Tipaza Trip

I couldn’t help but look forward to the upcoming CLO (Community Liaison Officer) sponsored trip to Tipaza. Tipaza is a city approximately one hour away from Algiers. It’s known for its ancient Roman ruins and sandy beaches. Douglas and I were eager to travel outside of our current Algiers. It was perfect timing as well because Ramadan recently ended.

Allow me to go off on a short tangent about my Ramadan experience while living in Algiers. It’s one thing to be around a few people you may know who are Muslim and practice Ramadan in your city, but it’s an entirely different experience to be in a Muslim country where it’s the law to honor Ramadan. The majority of Algerians living in Algiers are Muslim; however, they all do not practice Ramadan. But they must respect the rules of Ramadan according to Muslim law. During this time Muslims are not allowed to eat between sunrise and sunset. For Algeria that meant approximately 16 hours without food or drink. Not even water is allowed to be consumed. For some countries it could be 19 or 20 hours without food or drink. Muslims living in Paris are a great example. The sun does not set there until sometime around 11:00 p.m during the summer months. During this time it can be very challenging to live with such restrictions due to the extreme heat and high humidity. There are very few exceptions to the law. For example, if a Muslim is working outside while it’s very hot, they are permitted to place water into their mouths and swish it around then spit it out. I was also surprised to hear that Muslims do not go swimming during Ramadan in fear that water could enter their mouths.

Traditionally, Muslims eat together as a family once the sun sets. This is not just for immediate family. This includes any relatives or distant family members and friends as well. They eat a huge feast every night.  It is comparable to Thanksgiving. They do this every night for 30 days. That is a great deal of food being cooked and wasted at the same time. Many people do not consume all the food that is made and, since they cook a new meal the next night, the old food typically gets thrown away.

I’ve been told by a few elderly Algerians that often there are some men who are very demanding on their wives. They may have high expectations for the meals prepared and become very upset if the food is not up to their standards or liking. In this case, those women in this type of situation are permitted to taste a tiny bit of the food on their tongue while preparing it to ensure it is sufficient for the husband and other family members. I was pretty shocked to hear that.

The purpose of Ramadan is for Muslims to take the time to think about those less fortunate and be grateful for what they have. They reflect on those who cannot afford to buy food or have little to no food to eat. They are supposed to think about these people during the hours of fasting. During Ramadan there are several organizations that collect money or food for those in need. In Algiers the donation drives stop after Ramadan. 

One of the challenging things about living in a Muslim country during Ramadan is that all the dining restaurants are closed until the sun sets. At night the streets become high paced and very lively. Because people have now eaten they have plenty of energy to burn. Restaurant owners do not sell cooked food during the hours of fasting, but grocery stores are open because people have to buy food every day to cook. Inevitably the grocery store and markets are vastly crowded. If a Muslim is seen eating in public they could be arrested for breaking Muslim law. Non-Muslims in this country respect those who do practice Ramadan and try not to eat or drink in their presence. 

Sadly, the price of food increases dramatically. The demand increases so the price rises. It’s very unfair that Algerians must pay such high prices for food when the government knows they have to buy this food every day to keep up with tradition. Americans are encouraged to stock up on food ahead of time, before the prices sky rocket. Meat increases the most. A pound of ground meat can be approximately $20 during Ramadan. Everything is expensive. I made sure to stock up on plenty of meats to avoid the ridiculous prices.  

Many of the Muslim work hours get adjusted during this time. Teachers no longer teach for an hour, rather they will hold class for 45 minutes instead. Businesses have shorter hours and employees tend to be tired by and sometimes cranky. It is very difficult to arrange a trip during Ramadan. When this trip came up shortly after Ramadan ended, we were ecstatic.

I did not do any research on the place we were going. I like to be surprised by what I see rather than already knowing what the place looks like. The CLO’s email said to wear comfortable shoes and bring sun screen. I decided to wear my comfortable Crocs flip flops. When we got there you can imagine my astonishment when I saw we would basically be hiking through the Roman ruins. It was rocky terrain, sandy pits, and plenty of steep hills. I enjoy hiking, but only when I’m wearing a pair of supportive sneakers, not some rinky-dink flip flops. I made the flips flops work, but I think my feet were very unhappy with my decision.

The city of Tipaza was built on a steep hill overlooking the sea. Upon arriving around 10:30 a.m. the driver pulled up to a shopping district. We took two vans since there were about 16 people traveling on this trip. We had a police escort. Each time we entered a new city, we stopped off at the border of the city where another police car or motorcycle met us and escorted the vehicles to the next point.

We arrived and began walking towards the ruins to start our tour. Here are a few pictures of the sites captured during the tour. The view was absolutely beautiful.

Hand crafted design at the root of the tree

The man was sitting down beside the tree when we walked by. Then he put out a bucket, stood up next to the tree and began banging it with his tool. I'm thinking someone else did all the hard work of carving the designs, the person needed a bathroom break and told him to stay there for a minute and now this guy is taking all the credit and collecting donations for his friend's work. That's just my theory. But whoever did this is super talented.

