Daily Life in Tozeur
Another early morning, and another cold shower! This was quickly becoming the trip of cold showers!
Our bus to Tozeur left in the dark and we got to watch the sunrise over the salt flats as we drove through them!! Getting to Tozeur at 8:00 a.m. meant that the we had the whole day ahead of us. 
We walked into one tour agency and they quoted us a price for several excursions, but the price seemed high and we weren't very impressed with the service. We quickly snuck out and headed into the main shopping area of Tozeur. 
As we turned the corner toward the main tourist drag (the west part of Tozeur is like a little Las Vegas - casinos and fancy hotels - we stayed FAR away from that part!), we found Desert Expeditions, a tour agency that hooked us up with two excursions for a very decent price!! That evening, we took a tour to Ong Jemal and sunset in the dunes.
Because the tour didn't leave until 3:00, we had a few hours to kill in Tozeur, which was quickly becoming our favorite part of the trip. It was a green city with an ancient medina, twisting alleys to explore and daily life to witness. We spent hours wandering the back alleys, watching kids go to school, play, adults shopping and cleaning, and everyone was so friendly - always ready with a "Bonjour, Madame!" or "Bonjour, Monsieur!" We also settled our hotel for the night - Hotel Residence Karim was very colorful with shady courtyards and open balcony walkways.
The excursion into the desert was fantastic. Our driver didn't speak English, but knew enough French that we were able to converse and talk about what we were seeing. We saw herds of camels, and rough rock formations as we drove out of town. Ong Jemal (Neck of the Camel) is a place not too far from Tozeur used in the Star Wars movies, and famous for truly looking like a camel's head in the rocks. 
From the top of it, you can see a great salt-flats lake which glistened in the setting sun. Our guide had lots of fun listening to us whoop and holler as he drove up and down steep unpaved 4WD roads that seemed fun at the time, dangerous as we look back at it!! Oh well, we lived and had tons of fun!
On through the desert, with the sun low in the sky, there it was. I didn't know this was part of our tour, but we pulled up to a group of buildings that looked vaguely familiar, and as we got closer, I yelled out "Look!! Mos Eisley!" And yes, there it was, the set of Mos Eisley from the Star Wars films. Lucas left the sets after filming, and they have since been a huge tourist draw. 
It was so bizarre to stand there and picture the movie, except that the buildings were mostly made of chicken wire, plastic doodads, plaster, and plywood. I played around with my lightsaber until Tim told me it was time to move on. We also were yelled at because we put Pog on one of the buildings for a picture - an apparent no-no.
Finally, the sun was setting and we made our way to the town of Nefta on the Algerian border, with its sunken palmerie and the dunes beyond. The sky was filled with dust which made the sunset take on colors of gray and white, rather than the traditional red and orange.
When we got back to Tozeur, we headed for our hotel and stopped to find a bite to eat. We found this great tourist restaurant, and even though the menu was a tourist menu, I ordered the camel. Yes, I ate camel and loved it!! It was juicy, tasted like a rich steak, and was marinated in something scrumptious!