ON THE 91ST DAY SHE RESTED

WEATHER: Hot and 37C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting to sleep in till 9.30am

BUMMER OF THE DAY: The sun didn’t come out as planned on our free day – damn it

BUYS OF THE DAY: My Berber rug purchased from a local family

WORD OF THE DAY: Maiika – again!!!  Berber for Queen

So today was a free day.  You could do as little or as much as you wanted.  My knee is still a little sore, but I believe it is now finally starting to heal.  But most of the optionals today involved walking, so I decided to stay in till lunch time and just chillax.

A group left at 8am for a 3.5 hour hike through the gorge and up some mountain to meet some nomads.  Yeah I think I’ll pass.  There was a 10am departure for a 2 hour walk through the gorge and surrounds, yeah I think I’ll pass that also and the last for the morning was rock climbing, apparently Todra Gorge is well known worldwide for its climbing, and I can see why as the cliff faces are amazing, and this is also where Mission Impossible was filmed, where Tom Cruise ( I love him) was filmed doing the crazy one arm swing from a rock face, that was here, yeah well none of that for me either.

So what did I do?  Well I slept till 9.30am, had breakfast at 9.45am, chatted with Georgie till 10am and then hit the pool and some sun till.  Till 11.15am, where I met some of the other ‘non active’ people and we got a drive to see the gorge briefly before our lunch.  The gorge is massive; it has been carved out cliff-sided canyons on their final 40 kilometers through the mountains. The last 600 meters, the Todra gorge are the most spectacular as the canyon narrows to a flat stony track as little as 10 meters wide in places with sheer and smooth rock walls up to 160 meters high on each side. The tiny glacier stream is something of a misfit and the river which once filled the gorge can only be imagined.  As it is summer holidays, there were heaps of children playing in the gorge of all ages, I guess like our kids back home playing in lakes, dams or the beach.  There were some local sellers and a drink shop that showed us his Berber ‘fridge’ which was all his drinks were sitting in the gorge water in the shade keeping them cool – what a great idea!!

I was tempted to skip lunch and just stay at the hotel, but I figured I had to eat anyway, and I should leave the hotel at least once.  Lunch was at a local house / Kasbah where a local woman cooked us Broad bean soup, mixed salad and a Berber Pizza.  The pizza was like a pastry top and bottom and had a meat filling with olives, onion and herbs, it was quite delicious.  Not sure about the bean soup though……  We then went downstairs where they had some carpets that have been woven by the local woman of the area.  Made primarily from sheep and lamb’s wool (which was softer) they had more traditional patterns on them than the ones we saw in Fez.  There were some beautiful carpets and rugs, as I wasn’t in the market for a rug, I was only window shopping.  BUT then I saw a beautiful red one that was approx. 600AUD, it was beautiful, but without having a house to visualize where it would go, I made a decision with my head for once and didn’t buy it, but it was beautiful.  They proceeded to bring out more and more rugs, and Tony of the group wanted to see some ‘manly’ carpets, so out came a black one with red squares on it, and I knew that one was the rug for me, so much for window shopping!  So I let Tony ohhh and ahhhh over it, till he decided he didn’t want it, and then I swooped in and snapped it up!  So much for not buying a rug, but it was only 130AUD and will be a great memory of my trip to Morocco.  Just another thing I will have to ship home, but certainly worth it!

Just before leaving the Henna lady turned up.  These ladies use natural ingredients from a leaf to make the paste for the henna, so there are no chemicals involved.  So I was first off the rank and got a pattern on my right hand, which went up just past my wrist, down my pointer finger and flowers on each finger.  You then have to wait for the henna to dry and then you pick off all the dry stuff and it leaves an orange-brown stain on your hand that is supposed to last around a week.  I was a little disappointed when I picked mine off, I thought it would be a little darker, but I think my tan has made it not look so dark, but I like it all the same.

