Sfax

The journey from Tunis eastward carries the caravan along the coast through country that grows progressively harsher and more sparsely populated as they leave behind the settled, cultivated lands of Ifriqiya.

They pass through Sfax, through the coastal towns of what will later be called Libya, the landscape shifting by degrees from the olive groves and wheat fields of Tunisia into something drier, more austere, the vegetation thinning until the caravan finds itself crossing stretches of country where the horizon offers little but sand and scrub and the occasional stunted tree clinging to existence near some hidden source of water.

This is the young traveler's first true encounter with the character of the roads that will define so much of the rest of his life.

The long, monotonous stretches of travel punctuated by moments of real danger, the dependence on wells and cisterns whose locations must be known in advance.

I grew up in Kairouan.

It's about, uh, 140 kilometer from Sfax, where I teaching as a assistant professor.

I- in Kairouan, I started practicing gymnastic at the age of six years old, and judo at the age of 10 years.

I was Tunisian champion, national champion of judo on several occasion from, uh, between 2000 and 2003.

After this, after my doctoral studies, I held several teaching and research experience in France.

Currently, I'm a assistant professor at...

in exercise physiology at the Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education in, uh, University of, of Sfax.

At the same time, I am affiliated with a research unit of the National Observatory of Sport when we conduct this study.

Then the Romans, who built the causeway connecting us to the mainland.

Four hours ago, I drove over that same bridge from Sfax.

The road was straight, the sea flat and blue on either side.

Now I am here in the belly of the island.