In the background, kids are playing in the water fully clothed. Who says you need a swimsuit to go swimming?

Aloe Vera plant. I was so tempted to break off a leaf and place it in my purse. The juice from this plant can work miracles. I can thank my grandma and mom for that knowledge.

He looks pretty important sitting on that stone in this position.

He had the greatest time climbing from rock to rock and running all over the place. What a true country boy! I, the city girl, gladly stood at the bottom capturing pictures of him while slapping the back of my leg from the random branches that kept touching me.

Does this look flip flop appropriate? Let me answer this one....heck NO!

Looks like he was aiding a damsel in distress. Or I was simply asking him to please help me down from there because I was ready to eat lunch.

We finally made it back to the shopping vendors at the end.

After a nice workout walking through the ruins we were taken to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  The restaurant appeared to look decent from the outside. Looks can be deceiving though. The waiter began by bringing out a platter with a variety of fish for us to choose from. Only taking one look at the platter I quickly determined that I would not be having fish or any other type of seafood for lunch. No thank you!

This just doesn't look appetizing to me.

  

Instead, I chose to go with something safe - grilled turkey breast. Although the people were nice, I was pretty turned off by the lack of cleanliness. The person sitting next to me was browsing through the menu when a bug crawled out from one of the pages. She tried to be as discreet as possible when attempting to kill the bug. However, the bug disappeared and neither she nor I could find it. When the food finally came out an hour later, the turkey breast looked as though it had been cooking on the grill for that entire hour. It was thin, dry, rubbery, and tougher to cut through than a steak. Most people did not think highly of their meal, but ate it anyway.  After sitting in the restaurant for a total of 2 hours, we were more than ready to go at the end of our meal. Unfortunately, just before everyone finished lunch that pesky bug reappeared in the bread basket. Ugh! Check please! I can’t even describe that as an okay dining experience. I would never go back there again.

Before heading back into the van, we walked down the hill to the dock where street vendors were selling fish for a super low price. Many were tempted to purchase fish and shrimp to bring back home. The price was almost half the cost as in Algiers. Although the seafood was significantly cheaper, I had no desire to purchase any since none of it was on ice. Seafood laid out in the sun all day just doesn’t appeal to me.

Restaurant next door. You could spell the aroma of food cooking on the grill.

 

 

After spending just a few minutes down by the dock, we got back into the vans and drove to a nearby beach. The beautiful beaches are what Tipaza is most known for. The water is clear and from what I understand, clean too. It looked like everyone there enjoyed themselves, especially the children. They seemed to have a blast jumping in and out of the water. It was so hot out there; I was tempted to jump in with my clothes on. Now that would have been a sight to see!

Our tour guide mentioned a Christian tomb that he wanted us to visit. We didn’t get the dimensions on it but from the picture you can see it was enormous. I couldn’t help but enjoy the beautiful view and brisk, cool air blowing calmly. As we circled around the tomb we spotted a camel and its owner seated by a wall. I immediately said, “Oh, I want to ride the camel.” This was more of a joke, but everyone else seemed to think I was serious. I couldn’t believe I said that out loud. As I got closer to the camel I began to wish I didn’t say anything at all. This camel didn’t exactly look like those I’ve seen in pictures. It just seemed a bit tired. I guess I would be tired too if all I did was sit out in the hot sun all day waiting for someone to ride me. 

  
I decided to just go for it. How often would I get the opportunity to ride a camel? They aren’t exactly hanging out on sidewalks in the States. It was now or never, so I chose now. I was very hesitant to get close to its skin. It felt weird against my legs. Maybe if I was an avid horse rider the feeling of animal hair wouldn’t have felt completely strange to me. I’ve always seen pictures of people riding the middle of a camel. Apparently a camel usually has two humps. This one only had one. That should have been a clear sign to me that this particular animal had some issues. I was told to sit on the back hump. I tried to climb on from the side by stretching my leg over the back of the camel, but that didn’t seem to work so well. Then I tried getting on from the left side as though that would be better, when it was the same distance as from the right. I had absolutely no logical thinking at that point. I ended up just spreading my legs wide and slowly inching my way onto the back of the camel.  I would have been fine to just say I sat on a camel and call it a day, but then it started to stand up. With my mouth opened wide enough to put a fist inside, I began to scream loudly. I obviously looked like a nut screaming on a camel that moved slower than a turtle. The owner tried to give me the leash to lead the camel, but I thought he should have that job. After all, it was his camel. We rode around the area for just a few minutes. I must say that riding a camel is incredibly awkward on the lady parts. Ouch! Once I realized that I was clearly fine, I got comfortable and began posing for pictures. One cannot ride a camel without taking lots of photos. I can thank my lovely husband for that. When I was done, the man signaled the camel to stop and sit down so that I could get off. I gladly hopped off the camel and was excited that I didn’t miss such a rare opportunity. Great experience!

Another successful adventure traveling in Algeria.