Back to the hotel late afternoon, with storm clouds brewing and no sun, it knocked my ‘sun time’ plans out the window.  So instead I was able to use the hotels computer for a few minutes to touch base with the world again after 5 days off-line.  I was also hoping to update my blog, I had found my USB stick and everything, but the computer was as old as the hills and they only had the earlier version of Word on it, so I was unable to open my documents anyway – oh well it was a good idea – so I now have 6 entries to upload and with another few days offline, it will probably be just over a week’s worth when I get some Wi-Fi.  I also did some office time and completed yesterday’s blog and also down loaded pictures from my camera.  Looking back on yesterday’s photos on the laptop, there are some really great shots in there and I can’t wait to get them loaded onto Facebook to show you all.

The guys left at 5.30pm for a Hammamm.  It is like a Turkish bath experience but Moroccan style and from the sounds of it; it was a great but different experience.  I didn’t go.  I’m not a massagy, get nude in front of strangers, or friends for that manner, type of gal.  They had to all strip down to their undies only and then this lady with massive knockers flipped them like fish on the floor and exfoliated and massaged the hell out of their skin.  If that sounds like fun, I think I will pass thanks.  It is another one of those things I am glad I did miss and don’t feel any regrets on.

Dinner was at 8pm and the Hammamm crew found a liquor store open and came back bearing alcoholic gifts.  I really haven’t had much to drink since Greece and I have to say it has made a nice break.  Monetary and health wise.  But a few beers tonight, kindly sponsored by Jeff (thanks buddy – my shout tomorrow night) I have to say they did hit the spot.  I was talking to Annette and Jeff yesterday, and they are also from Brisbane.  Oh really what part of Brisbane?  Middle Park / Jamboree Heights. Oh really, so are we.  What street did you live in - Port Street, oh really we live 5 houses away from you!  Now if that isn’t a small world, I don’t know what is.  Well we aren’t neighbors anymore, but it’s still pretty cool all the same.  It’s a small world after all…..

Everyone was pretty tired to night, so we just chilled after dinner.  A group who was continuing a card game from yesterday broke off to some other tables and we found out tonight that Issam is a bit of a card shark.  He has all these card tricks, which he is awesome at, and we all can’t figure out how he does them.  He really is good.  He has shown us how he did one of them and he showed us a ‘simple’ trick that I think I could handle, but he simply will not show us how he does the others.  There is one that is VERY impressive and I cannot for the life of me work out how it’s done.  By the end of the trip I will find out – it’s driving me nuts.

So we leave the beautiful Todra Gorge tomorrow and head to the movie capital of Morocco, Ouarzazate, also known as Mollywood (of course) where movies such as Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven were filmed.  So it looks like we are shaping up for another great day tomorrow.  I love Morocco, I love the people, I love the food and I am getting used to the heat, I won’t say at this stage I love the weather, but sunny days are good and I guess we can’t have it all 

TODRA GORGE AND SOME RELAXATION

WEATHER: Hot and 37C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Arriving at our awesome hotel in Todra Gorge  

BUMMER OF THE DAY: A little ‘camel’ sore after 2 hours of riding

BUYS OF THE DAY: Nothing spectacular today

WORD OF THE DAY: Harumbrum – cheers in Berber

Well after falling asleep last night watching my second falling star, I slept quite well considering there was sand everywhere.  The blankets on our beds, our beds, our clothes and our faces were coated in the stuff, but that is just part of the ‘real life experience’.

We got up at 5.45am to watch the sunrise from some dunes close by the camp and at precisely at 6.20am we witnessed a stunning sunrise.  What a beautiful setting to watch it rise over the hills of Algeria.  It was very peaceful and to just be in that environment and in the desert was a pretty special way to start the day.

We left the camp at 7am for our hours trek back to the hotel to collect our bags and freshen up the best we could without actually having a shower and then hitting the road at 9am for our drive day to Todra Gorge.  The ride back was a little tougher than yesterday.  The sand seemed to be softer, so the camel hoofs sunk in deeper into the sand, meaning you had to hang on more so you wouldn’t fall off.  I got some great shadow shots of the group and I am glad we left early as the day was starting to heat up already at 7am!!!!  Saying good-bye to Jimi Hendrix and Mohammad and the rest of the camel caravan was a little sad.  Am I over my camel phobia?  I’d like to think that if another opportunity arose, I would be open to getting back on without hesitation.  I do say that now, knowing there isn’t another opportunity for the next couple of trips coming up anyways, so the likelihood that it will come up is low anyway.  I am glad that Issam pushed the point on me going, and he was right, it has been one of the highlights to date.

