quote.

So, many reasons for making the most dramatic forms of travel plans!

Chapter fourteen, titled Mixed Fortunes, has me now follow up on the Tunisian and Algerian options. Like they did not make sad reading, I continue to look around the Sahara and sub-Saharan nations and show how the fortunes become harder to find the further south you go. The minimum wage gets lower as you move southwards.

In realistic terms, because of the stringent proceedures in obtaining travel documents legally, the cost of those documents and a military style planning of your entire excursion, does make legal travel nigh on impossible for the average, aspiring, African traveller Where is your money to finance this little adventure of yours?

Well, you see, that was ever one of my father´s typical questions when I was aking him to lend me some money so that I could pay for some travel reservations way ahead of time as we had to do in those days. Thirty days prior to departure was the standard, if not it came down to spare seats, the stand-by method!

Having spent some time working as check-in and boarding agent in Barcelona´s El Prat airport, I could see very close up just how much our international flights and reservations of seats had changed. First up, we had to go into a physical building known as a Travel Agency and yes, I believe they do still exist as such but in a far lesser quantity.

This was the only place to make your hotel and travel reservations. You would sit with a Travel Agent and explain to them what your travel plans were. They would then assist you in finding the right flight and hotels if you wanted that, excursion, car-hire and all things related to your planned trip.

Anyone who has read my first book ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, will remember that my late sister was a Business Travel Agent. She dealt exclusively with the business travellers and would prepare their itinary´s for them based on their needs and tastes.

Here are links to my first book, available on Amazon: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Paperback and ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN e-book

It was quite a specialized job in those days (1980s) and bouquets of flowers, bottles of champagne and large boxes of chocolates, were being delivered regularly to the offices where my big sister was currently working. She made an art of her job and actually enabled these business travellers to really get so much more out of their business travel. The thanks were continually arriving, that personal attention/personal touch, was very highly appreciated.

At the same time, she was accumulating points with the airlines for reservations made with them and they were converted regularly into free flights. Many of which I was sat aboard and my sister did not turn one opportunity aside. She had the privilege of travelling at a NO or LOW cost and always of course, with the required paperwork and some kind of preparation for the forthcoming adventure.

Bless her, she did think before packing and I was always amazed at how she would pull just what was needed at that moment out of her case, rather like a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat!! How did that get in there? Stunned amazement? She was one step ahead of me, that was how? Thinking above the rest!!!!!! And not sharing the benefit of that knowledge, just showing you that, yes, I can pull the wool over your eyes because I know something you don´t!!!!!

I guess it is because I started today with Morocco and Tunisia, both of which I travelled to with my late elder sister and maybe I needed to FEEL her today. OH, I miss her!!!!! I can hear her voice right now asking me, "Do you really understand what he is saying?" As I had just given another affirmative to the driver of the car in which we were travelling.

Two hitherto unknown Tunisian males had offered to take us to Carthage and we had accepted their offer, being on a tight budget as we were. Knowing as we did something of Carthage from our visit in childhood, we knew that it was very close to the centre of the capital city Tunis. It is; just fifteen kilometres all told.

We are chatting away in French with these two and enquiring just how long this drive might be. Typically evasive as Arab males can be, we are assured that by lunchtime we will be there! My sister is getting a little uneasy and we can see that we are heading away from the coast and moving through inhabited towns. Uuuhm!! Where were we being taken?

I did not FEEL any fear of these two but I could definitely see, to coin a phrase, that we were being taken for a ride here!! What was their purpose therefore? We decided to play ignorant of our awareness that we were going away from our destination and not towards it. "Let me hear what they are saying to each other!" I said.

No, I am not going to surprise you all and tell you of my fluent Arabic but I do FEEL much of that language. We had offered to pay for petrol and here came the first issue, we had to stop and fill the petrol tank. Once again this created alarm in my sister, now we had a full tank to run off, we were headed into desert territory for sure, she thought!

Wishful thinking was more what I thought! NO, there was something else. These were not bad guys but neither were they on the level as we say. Since when have I been and that is why these two did not worry me overly because I knew that in some way we were being used but they had no intention of harming us in anyway.

So I show myself and ask, "Are we going somewhere nice, my friends? Beautiful scenery round here!" There was a verbal exchange between the two of them and that changed the tack; trust me and I will trust you!

