ALGERIA: Ain Sefir

A long day of travel. We need to eat, but are eager to get out and stretch our legs, At Mohammed's cousin's house, another feast is prepared. I check in the kitchen and take pictures. This is the only way I get to see the women. The wife takes me up on the roof to look around, and shows me her large home with pride and joy

Then it's time to serve:

And afterwards, the tea ceremony skillfully poured by Madjid, Moustafa's son. Then we're off to the hotel. A place recommended for its quiet.

Madjid leads us -- after we approve the room and drop off our luggage, he'll bring us to a place where we can walk on the dunes. We drive on as the sun is setting, and it's clear there's not going to be much time. We pull into a place walled with guard houses.

Apparently this was a place where the French tortured the Algerians -- now deserted. I can't stay there long and head to the beautiful dunes across the street.

lizard tracks?

An ant hill the size of a dinner plate. They dot the dunes in random polka dots. They don't sting, they just love to come out in Spring.

The Sahara dunes in moonlight

Night, time to go back to the hotel. We're greeted there by a dear friend of Djelloul's, Dadou, who speaks English fluently, warmly welcomes us, and invites us to his home to spend the night. Lots of room. We're settled into the hotel, so it's decided that we spend the next two nights with his family, one of the best decisions of the trip so far.

Majid, Dadou's eldest, and Dadou.

Friends who welcome us to their town.

The hotel room. Except for the bed slats collapsing while we sleep. . . twice. . it was just fine.
But I wouldn't have traded the quiet and the grounds for anything.

In the morning we pack up, and while waiting for Djelloul, I had out into the 4-star quiet and beauty of the surrounding land.

There was wonderful birdsong coming from this tree behind the hotel, I glimpsed a handsome, sleek, mocking-bird-sized bird with deep black and white plumage and a yellow beak, but he flew before I could focus.