So bags and posse back in the van for our first section of driving.  Having a few stops along the way, a fossil place was one, where they had some fossils found from the area on display.  The roads that we are driving on today are not as good as the previous few days, so I can see why it takes so long to drive some distances, as we can only go 60km an hour and slower sometimes, it is very bumpy, even though I know Abdul is doing a good job avoiding what he can!

We did a road side stop in middle of no-where that has these ancient wells that were used long ago.  They are underground passages that carry’s water from the Atlas Mountains 50km away to different villages.  Each village had its own tunnel as such and they were constructed so there was enough room to stand below in the tunnel so that they could be maintained.  A pretty ingenious idea.  They are not used at the moment but there is talk of restoring them and getting some water back into the villages again.

Just before lunch we stopped at a museum at called Museum de Oasis.  It was pretty neat to talk a walk through the Berber history of the country, photos, writings and how their local life ran all those years ago.  We got a great view from the top of the museum, which is still part of a working village today.  The walls are almost 3m wide, which helps in keeping out the heat during their hot summer days and the walls are made out of mud and straw to also help with the coolness and I have to say it works.

ON the road again and for our final push to Todra Gorge, we once again got some great panoramic stops and shots, once again thanks to Issam for doing this, as we all really got some great photos today – they look absolutely magic.  WE arrived into our hotel at Todra Gorge and we are staying at a Kasbah (hotel) for the next 2 nights.

The hotel in Todra Gorge is AMAZING.   It is a Kasbah located in a valley, with cliffs that face the front and back of the property.  When we arrived, they had some of the staff meet us at the top of the stairs to help carry our bags to the hotel.  We had to walk down 2 flights of stairs, cross a river, climb another flight of stairs walk 10m and then climb another set of stairs, but what awaited us was like a slice of heaven.  There in all its glory was a POOL!!!  Oh yes, me the non-swimmer, will be going in there later this afternoon.  The hotel is quite large and there are plenty of seats, umbrellas and an outside section under a canopy for you to relax and take it easy.  I can see our 2 nights here are going to be well appreciated.  I need some down time and what a great place to do it.  The trip so far has been FANTASATIC and each day has bought something new, but at the half way stage it is always good to be able to recharge the batteries and get ready for the second portion of the trip.

The afternoon was spent with some guys playing cards, the gals had a swim in the pool and then I continued blogging, people slept and it was just a great lazy afternoon.  Anything that you purchase to eat or drink goes on a tap (an honest y system for the drinks) and then we will settle the bill in 2 day’s time.  Speedy was our ‘go to’ guy and he was just awesome and always had a smile on his dial.

What a great way to spend the next 2 days and looking forward to some R&R.

WHAT AN AMAZING DAY IN THE SAHARA

WEATHER: Hot and 38C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Riding the camels in a sand and rain storm

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Riding camels in a sand storm

BUYS OF THE DAY: Picnic lunch bought from a supermarket for 2AUD – details below

WORD OF THE DAY: Berber word – enwah meaning slut / ripe - Arabic word / Malika meaning Queen and English word / Good timing as it’s what we had all day

Today is a drive day for 5 hours in total to get us to Merzouga, which is located at the edge of the Erg Chebbi sand dunes of the Sahara Desert.  Camel day has arrived.  Everyone is having a grand old time at my expense, from calling my name in ‘camel’ to Issam receiving phone calls from the camels to check that I am still coming.  Har dee har har – always funny when it is some-ones else’s expense.  I am still nervous as hell and my knee is looking a little worse for wear.  I smothered antiseptic cream on it last night before I went to bed, and this morning I have woken to the scab all white and now soft, so not ideal for this afternoon when I hit the sand dunes – I don’t want sand getting into it.  So I have decided to keep it uncovered for the day and before we head out to the dunes, cover and bandage the sucker for the time we are out there.  And just in case I fall off the camel again, the wound is dressed.  Just in case…….