"Yes, we will take you to Carthage as we said, we did not lie but we have to see a friend in Nabeul about a very important matter, you know. It is an urgent business!" I can see the sparkle in the co-pilot`s eyes and so I comment that maybe they could have dropped us of in Carthage prior to coming on this urgent business trip.

"AH YES! We could have done that but the journey would not be half as much fun without you two." Like the driver had taken his eyes off his mirror which was focused on my sister´s face for one minute. The co-pilot was "mine". We did used to laugh at how the Arab males did this. "I will have that one and you can have the other one!" Or something of that ilk.

Give them their dues, that is what a male should be doing, servicing females who are requiring some tinkering and maintenance!!!!!! Though maybe they could wait to see what choices those females may have made for themselves! The odd thing is though, we do have something about us individually, that attracts some but not others.

The kind of males who were drawn to my sister, would never have been drawn to me naturally. I mean. most, if not all, would probably not say NO to either!! This worked the other way around too. Oh, yes! I could see that it was the co-pilot in this case, who was the leader! The driver was going where he was told. He was an accessory to the whole plot!!!!

But of course, it was my own sister´s playful sexuality that had the driver firmly hoping that they might pull this stunt off and we all drive back to Tunis happily. Four people in one car; the driver and my sister are in tune-ish. I am now getting the vibes from the co-pilot and am tuning into him. We both enjoyed males taking the lead actually!

We arrive in Nabeul and go directly to a house where we are welcomed warmly and invited in. Now I can see it all (or at least I thought I did, because no, this was just the half of it in truth)! Arab welcomes will always involve mint tea and food; there was no exception here. My sister was FEELING more at ease now with some food and drink on offer!!!

I was taken through to another part of the building because the co-pilot wanted to "show me something!" Well, having had so many males just wanting to "show me something", what could I expect this time!! If you do not go and see then you will never know, will you?

What I found was a very pleasant sight indeed and I was already expecting it. Our co-pilot had unwittingly revealed himself to me as of stopping for petrol. He had disappeared behind the building and was gone for quite a while but a trained pair of nostrils will pick up the scents of MUSK!!

My sister had wound the window down fully as her "mate" had applied an awful lot of cologne at the same time as filling up!!! Getting ready for business????!!! The co-pilot, "my mate", smelt positively "GREEN". And the consequent sparkling of his eyes was what had us drawing towards each other.

Therefore, as I looked upon a rather large area dedicated to growing marijuana plants, that was just what I had expected to see. Yes, the co-pilot was on a pick-up job, fine. But why were we needed, did we not stand out as two pale skinned females with two Tunisian guys. Well maybe not as much as you would expect!

As I said in my first book, Tunisia is a very relaxed Muslim nation and the young men make very good company. They are very conversational, very family orientated, quite knowledgeable of their own nation´s his-story and as they have many foreign visitors, they are used to the European peoples.

One usually tries before they buy; I am no different and so a pleasant smoke was enjoyed. The time was passing and so hey, what about an early lunch? Always a good way to get my sister on board; food!! Fully loaded all round, we get back into the car and head back now to Tunis. These two males had made no moves towards us sexually as yet, there was our surprise!!

This seemed to be all about my sister somehow. It was to do with her sweetness and oh, so, foreign tourist factor; yes, that is what it was. She was going to enable us to navigate a clear path through a sticky area obviously! I had best keep quiet then, I thought. If she does not know of the cargo, then she can give nothing away!

There were no police roadblocks this time as I had experienced in both Morocco and Algeria. So, where was the danger coming from? We pull over at the side of the road, the co-pilot gets out and asks my sister to get into the front passenger seat. Yes, looks like I am right!

He climbs into the back with me and off we go again. It seemed almost like a film scene but of course, these males know where they are living and working and where the hazzards are to be found. The police on motor bikes just seemed to appear from nowhere. They were weaving in and out of the cars in circulation and signalling for some to pull over to the side of the road.

The same system is used in Barcelona, be warned! We are signalled to pull over. I maybe should have said something about the Tunisian red wine that went down with lunch and well, there was quite a smell of it in the vehicle (breathalizing was not a consideration!!). But it was my sister telling these police agents that we were on our way to Carthage that nailed it, I think! She was so pretty and her smile had most decent males just want to do anything for her

I add, "These two have explained all the his-story of Carthage to us and we have invited them to share their city with us. They waved us on so casually but with a last glimpse in the back window which showed the co-pilot with his hands going rampant all over me and his wink of complicity was respected by the two police agents!! 

