Tizi Ouzou/Capital of Kabylia

I wanted to see aspects of Algeria's regional cultures, so thought I'd start by going to the capital of Kabylia, an area adjacent to Algiers. Good news and bad news. The good news is that modernity has hit the larger cities in and northwards of Algeria's mountains. Construction of new apartments and villas is proceeding apace. The young are rejecting traditional dress in favor of jeans, the head scarf, or casual business attire. Tizi Ouzou (72 miles east of Algiers)looks like a lower middle class community, with quite a bit of litter. Agriculture with little mechanization is the major economic activity along with light industry. Cement factories are doing well. The bad news is that not much remains of Berber culture outside of remote mountain villages, which are off limits due to terrorism. A few women wear the vertically striped wrap over embroidered pantaloons, topped by an embroidered blouse in the vibrant orange, yellow, green, and white colors typical of Kabylia, but not that many. You can find these garments in boutiques along with jewelry from the region. However, they are also available in shops in Algiers. What I mostly saw was the messy, homogenizing urban sprawl, traffic, and environmental stress, characteristic of countries in the process of development, with a medium-sized mountain range as backdrop. Algeria, with its petrol, is definitely a nation caught up in the process of change. Tizi Ouzou is not the place to look for dramatic examples of Algeria's cultural heritage. Nonetheless, I saw people hard at work, living in large new apartment complexes, some still in the process of being built, pushing their country forward in the middle zone of development. I took in the mountainous terrain and rich agricultural productivity of Kabylia. Stands with yellow melons lined roadsides; vineyards, wheat fields, and orchards covered the hills. What is not so clear so whether economic growth and its distribution are matching people's expectations or are in harmony with the religious perspective most still have of the world. The fragility of Algeria's recent years of peace would seem to indicate that work is still to be done in this area.

The picture is from the Al Hoggar area not Tizi Ouzou, which is in the north and surrounded by mountains.