The scenery changed so much today, as we passed the highest point of the day of the Eastern High Atlas Mountains at 1960m. Rocky outcrops, passing over bridges with little or no water, tree oasis’s, mountainous terrain that looked like the Grand Canyon and then as we came down the other side of the Atlas, we found ourselves in what is the start of the Sahara Desert, which is flat and has darker sand.  13% of the Sahara Desert in Morocco is sand dunes; the rest is the flat desert that we drove through for half the day. We got some awesome photo stops along the way.  Issam is great at stopping the van, letting us all out for 10 minutes to get our photos and then back in the van again.  It helps break up the drive as well and we all get awesome shots rather than trying to shoot out the window and they are blurry or you get the tree or the only light pole for 100m in the snaps.  We have all been there and they just never work out.

We decided to stop and have a picnic lunch today.  We stopped at Errachidia to go to the local supermarket to buy our own supplies for lunch and then Issam was taking us somewhere nice to picnic.  The supermarket was like a local market, but a little upscale.  There were the fruit and veggie guys, the bakers, the general store guys and the nut guys.  Now I bought a fresh bread roll, 2 tomatoes, an onion, an 8 pack of laughing cow cheese and 100g of almonds and the grand total was 2AUD!!!!  Two dollars!!!  Once again, off the beaten track and things are SO CHEAP!  This nearly has to make the buy of the trip, well beside the 1EUR shots in Ios, that’s a pretty close second!  We then drove, after stopping for a photo opportunity, where we were looking into a valley, and instead of seeing water, it was a valley full of palm and date trees mixed in with villages.  It really looked like a river of trees with the red rock as a backdrop.  It was just an amazing view, amazing photo stop and that was where we were heading for lunch.  Once in the valley, we walked for about 5 minutes to get to a small plot of land that was well shaded, we pulled up some palm fronds for chairs and we tucked into lunch.  I was able to bust out my Swiss army knife for the tomatoes and onion and it was probably the best 2 dollar lunch I have ever had.

I haven’t mentioned the temperature today as yet, in case you hadn’t noticed.  I am not sure if we are just getting used to it, or it has something to do with us being in the van for 5 hours, but as it is still hot as an oven, it hasn’t seemed to have worried me as much today.  It was 38C when we left Errachidia, so now being in the Sahara Desert, I am sure it is a little hotter than that, so it has to be at least 40C!  Sound hot?  As we drove further in the desert, we saw some whirly winds, tumble weed and lots and lots of sand.  We finally turned off the main highway and had to drive 14km off road to get to the Auberge.  This was rough driving, as there wasn’t a road as such, just a dusty, sandy track for Abdul to follow.  At one point he had to gun it over a sand dip and we got some serious air time on the back seat, literally, air time.  He said if he had of gone any slower we would have got stuck in the sand!  It was so funny!  Another photo stop on the plains of the Sahara Desert, with the yellow sand dunes in the back ground, beautiful blue sky as a back drop and the black – orange desert made for some awesome pictures.  Temps here definitely must have been in the 40C.

We made it to the Auberge where we were to store our bags for the night and use their camels for our ride out into the desert.  As we got there a little early, Mohammad, the camel guy, didn’t want to leave till 6pm, so it would be cooler; leaving at 4pm would have been a Burke and Wills mission.  So I had some time to prepare myself and get myself into the right frame of mind to get back on the camel.  At this point I had butterflies in my stomach and was really quite nervous, with India in the back of my mind, I had to overcome this stupid fear and just get on the bloody camel.  Issam went as far as introducing me to Mohammad prior, said he’s the best in the business and that he had the best camel picked out for me – yeah I bet you say that to all the chickens!!!  In the spare time we had Dr Issam patched up my leg the best we could with the Intrepid First Aid kit.  The wound still looked manky, so we swapped it with alcohol, benadin, gauze and then finished off with a large band aid and then wrapped in a bandage.  There was no way that a bead of sand was going to penetrate that dressing.  I asked Dr Issam if he had anything for camel nerves and it was a flat no – damn.

