Casablanca Morocco to NY 10-31-08

We had a lovely, interesting trip to Morocco. The last evening we celebrated with dinner at Rick's Cafe in Casablanca. Of course this is not the cafe from the movie as that was a movie set, but one that was created after the movie to bring folks back through that nostalgic time. We sat in the upper floor overlooking the grand piano a story below. A man dressed in a tuxedo played those tunes from the movie era. Ornate black lacy lanterns hung from the high ceilings with light twinkling through to set the mood.

We were treated to a salad of goat cheese and figs lightly drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Dinner followed with tender lamb chops.

During our stay in Morocco we learned you can live without a hair blower for a couple of weeks. If water is icy cold, it is OK to skip a shower for a few days too.

As temperatures dropped below 60 degrees FH and became uncomfortably chilly, blankets and all the clothes you can put on can keep you warm if you roll up cigar style.

Donkeys and mules can walk with a heavy load though a long narrow pathway without causing a panic to pedestrians.

Travel pants made of high tech material can dry by morning when washed out the night before. Jeans definitely not the case.

People of all walks of life can gather civilly on a bus to view other cultures.

If you are lost in the country side you can find your way back to the group.

Here are some photos of the group.

Happy traveling.

Meknes - Volubiles -Casablanca 10-30-08

Fes - 10-29-08

Hi,
We have arrived in Fes to one of the most beautiful Hotels on our trip - Riad Dar Dmana.

We were delivered to the Medina - city in the residential area which looks a lot like the winding streets of the other cities. Narrow, no more than 5 feet across. No motorcycles but donkeys carrying large packs. Donkeys, by the way, have the right of way. We wound around several blocks turning right and left in hallway type streets to our hotel. You would never know from the outside doorway that such a lovely place was within.

About 20 of our group stayed here. The rest of our co-travelers stayed in an even more upscale place. The rooms in our hotel are not numbered, but have names. Ours is Radia. It is a long suite that has an L shaped sofa filled with pillows, king size bed and interesting furniture adorned with brass upholstery buttons trimming the edges. There is a walk-in closet next to the bath which is big enough to have a party. The colors are rich rust and cream. It is delightful.

The room on the third floor over looks the court yard. Breakfast and dinner are served with table cloths, embroidered napkins and stacks of pretty dishes in burgundy and navy that are filled with delightful soups and meats and fruits.

This is living.

We went to the mountain today to look down on Fes. It is a city built like a bowl filed with rings of commerce, homes and the like. There are miles and miles of these labyrinth type narrow streets more like walkways or alleys with no auto traffic. Our guide wound us around the food markets piled high with dates, oranges, avocados, camel heads, live chickens, sides of meat (goat or lamb) hanging off a hook. You name it is was there in tiny little shops and doorways. If you heard which I temporarily forgot something like Barlak you moved close to the wall as the Donkey was coming through packed with wears and goods to be delivered to the shops. Stan would say here, comes some ass.

We followed all the way to the tanneries and walked up a dark staircase through several crowded tiny rooms filled with leather goods to an overlook to see the men tanning leather. There were hundreds of vats about 6 foot across that men were stomping leather knee deep in some solution to tan and then dye the leather. It was a bit smelly, but they gave us a sprig of mint to keep the odor from being offensive. This is suppose to be the worst job in the world next to crab fishing in Alaska, according to our guide Ali.

We bought a few things and then shopped in earnest for a leather coat for Stan. Once we thought we reached a good price, it had to be verified by the supervisor. You would have thought I was bargaining for a used car in Colorado, the only place Americans get screwed by bargaining. Ali was waiting at the cashier. Keep in mind this is low tech and the cashier was an Arab women shouting at him at the top of her lungs and him in return back, as he helped one of our co-travelers with their purchase. Once he found out our great price more shouting back and forth and we paid $30 less. It’s all good fun.

Ali continued our walk through the Medina and we ducked our head through a couple of doors to an open courtyard. This was Ali’s home as a child. We meet his mother who is probably in her 80's. His wife served tea, cookies and dates to all 33 of us. His little boy Ryan age 14 months was walking around playing with the visitors. It was a delight.

