Gabes – Waiting for… 012

The Great Mosque is very strange for our liking. It is a modern building and we can not necessarily assume that this is a mosque. It reminds me rather of a hotel, or a town hall with tower.

It is late afternoon and the muezzins call, as in any city in the Arab world. We are surrounded by mosques and so the prayers are heard from all directions. Today, the muezzin does not climb the minaret, but uses modern technology. Through a microphone, amplifier and speakers, they praise Allah – Allah is almighty – they pray and call the faithful to direct their prayers toward Mecca.

From the market you can see the minaret of the Sidi Driss mosque, an old mosque dating from the 11th Century.

We return to the campsite, where the crew of the campsite had already gathered wood for an evening campfire, because the evenings are chilly here in December.

Gabes
Gabes The group at the campsite

Together with the other crew of the group, we sit around the campfire and tell stories. But it is also heavily discussed what should happen if the spare does not bring the car to work. It is discussed whether we catch up with the group in Egypt, and how many days ahead are even possible to catch up. But for the time being we are confident that the part should arrive the next day at the airport on the island of Djerba, Peugeot promised to install it on the same day.

Early in the morning I find myself with Renate our tour guide on the ferry from the mainland to the resort island of Djerba. Djerba, because most planes from Europe arrive here .

Djerba is located about three hours drive away from Gabes. Djerba is not very large, it has an area of 20 by 20 km and is about 400 square kilometers large.

The ferry runs every half hour and so we do not have to wait long. The crossing takes only 15 minutes and we have concerns about the spare . Will we get out the pump from the customs without problems and will the freight department be opened, because it’s already Saturday morning.

We are lucky, after some difficulties we are able to get the part from the customs, and pleased we are on our way back.

The pump was installed, it was not the cause of the problem, we now need the injectors, same procedure again and so we are brought back to the campsite. Once again we have to wait for four days, the group moves on, we agree that we want to catch up in Egypt. But we did not know at this time that this was a farewell forever. We are left alone. Not really alone, because we meet a Berlin couple, Bodo and Bine, they intend to travel Tunisia for two months with their trucks.

We are somewhat frustrated, because now we’re 10 days in Gabes, without our car has moved a single meter. Also, our confidence into the workshop fades . The mechanics are all very nice, but what does this help – admittedly – there are worse places on earth where you can get stuck.