Hammamet, Tunisia

We decided to try another Club Med and this time we went in Northern Africa to Hammamet, Tunisia. This was all our first time in Africa and for most people when you think of Africa you think of animals and safaris. In Tunisia, we experience something different. At the Club Med, the boys did their usual all day kid club activities which included trampoline, trapeze, archery, kayaking, sand castle building, futbol, tennis, doing plays, watching movies, and or course eating all the sweets and drinks they can get. Since there are no trees to climb in Atyrau, the boys did a good job of climbing palm trees and all the other trees that could get to. Stacey and I got to enjoy each other, not have to worry about cooking, and spend time with the boys doing really fun things.

We all went into downtown Hammamet for some shopping and got to experience the relentless shop owners trying to be nice and have you buy something from their shop. We only bought a few serving dishes from one owner and was able to talk him down from 40 Euros to 16 since that is literally all we had.

We also enjoyed learning how rugs were made. Stacey and Cameron even got to practice doing it. If you have ever traveled you know that most countries sell rugs and are very aggressive when doing so. At this shop, which we were told was a government shop with fixed prices, had a display room upstairs. There were all different materials and sizes that we were shown. The sales pitch was very good and they even bring you drinks while you learn. I got a little nervous when the salesman asked Stacey what color she liked and Stacey quickly responded, "that one". We were told how much they cost and they even said they can ship it to Kazakhstan. We told them that the mail did not work well here and they even had a unique solution to go around that. In the end we decided not to buy any rugs and the price on the one we like quickly went from $1,300 to $1,050. After many no thank yous, the price dropped again to $600. We told him we didn't make any decisions without thinking about it and we left. Later in the week we stopped by to buy post cards and the man asked us again. We had thought about it and said no. The price dropped one more time to $450. I was tempted to buy it just for the discount, but no one really knows how much it costs. By the calculations the salesman told me of how long it takes to make and how much they pay the workers, we were getting it for cheaper than that. Maybe next time we will buy one.

All in all the weather was pretty chilly so we did not get to use the pool or ocean that much, but Cameron and I did got kayaking together. Mason cried because he is not 6 and that is the age limit. Mason said he wants to go back when he is 6 and do it. I love vacations.