We stopped off at the weavers den where men sitting at ancient looms were pulling ropes to drive the shuttle back and forth through the warp thread. Great scarves and other fabrics were stacked along the walls.

More walking, still no one lost in this maze of streets and path ways. We stopped for lunch in a typical Moroccan restaurant. There was a tea master who prepared the tea. We started off with 15 or so plates of salad type items; olives, tomato with cucumber and onions, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, hot pepper salsa (really hot), eggplant, spinach. We were pretty much stuffed from those things. Then they brought the main course. Stan had meat balls and egg with flavorful sauce. I had couscous and vegetables. There was also chicken with lemon or almonds. The meal was topped off with a large platter of fresh oranges and grapes.

We decided to rest this afternoon instead of more shopping and found this great internet shop down the street from the hotel with an English keyboard. For an hour and 10 dirhams ($1.25) I can type type, type, type.

I wanted to check my email as John, my son, and his wife Rachel are having their baby today 10-29-08. It’s their first child, gender unknown, and our first grandchild. No baby yet, but they are waiting at the hospital now for the doctor to speed things along.

Move later.

For my cousin Jack - Here is a list of cities and highlights
Casablanca
Hotel – Hotel Suisse
Hassan II Mosque
Marrakech
Hotel – Ryad Mogador Opera
Bahia Palace
Saadian Tombs
Menara Basin
Koutoubia Mosque
Djeman el-Fna – large square
Chez Ali – Dinner / Horse show
Essaouira
Fishing village with great wood carving
Berber Village
I Min Tanoute (Nearby village)
Day in a life with of a Berber
Ouarrazate – High Atlas Mountains
Hotel – Kasbab Ait Ben Haddon
Known a film center for major movies such as
Lawrence of Arabia, Jesus of Nazareth Gladiator
Through Tichka Pass
Tingher - Todra Gorges
Hotel Kasbah Tinzini Hotel
Road of 1,000 kasbabs
Kasbahs of Taourit and Tifoulout
Erfoud - Sahara Desert
Middle Atlas Mountains
Azrou - home stay

Mcknes short city tour
Arabian / Barbari Horse breeding center
Fes
Hotel – Riad Dar Dmana
Tour of Medina – shopping area
Restaurant Asman – in heart of medina, best food in Morocco
Fes El-Jdid – Royal Palace
Volubilis short walking tour
Ancient Roman ruins – 2000 years old
Rabat short city tour
Capital city – King’s residence
Casablanca
Hotel Suisse
Rick’s Cafe
NY to Boston

Azrou - Home Stay 10-26-08

We crossed the high Atlas mountains and middle Atlas to the town of Azrou close to a snow skiing area.

Hadefa is 28 and lives with her extended family of unmarried brothers, a sister that is traveling and her parents.

Her brother, Mustapha, age 40 met us as we exited the bus. The tour didn't really tell us to unpack a few things in a small bag, so we had lots of luggage for a primitive place. They hired a man and a cart to hall our luggage up a the hill 4 or 5 blocks to her apartment. Americans we are amazing with all our stuff and always seem to be adding more to the collection. Mustopha is an artist and decortive house painter.

After the first flight of steps there is a great room used for festivals. The furniture and large cusions are stacked in the corner as are the carpets that are rolled up standing upright against the wall. There is a western style bathroom on that floor. Yea.

Then up to the main floor where the reception room or living room has table on rollers and a Moroccan style sofa set the covers all walls of the room. A TV is in one corner. A couple of 15 foot square bedrooms and a squatter (eastern stype toilet) are next door. One flight up is where Mustapha has his room, next to his 2 brothers room off the roof. That night we could see the sunset over the Atlas mountains.

He is an artist and here is his email is mustlotoi@hotmail.com.

Mustopha is more then a decortive painter. He did not finish school but continued to study on his own. Both Hafida and Mustopha speaks several languages, French, Arabic Berber, and English. Mustopha showed us his art work and explained the meaining of each piece. His philisophical insights about life, love and relationships reval what you would expect while chatting with Socrates.

He decorated the walls in his room with different textures; such as exposing the brick, crating textured scenes like doorways and one wall smooth like silk and colored like marble. He offered us an antique key. He has one too to remember our visit. Key to haret, mind, live and life. He played us a Franch folk song on his guitar.