I could see the camels over the back wall of the Auberge, and they look darker than any of the camels I am used to seeing.  I think it makes them look meaner, but let’s not judge a book by its cover.  They were saddled up, and I have to admit, with India back in the picture, those camels we rode had more of a saddle, so it was like trying to squeeze myself into a size 10 saddle, and it was uncomfortable and things poking and into you.  Besides falling off, I was so bruised from the saddle as well; it really was a bad experience.  Well these camels didn’t have saddles as such.  They had like a large cushion that wrapped around their hump, so you would now be sitting the same height at the hump.  Well that looks a hell of a lot more comfortable than India, so this put my mind at ease on this part of the journey; it was not the saddling up now, but the lurching ascent and descent that I had to survive. 

More for the fun of it than any other purpose oh and to look more the part, Issam wrapped all our scarves into turbans and we all looked so cool.  Little did we know that it would actually help us, once we had started on our hour’s journey to our desert camp for the night!  I need to mention that we heard thunder at this point and a dark cloud was starting to form, but it is a desert for goodness sakes and it was the first time it had rained this year, FIRST time!!!  And it has only rained a handful of times in the last few years – so the chances were slim right!?

So as we stood in line, waiting for Mohammad to call us forward to get us on our camels, he loaded from the last camel to the front camel.  We had a blanket that we put down on top of the cushion saddle, you jumped on and held onto a little metal handle and then the camel gets up in 3 parts, forwards, backwards and then stands.  So I waited and waited and waited and what did you know, I was the last person on the ground which meant I had the front camel.  They are all tied together by ropes and Mohammad leads them from the front camel, aka me, aka I was on the leader.  Not sure if this was to keep an eye on me, Jimi Hendrix (yes that was his real name) was the best camel for me, or Mohammad just liked me (he is only human) I had the lead camel.  I had to get a leg up from Mohammad to even swing my dodgy leg over the saddle, and I closed my eyes and held on for dear life!  The first part is the hardest, the forward lurch, as you have to try and lean back without letting go of the handle, but what do you know I made it up and DIDN’T FALL OFF!!!  The rest of the crew gave me a big cheer and we up and away.  Hot diggity dog I’m back on a camel.

So we set off, all laughing and looking forward to hitting the dunes, which only took about 10 minutes from the hotel and then we hear the sound of thunder again.  I asked Mohammed if it would rain and he said no, we are heading in the other direction to the storm.  It was at this point it started to get really windy, like really windy, and the sand started to pick up and start hitting us in the face and really shaking up the dunes.  Okay not so much laughing now, but it is all part of the experience and most of us had our turbans on so we were able to cover our nose and mouths with them to keep the sand out.  Michelle dropped her sunglasses at this stage, so the caravan had to stop and Issam jumped off to retrieve them, and then we were on our way again. Drop, drop, drop – you wouldn’t believe it starts to rain!  Apparently it is good luck for it to rain in the desert and we had timed it that we were there.  Well with the sand storm and now the rain turning from drops to a heavy downpour the camels started to freak out and this is when I hear this cry from behind ‘um excuse me, um EXCUSE ME and we turned around and it was just Mohammad and I 10m away from the rest of the group that was left standing behind us as the rope had come undone!!!  Mohammad hands me the lead rope and says hold this and then runs back to re gather the group!  What, where are you going, don’t leave me…..and he was gone. 

Meanwhile the storm, sand and rain, is in full swing and Jimi starts to freak out and turns around wondering what to do, when Mohammad came back and re-attached the group and then we decided to just stop and wait out the storms.  Jimi had turned against the wind, so I had it only hitting my back, but some of the others were face forward and were getting hammered with rain and sand.  I screamed to Mohammad how the camels like the rain and he said ‘they don’t’.  Oh… great……  Not what I want to hear when I am on the back of a camel in a rain storm……

The storm lasted around 10 minutes, but it felt longer, and as quick as it had started, it had finished and left us all wet and sandy and a little dumbfounded that it had actually rained!  We were then back on the sand (road) again.  What an experience though, it is one of those one in a life time things and all in the timing to be caught in something that would happen only a handful times a year.  We were in the desert and not only in a sand storm but also a rain storm – AWESOME.  A little scary at the time, but we were in good hands. Mohammad had given me a special name Malika, which mean Queen, and being on the camel leader, it just made sense to me!  Queen Bernie – bring it on!!!