CARTHAGE, WE GOT THERE IN THE END! Photo by Maksym Harbar on Unsplash.

We were dropped off at Carthage and these two said that they would come for us later on. My sister did not think for a moment that they would return but faithfully as said, they were there to pick us up at the time arranged. Now for the rest of it????!!!!

We part company at the doors of our hotel and thank them for our day out, they want to have dinner too. Yes, why not? My sister is first out of the shower and not long after her, I too come out of the shower wrapped in a towel. Oh yes, my friends, I skated over the surface in my first book!! I would probably have not made it to this point in time as yet, if I had written in detail!!!!

It was hot, so very hot. You know, that situation where you come out of the shower and cannot get dry? So, we were sat with the balcony window open, towels wrapped round us, trying to cool down before getting dresssed! We hear a knock on our door. I go and open it! What do I see?

Somehow this did not surprise me either because it was what I thought that they were saying before our first petrol stop that morning! Our travel companions were both stood at the door looking like a symmetrical image of ourselves. They both had a towel wrapped around their waist and flip flops on their feet!!!

My sister jumps up off the bed, ready to begin her protest. You have got to love these Arab guys, you really have! The cheek???!!! "NO, PLEASE! Do not misunderstand us! We have no water in our room. We ask if we can use your shower if you have water?" "Help yourselves!" I say and gesture towards the bathroom.

The driver first! "Would my sister like to assist him?" he asked. "Could he not manage by himself?" was her reply. "Ah, yes, of course, but it would be a lot more fun with your assistance!"

I am going to spare everyone´s intimacy as I always do and say only that I was not surprised when on trying the shower in our companion´s room, plenty of hot water came pouring forth!! And in spite of four hot showers, we all went for dinner rather sweaty and sticky!

The room arrangements were the same later and plans were made for a day spent with them around Tunis city, which was our last day actually. What a great pair of guys, they really were good fun. You really do not find many like these two in Europe, sad to say!

We met together my late, elder sister and I, so many males on our travels and I was always amazed at how, even though it was the males who were offering themselves to us on every occasion, just how often this kind of pairing seemed to be the end result.

My sister was a live and let liver but she herself was never a smoker and beyond that, a fervent anti-smoking person. She loathed the habit, she loathed the smell, she loathed the foolishness that is a smoking habit and she made a point always of only sharing her intimate time with males who were non-smokers.

We were always as opposite sides of the fence my elder sister and I, but between us, we really did encompass much of much!! Situations like this showed me how very different and unique the human male can be, if he is confident in himself. If he can be his own person, if he can be his own man!

Myself, well, I have never been a cigarette smoker but I have always been a leaf smoker and every male that I have shared intimacy with and thoroughly enjoyed that intimacy with, has also been a leaf smoker. And I invite you to make of that what you will.

Is it that we instinctively FEEL our way towards another person of the opposite sex? Or are we drawn to them because we see reflections of ourselves in those individuals? 

I can see that personality is all for me! You know, I can remember my sister´s mate clearly, I can see his face still. I can see the look in his eyes as he gazed at my sister. I knew that she would enjoy her intimate time with him, so much so, that it could have well continued.

For my part, I can remember my mate´s voice and his body aroma. I can remember his passion which matched mine. I can also remember all that we said to each other. But I cannot see his face in my mind. Why? Because it was another crossing of paths of two kindred spirits and as such, they would have to continue on their respective ways.

Mutually enjoying the moments that you have, when you have them and with whom you FEEL you wish to share them.

Whilst I have said little about the content of this chapter, it is a very dense chapter and displays the horrendous disequality that exists between our countries. It is all in the book. Next time I will move onto black and white, the origins of and the meanings of, so join me again soon. Thank you for reading

Update 23/08/23 - My seond book is now available on Amazon.com and most other Amazon sites. These are the links to the .com site: ON THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT Paperback version  and ON THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT e-book version

More INFJ blogs can be found here: https://lifestyle.feedspot.com/infj_blogs