We joined his mother in the reception room (living room). Their mother Fatima, age about 65, has the typical Berber tatoo on her face. A wider mark on her forehead between the eyes and a line drawn from her lips to chin, with dots on either side. Her mother lived to be 108 with no speical diet. Just good simple living.

Fatima had prepared mint green tea rich with sugar, bread similar to the round flat yeast bread we have seen around Morocco. She also had small platters of olives, a crumbly substance with a nutty peanut type flavor which I spooned on a corner of bread. There was also a small plate of jam made from an apple type fruit. We didn't try this until the next morning when the same type food was served except olives. We saw the apple type fruit in the open markets. It is bigger than an apple yellow and lumpy.

Mustopha explained his mother spoke Arabic, Berber, French, no English and could not read anything. She enjoyed looking at the photos we had taken of her children, Hadifa and Mustopha, on our camera at the evening welcoming dinned at a local hotel.

We had all piled into our bus with our hosts, Hadifa and Mostapha until the bus was too full. Others came by other means. We were greeted by the hotel by a friensy of music from young men whereing cream colored tunic pounding drums, bongos, 18 inch tamborins, tooting five foot long horns and chanting to a variety of beats all at the same time. Our hosts joined in loudly clapping their own beat. This went on outside the hotel along with some dancing and arm swinging from quite a while. Then the parade moved inside. The trumpets blew toot, toot, toot on the same note. The tamborine player spun his instrument on one figure in time with the music.

We were treated to vegatable soup. Then they brought out several baked chickens which several shared by tearing off peices that we wanted. Of course several servings of flat yeast bread. Dessert was small cookies stuffed with nuts and dates. Before the bones of the chicken was removed our co-travelers slipped out the chicken's wishbone. I shared a wish with Mustopha. He won and wished for happiness. It was a delight.

The next morning we all piled into an older bus for a tour of the mountain. We stopped in a French style ski village so different in contrast to the city of Azrou nearby.

Erfond Morocco 10-25-08

Erfond is close to the Sahara Desert. The terrain is flat with small hllls on both sides. High mountains can be scene in the distance. Little scruby brush is the only vegatation.

Our overnight stay at Kasbah Tizimi Hotel and late evening camel ride to the Sahara Desert started at a restaurant famous for their pizza. One of our traveling couples, Bea and Herbert own a pizza chain in Colorado and had a great visit with the owner who took them around the town to his other businesses including a large resort with airstrip on the edge of town.

We ordered the regular tpye pizza with standard toppings which was crispy and good. Others had the bread type stuffed with cheese and fillings. The shop next door had interesting arts/crafts from Morocco and silver jewelry you buy by weight.

After lunch we went to a factory that slices up large cubes of quarried rock that are embedded with fossels of shells or trilabites. Interesting table or counter tops are made from these blocks of stone.

Buildings are made of mud and straw. You can see the texture of the straw in the outside walls.

Stan and I skipped the camel ride to the desert as old bodies are stiff and sittin gon a camel for an hour would probably not be advisable. Our co-travelers showed us wonderful photos of camels trodding along with long shadows against the dunes.

Back in the bus. Date palms orchards dotted the valleys and meadows for miles. Small villages along the way had terraces of flat spaces used to lay of the dates to dry. Dates are so dense in clories and nutition that the Moroccan's say one will sustain a person for a day.

We found cookies in a local grocery like fig newtons except they were filled with dates. Pretty different.

The ride through the high Atlas mountains was mostly barren with the exception of the open meadows of date palms.

There were several dams along the way. The red rocky cliffs showed different strata in layers on the mountain side.

It rained off and on during our ride. Where the gullys filled up, the water rushed over the depression in the highway as there were no culverts. We saw a man with his bicycle parked on the side of the road shoveling out the dirt and sand that had built up on the road.

Ouarzazate - Tondra Gorges 10-24-08

Stan and I have arrived in a city of Ouarzarate by the Tundra Gorges.