It took us a little longer to get to camp, due to the storm delay, and I think the descent off Jimi was easier than the ascent and when my legs hit terra firma again, I was so happy, even if it was in a sandy area covered in camel dung, which for your information is the size of a date!  I made it alive and in one piece!  The camp was pretty cool.  We had 4 tents surrounding a communal area that had a table and Moroccan carpets with cushions for us to sit on.  If the weather was going to play ball, we were going to sleep outside the tents and out under the stars.  With both storms passed we thought this was going to be a likely option.  As we had a MASSIVE sand dune behind us and kids will be kids, they had a race out of the group on who would be the first to the top.  Tom went straight up, the girls went with a zig zag plan and Issam (who I am sure has done it before) walked to the start of the dune (the smallest end) and started his climb up.  It was a close race between Amy and Issam, who just pipped her at the end.  Myself, Jeff and Michelle held the fort at the bottom and credit to all; they made it to the top and spent about an hour up there, hoping to catch the sunset up there, which with the storm clouds was a non-event. 

There are 13 cats at the camp.  I am not a cat person by any means, but these cats have a job to do, keeping the desert critters at bay.  You know desert mice, snakes etc…..  So I tolerated them rubbing up against me, as I would prefer a cat than a snake any day!  They had a drop toilet at the camp, hidden in like a toilet tent.  No paper could be dropped in the squat; it had to go into a plastic bag provided, so needless to say I didn’t need to go the whole 13 hours we were out there.  I must say I do have a pretty good bladder when it comes to things like that!   

Dinner came with us on the back of some-ones camel, so it had to be prepped and cooked.  Once again all in the timing, when it was ready to be served, the wind had picked up again and clouds had blown in, hiding all the stars, so we were forced to eat in the dining tent, as there was sand blowing around and we would have been eating it with our food.  The chicken tangine was so delicious, and to have that prepared out in the desert was just amazing.  With melon for desert it was a great way to finish off what was a wonderful day.  I checked on Jimi at one point, as they were tethered out the front of camp, and he was actually sleeping.  You can tell when camels are sleeping as their necks are stretched out and resting on the ground, apparently they only sleep for 2 hours a day.  Rest up Jimi, we have an early start tomorrow back to the hotel.

Some drums appeared, and Issam showed us all how to play them with your hands.  Tom probably did the best out of all us – and the sound from them was pretty cool.  Susan went out to see how the weather was faring and as mentioned it’s all about the timing, the wind had passed and taken all the clouds with it and we had a beautiful starry sky!!  We pulled our mattresses out from our tents, gathered out blankets from the blanket box and then Mohammed, Ali and Issam, got the drums and played us some tunes for about half an hour.  Mohammad even let me have a bongo with them at one stage, showing me some simple rhythms (Demi Moore style).  They sounded AWESOME, and add that to the best day we had, looking up at the stars, and watching the satellites pass over and shooting stars – yes I saw 2 shooting stars, Amy and George saw 4 – it was a FABULOUS way to end our day. That is what I call a real life experience!!!   

Night night Jimi – thanks for being a good camel and see you in the morning xx

TODAY WE HEAD TO THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS

WEATHER: Hot and 38C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Leaving an oven and heading for the freezer (in comparison)

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not going for the village walk this afternoon – I think my knee maybe infected

BUYS OF THE DAY: Lunch at 10AUD – roadside tangines were awesome

WORD OF THE DAY:

We decided to eat at another café this morning, you know share the love and we saw this bakery not far from the hotel, so we sat in and we had a pastry each and a freshly squeezed OJ for 2AUD each again!  That included tip – again.  I’m telling you I cannot believe how cheap Morocco is!

We finally meet our bus and driver, Abdul that will be with us for the next 8 days.  The bus is awesome, the air-con works well, there is plenty of room and you can stand up in the bus without hitting your head.  This bus is going to rock.  After loading everything in, we said good-bye to Fez and start making our way into the Atlas Mountains and hopefully to some cooler temperatures, hopefully?