We sent a quick email from the hotel manager's office. Then walked down the streets at dust to the internet cafe. This keyboard is not English at all and has the q mixed where a should be as well as misplaced m and w. No period, so please help by guessing. We walked about 300 meters down the road to find an internet cafe. The glances as we walked in were amazing from the other people in the crowded internet stations. It was 10 dirhams for $1.25 to type for an hour. Same type of French keyboard so I was catching to the changes a little bit by then. When I paid to leave I told the owner that it was the Best Buy in the City. He didn't understand, but smiled happily.

I will start by backtracking. We spent a long day yesterday crossing the high Atlas Mountains. Up one side, through steep switchbacks, to 7000 feet, then down the other side.

The driver was very careful on the steep turns. One time we passed a smaller bus and all waved madly. It was our bus driver’s father; son in big bus, father, in smaller bus.

Mountains are quite barren of vegetation. They have many stops for rest rooms and some guys selling jewelry and the like on the mountain top. As I look back that was some of the best selections in the country.

The mountains toward the Tundra Gorges are more interesting. The high Atlas Mountains were on the left and the start of the Sahara Desert on the right. We drove by large herds of black goats who scattered in a great gallop across open fields of scrub brush as the bus passed their territory. Some groups of camels grassed along the way.

Yesterday while traveling through the mountains, we stopped in the morning at a Taourrirt Kasbah (mountain retreat). We walked down a steep cobblestone path with inviting shops on each side of the pathway. We crossed a shallow river by stepping on sand bags. A good balancing act indeed. Then up many steeps and rocky narrow pathways and stone steps through a kasbah. A kasbah is like a for or castle in the mountains. Walking up the stairs through many chambers was interesting. The steps were of different heights which made the climb interesting on wore out knees.

The hotel Riad Salam was delightful. Soft cozy beds and puffy pillows with charming navy / gold bedspreads and drapes overlooking a foliage filled courtyard.

We stopped off an overlook in a city with building along the meadows and hillside.
At the Tundra Gorges we had lunch and a walk. The recent rains had washed out the road. I paid a young man with a steady arm to hold my hand as we crossed over the river on slippery rocks. He had his pant legs rolled up and was walking over the rocks barefoot. We ate in a charming restaurant built into the side of the cliffs. We took a walked up part of the gorge. The views were amazing. There were little shops, I use that word loosely, along the way. Tables were filled with trinkets, jewelery, scarves while rugs were hung on ropes on the rocks. Such a deal and what relentless salesmen. They all were filled with stories to boot. Help me. Help my family.

Date palms are prolific in this region. It was raining hard, but our guide ventured out on the top of a mountain ridge to buy a box of dates fresh from the October harvest. He passed the box around for a taste of fresh royal dates. The best I've ever had.

Showers are a real challenge sometimes. One I picked up the shower hose and the head cam off. This was an exploding surprise. Another, the shower hose was placed in the overhead hook. I checked the water, pulled the switch to move the water to the shower head. The water pressure increased ten fold. The shower hose took off like a wild snake exploding water all over the bathroom. I found out later many people also had wet towels and bathroom floors from that same experience.

Finally, after a long days drive through the flat lands, we arrived at our overnight stay. Our hotel this evening was Hotel Kasbah Lamrant. The room was huge that included a seating area. Come on over. The bedspread and curtains were cream colored heavy texture with soft caramel colored horizontal strips. The lamps all had crystals mixed with the cut our metal, reminiscent of the many fossils and rocks available in the nearby mountains.

Berber Village IminTanoute Morocco 10-22-08

We visited a BerBer village for an overnight stay. This is similar to a bed an breakfast with a cultural exerience. Mohamed manages this with his wife and many friends and neighbors from the village. Here is his email; berber_culture_ center@hotmail.com. The small village is near Imi-n-Tanoute on the maps we saw. There was a traveling carnival in town that week we drove through the town.

The bus wound through the narrow streets and snaked up the hill to the village. People from the village waited on the main highway with smiles and waves. The bus continued to drive slowlythrough the narrow rocky path where we all got out for our overnight sleepover with a Berber family.

We walked up a moderately steep rocky path, wide enough for a donkey cart, to the Berber Inn. It was built in 2003. There are 8 rooms with 2 community toilets next to a shower. Yes running water and western style toilets. Water is cold. There was a kitchen with an open wood burning oven and tables for preparation in the court yard just in front of the kitchen.

As you enter the sleeping rooms or community room you slip off your shoes. We gathered around tables in the community room as we sat on pillows cross-legged. Our host served green mint tea in small shot sized glasses and a big bowl of popcorn at each table. The tea is always heavy on the sugar for Moroccans.

Our rooms were modest with 2 beds on a platform with fresh bright pink sheets on a hard 6 inch mattress with a big heavy course blanket. We layered on most of the clothes we brought with us as the air was chilly.

We volunteered for groups to make chicken and vegatable Tanjine, bread or bring water from the well.

Stan and I chose water gathering. Down the rocky path we trod behind the donkey with water jugs, made from old tires, packed the his back. Up we went to the well enclosed with a concrete block wall. There were two buckets one on each end of a long rope that was hung over a pulley. One bucket was dropped into the well filled up and then pulled up with the sopping wet rope. We all took turns and finally the jugs were filled. Back to the center. Poor donkey. Some co-travelers took a ride on the donkey. I decided his burden was already heavy enough and skipped a ride.

A couple of water gatherers got off the path when they stopped for a photo of the valley. Barbara and Brenda found their way back after spending a hour or so in heavy afternoon showers. They saw people along the way, but speaking or understanding Arabic is a challenge. They kept back tracking on themselves as one cactus patch on a rocky path looks like the next. They were drenched and humbled by their experience.

We had a bed on platform. I should say hard beds with extra hard pillows. The people are gracious; funny and interesting.

Our Japanese co-traveling friends, Fumi and Katsuyo, opened a package of origami paper and we all sat at a table making cranes. Katsuyo told of the story in 1945 right after US had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when people in Japan held vigil for the severely injured in hospitals by making 1000 cranes and stringing them up in a circle representing peace.

Here we were at the Berber center making cranes offering peace to each other.

That late afternoon we enjoyed the works of our labor in the commuity room. The chicken Tabjine was delicious and tender. It included potatoes, onions and squash. It had baked in the conical pot over coals. The yeast bread was flatten and baked in an open fired overn. The prepared dishes were placed in the middle of each table. You would tear off a peice of freashly baked bread and scoope up some veggies or chicken. No plates, napkins or silverware. Were in Morocco now. It was delicious and hit the spot. It was followed by with a friut salad of small pieces of bananas,greaps, seed from palmgranets and dolop of yogurt. Yes, a spoon this time.

I helped dry the dishes with a tea towel in the kitchen. It was chlly and this was one way to warm up next to the oven that was colling down from cooking the bread.

One women crouched on the floor making our afternno snack. It was a layer of sweeten yeast bread, pudding or custard, topped with swirls of dough rolled like snails filling the top. It was yummy perfectly browned.

We then had a tea making contest. We were teamed in groups of 3 to make mint/green tea with plenty of sugar. We didn't win, but laughed and decided bits of green tea chewed in their dry form tasted like charcoal. We have sense found out that the tea is poured out 3 times to help with the seeping.

Later that evening the host served thin asian type noodles mixed with a few raisins and sprinkled with cinnamon.

We slept mostly well bundled in our cloathes and the heavy blanket. The next morning a few of us did some taichi with our Japanize friends in the court yard. For breakfast we were served a kind of cream of wheat (yes with a large spoon), more yeast bread and crape type pancake. We drizzled thick honey on it and rolled it up like I did when I was a kid. My mom would save the last pancake, spread it with sugar, roll it up and offer it to me. It is still my favorite way to eat pancakes.

On our way down the hill after our visit we stopped to smile with some little children going to school. I gave them an A B C puzzle. It was cute to watch them hold it up for a photo. Hopefully, they will learn to make lots of words.

Essaouira Morocco 10-21-08

The men wear slip on slipper type shoes. Arabs have pointed toes. Berbers are round toed. Morocco has about 32.7 million people and is the 57th largest country in the world. 4th largest in Africa.

Can you believe Im really in Africa This is such a trip.

40 percent of the people work in argiculture. The country seems sparcely populated to me and large farms are not apparent. Mostly along the highways you see few herds of goats scattering away as the bus passes through with a lonely goat herder resting under a tree. A couple of times we saw, of all things, goats standing on their hind legs by trees reaching for leaves in trees. Other times we actually saw goats in the tree branches.

On Tuesday 10-21-08 we traveled from Marrakech to Essaouira. These names are a lot easier to say once you hear them roll off the tongue of a local.

The soil around Marrakech is red as is the color of most of their buildings. We drove about 3.5 hrs to the fishing village on the coast to Essaouira. The fields were flat and filled zith small fist sized rocks: You could rack them up over and over and still not have enough soil to farm. Twigs of trees, probably olive trees, were planted in rows with a berm around them to collect water in hopes that some day an orchard would grow. On this road the property lines marked in the Casablanca region by cactus were exchanged for neatly stacked rock fences about 4 feet high. The fields were cleared off as best as they could, except for the rocks.

Seeing a donkey pulling a cart was common place as donkeys are the Berber's taxis. Bicycles also dotted the landscape as we went through small towns or villages. Some towns had weekly markets going on. The market was called the day of the week for example, Monday Market. If a village had a market then the community was considered to be vibrant.

I noticed one guy unloading his duffle bag full of shoes onto a blanket. These were not new shoes. This gives you some idea that the market is not just fresh fruit and vegetables but also many flea market resalables.

On the way to Essaouira we stopped off at a women’s coop that turns the locally grown Argon tree seeds to oil. Women were seated on the floor cracking open the Argon nuts. Then another woman takes the nuts and roasts then in a large flat pan stirring constantly over an open fire. The fire uses the shells and wood to keep the fire burning.

Then onto another women who grinds the roasted nuts into a paste. Stan tried to grind a bit and his arm was sore moving the big stone with a stick in it over the grinding stone. Not easy work for sure. The paste is then pressed to extract the oil used for skin moisturizer and the like.

There must be an easier way. This place was out in the country in the middle of nowhere so I really don’t think an updated factory was hiding in the back yard.

Each day along the way we stopped off for a restroom break and for coffee, tea or soda. Pepsi is found infrequently. Coke, Diet Coke or Coke Zero, Sprint, Fanta we almost always available at room temperature for about 10 dirhams or $1.25. The key was to order what the locals drink. Nos Nos - half milk half coffee served in a glass a little bigger than shot size. Mint green tea was also available served piping hot in a small skinny glass. Hold the top or it will burn your fingers. No super sized starbucks out here in the middle of Morocco.

As soon as the bus doors opened to Essaouira the smell of fish permeated the air. SeaGalls were circling over the Marine Arch where they hold the fish auctions each day at 2. Town shop owners come to buy fish from the center. We saw moray and conga eels, spider crabs, red snapper, sardines and other such catches of the day layed out on tables and in tubs on the ground.

You could buy one or many then take them over to the fish cleaner. He would clean your selection for a few dirhams. The seagulls enjoyed the bounty.

In Essaouira we stayed in Ryad Mogocoor hotel just outside the city across the street from the beach. It was top drawer with thick orange / gold brocade bedspread that matched similar fabric in the drapes and side chairs. The whole bathroom was decorated in blue and white tile. It was a delight with manicured large court yard and a swimming pools with water as still as a cool evening night. The buffet offered scrumptious food like beef tips, tender chicken as well as vegetables, rice and many fresh salads. Choices of desserts were endless; flan, tiny chocolate cookies and tarts.

No time to ride the camel on the beach in the sunset as we were very tired from our city tour. We walked through the narrow streets of Essaouira. This was a much different walk from the souk in Marrakech. Still like a labyrinth, but no motorcycles and this was mixed use with shops and residences. Many doors were painted blue for good luck. I photographed a lot of them as we walked.

At the end of the walk we learned about wood carving and inlay work. Beautiful things, but too heavy to carry home. One person with our group bought the most interesting table that nested together in three parts like a puzzle. She had it shipped home. It was an art piece for sure.

Marrakech Morocco 10-20-08

Hi,
We are in Marrakech staying at the Imperial Holiday Hotel. Ali, our guide wears a jellaba (robes with a hood) each day. One day he wore olive green, next day sunny saffron yellow stripped with see through cream of silk and cotton.

Morocco has 32.7 million people. It is the 57th largest country in the world and the 4th largest country in Afric. It gets very hot in the summer at 45 degrees celsius or 115 degrees FH. In the winter the temperatures drop to -2 degrees C or 28 degree FH.

I rained most of the evening yesterday like cats and dogs coming down filling the gutters to overflowing. Maybe there are no storm system to collect the water, so it just piled up. The temperature ranged from 85 degrees FH to about 60 degrees or less on chilly evenings.

We ate lunch on the second floor of a restaurant across the street from the mosque. The tables were filled with Tajines, a local dish. Some with lamb and prunes, some with beef or chicken and vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, carrots, green beans then olives. Stan had meatball and egg. Curry flavors yellow color of saffron permeated the open air cafe. Tajines were baked in a terra cotta bowl with a conical lid. As the waiter took off the top, steam escaped and the wonderful aroma filled the air.

The guide gave us tips along the way like - Rosemary leaves boiled into a tea with sugar is good for your stomach. Cactus flower pods are peeled and used as Imodium of Morocco.

Along the road side as we road the bus from Casablanca to Marrakech we saw cactus (pear type) growing 5 feet tall and about 3 feet wide in strips around farm plots. This marked off the property lines. The soil is very rocky and it seemed nothing was grown in these plots. Other places had groves of olive trees. Groups of palms dotted some fields.

We stopped in one palm groove to look at some camels. Everything is about paying the guy with things for pictures. Well finally I have some local change so we can do just that.

Today we went through all the things we missed yesterday because of the afternoon’s rain. We went through the narrow streets of the souks. These are bazaar type market places are crowded with people and their wares in small shops. We walked in single file stopping not once in fear that we might get lost as people on motor cycles and walking crowded by. Cycles always have the right of way, so if you hear the honk better hug the side of the narrow walkway.



There were metal sinks hanging in doorways, carpets in another place, teapots on a chain, shoes and slippers in another. Very thin metal jewelry with all colors of beads for but a couple of dirhams - $2.40 US. Looked like things you find in a carnival.

At the end of a long walk through this labyrinth of narrow walkways we stopped at the Pharmacia. Is was air conditioned and we sat round on benches in a circle with the leader (pharmacist) in front. It was like the biggest Tupperware party I have ever been to. All kinds of concoctions were offered and spread on our hands to smell and rub in. At the end, plastic bags were handed to each person and then the list of items started again. Who wanted special cooking spices, hand cream, wrinkle remover, cholesterol blocker and on and on.

Some how I didn't bite and come out of there with nothing. Others in our group had heavy bags of things.

Back through the Souk market to have lunch at the same place as yesterday.

I'm exhausted but off to an open theater tonight to see a horse show and some belly dancing. The show was several miles out of the city. Bus loads of tourists moved through the pathway with men on horse back lining each side. The pageantry was interesting, cheesy and a bit over the top. We ate dinner served in bright red tents. A half of roasted lamb was laid before us on a big platter to rip off parts and find tasty morsels. Then a huge plate of coucous with 7 vegatables. Platters of fruit were then served as dessert. As a vegetarian, is it sometimes a challenge to find more than just bread to eat.

The horse show was held in a large arena. Our guide clued us in to the right seats to see well. Horses road around in some kind of order. Several keen horsemen did Roy Rodgers type of tricks by riding side saddle and other feats lickety split around the arena. A wobbly float over a vehicle came out as a stage for the belly dancer to entertained us for a while, maybe too long a while. A magic carpet suspended on a cable across the arena floated by with some guys on it. By the time the fireworks were on their last sparkle, we were already in the bus. No more comments on this one.

It's an adventure.

Joyce

Casablanca Morocco 10-19-08

Hi,
I found a small internet cafe in Marrekech. This the first one I have found in Morocco as most hotels do not have business centers anymore. They have WIFI or WEEFEE as the French pronounce it. You need your own computer to use WIFI. Maybe I'll have to start carrying one. In this internet cafe off a couple of blocks from our hotels down a dark alley of shops, little kids speaking French and Ababic are crowded all around me at small tables playing games on their internet stations in a very dark long skinny room. This is probably the most interesting place I have found to type.

The computer is set up for French and so is the key board. The owner changed it to English keyboard but you can't look at your fingers as you type as the letters are different. It is a challenge so I appolize ahead of time for misspellings.

After a lengthy flight from NY to Casablanca (6 1/2 hours) they skirted us off to start our visit. No hotel or bathroom visit. We stopped first at the largest Mosque in the area. The country side is filled with argriculture. Some primitive type square homes had haystacks in the fields covered with plastic. They were stacked with an oval top instead of square.

It is more humid than expected and still warm from summer. There are plam trees, eucalipus in groves dotting the highway. People selling wares sit on the side of the road along the frontage road on a chair with a small table and a cloth draped over their goods.

Highways are 4 lanes and compounds (farm houses) have arched gated enteries in this part of Morocco

Folage and climate is similar to California with bouganvilles and palms. Casablanca is expensive compared to other parts of Morocco. It is rich ecomonically and life too live their is also.

Starlings fly around the city and countryside. People here don't particularly like them, as they eat the olives during harvest. October is olives harvest season.

A phone, for example cost $50/cell phone with no contract. Free calls are available to families on the same plan. Everyone no matter their economic situation seems to have a cell phone.

We found we didn't need to wear scarfs in the Mosque unless you want to or if is is prayer time. This is the tallest mosqeue in the world. Third largest in the North African region. It is huge and filled with marble and inlaid tile with majestic designs in the ceilings. People come to the Mosque particularly on Fridays. Men on main floor. Women up to the second where there is ornate lattuce work so women can not be seen. It is impressive and expensive to imagine the construction of the place.

Last evening we went for a small bus ride around the city of Casablanca and stopped off in Oliveris - an ice cream parlor. It reminded me of the pastry shops in Boston where people line up for 1/2 a block to buy goodies. We did the same here. For 40 dirhams ($5 each) we had a chocolate and pistaccio. It was a cup of yummy delight wraped with a paper cone filled with fresh whipped cream.

Several of us took a walk about a block away to the ocean. Children were playing scoccer in the sand. The smaller children were playing behind a large rock to keep their ball from rolling into the sea.

Gas is 7 dirharm (their money or about $1/liter or $4/gal).

Now we ventured to Marrikech with our fellow travelers by bus. There are 33 of us from US, Japan and Canada. This is a Friendshop Force trip. We are looking forward to the homestay in a few days.

It's great fun.
Joyce

Morocco - Here we go 10-17-08

Stan and I are off to Morocco today. We will take a quick flight to New York, then off to Casablanca. We’ll probably be in the air 4 hours to NY and 6 ½ to Morocco. Morocco is that country in North Africa about the size of California right across the Straits of Gibraltar from Spain along the south western part of the Mediterranean Sea.

In 2000 we traveled to China with Friendship Force with a Cinda Clark, a tour coordinator from Fort Collins, Colorado. Cinda called us in the summer and asked if we wanted to join her and some others from all over the US for a couple of weeks to Morocco. Seemed like an interesting idea and certainly a place we had never been before so we signed up.

Our bags are packed, overloaded really, with enough to keep us cleaned up for a while. It is really hard to pack light when you don’t know the weather conditions or plans during our 2 day home stay with a host family. We learned just yesterday we are staying with a women(?), Hafida Lotfi, with 4 children ages 18 to 40. That’s about all we know so far. Her email is from France. Part of the exchange is giving a few gifts to the host family. Other Friendship Force trips we have dropped off quilts in Australia, New Zealand and India. This summer I made a quilt just for this occasion. One fabric has a background of beige paisley. The pattern is called Garden Path from designs from the 30’s. It reminded me of colors and patterns I’ve seen of Morocco in photos.

Most people in Morocco are Muslims, so we’ll have an opportunity to visit some mosques. They speak French and Arabic. I didn’t really take the time to learn either, but practiced a few basic phases in French. We’ll be in hotel mostly and stop off in a Berber village one night then cross the Atlas Mountains to our home stay.

It’s an adventure and I’ll keep you posted as I find internet cafes or business centers in the hotels.

Thanks for joining.
Joyce Kropewnicki