If we thought it was going to be a straight 5 hour drive – wrong.  We squeezed in so much today, but at least we had the comfort of the bus to retreat to each time we stopped. Our first port of call was a photo stop at a beautiful lake called Dayat Awa. There were a lot of dragonfly’s around, all electric blue, mating and flying past; it was a pretty serene spot and part of the Ifrane National Park. 

We then continued our way to a mountain village the French built in 1924 called Ifrane It looked exactly like what you would expect to see in Switzerland and the crazy thing is that this town gets snow, and I mean heavy snow each year at 1400m high, who would have thought it would snow in Morocco?

There is plenty of fresh fruit to be bought on the side of the road as we have been driving.  Issam suggested we stop for some cherries.  So we stopped at this little ‘cherry’ man and you buy them buy the weight on his old fashioned set of scales.  I think the guys paid approx. 2.50AUD for a kilo of cherry to share amongst the bus.  How CHEAP is that.  I am not a cherry eater, but hell why not try them, and I have to say they were delicious!  Apparently cherries are quite expensive back in Australia, bet you’ve never seen a kilo for 2.50AUD before!

Next on the itinerary was a monkey stop.  They are the Barbary Apes, which are the same monkeys that I saw in Gibraltar on my Spanish tour, they actually came from Morocco.  There were about 15 that I could see there, and there was a female ape with her new baby attached to her back.  They didn’t seem as interested in us at the Gibraltar Apes; they seemed less enthused, and probably more diseased.  There was a couple from another group that were going up to about 1m from one of the female monkeys and squatting down and stretching out their arm for a photo, even Issam said that was stupid, and yelled out to them accordingly, but they didn’t listen.  They are lucky that the money didn’t bite them.  Stupid Tourists.

Just off the cuff, Issam asked if we wanted to see inside a Bedouin family home, as they are dotted through the landscape as we drive.  So the next one that we saw, Issam jumped out and asked the families permission for us to come in and have a look.  He gave us the thumbs up, and we all headed over and into the tent.  They are nomads, so they spend their summers in a certain spot and then they pack up everything, load it onto donkeys and then move somewhere where it’s warm in the winter.  The tent was broken up into 2 sections; one was the cooking side of things and the other the living side.  They invited us to sit down in a circle and to ask them a few questions which Issam translated for us.  It was quite a roomy tent and 8 people lived there.  The men were out with the sheep, so only the women and 2 children were there.  It looked quite organized with their blankets all in plastic stacked against the wall, the kitchen all in order in boxes etc., there was a loom that separated the 2 quarters, where they were weaving a carpet for the coming winter and the tent cover is waterproof, should it rain at all.  It is amazing how these people live.  No internet, no TV, no fixed address – who would have though there are still people out there without at least one of these 3 things in this day and age.  It is a simple life and peaceful, but hard at the same time.

LUNCH TIME.  We stopped at a small town, but it does have a purpose of a truck stop facility.  People can get fresh food; tangines etc. in a quick amount of time and then be on their way.  We had ‘roadside’ tangines for lunch and I hoped and prayed that this food would agree with me, as we still had a few hours on the bus to go till our accommodation.  There is a system here in ordering the lunch. 1. You need to go to the meat man to buy your meat. 2. You then have to go to the BBQ man for him to cook it. 3. You need to go to the tangine man to get your veggies. 4. You need to pay the chairs and table man to sit down and 5. If you’re thirsty, you need to pay the drinks man for you drink.  5 separate business all running along side by side!  Thank-goodness for Issam and he just did all the running around for us and at the end of the meal, we gave him our cash and then we ran and paid them all individually.  The meal itself was so tasty, I would nearly say the best so far, and I am happy to report that I had no problems afterwards so the score is now Morocco 1 – Bernie 1!!!!

Our last stop before getting to the family Auberge (inn/hotel) was a visit to the Kasbah Myriem, a co-operative for the local Berber women, where they produce carpets and embroidery, which is run by Franciscan Nuns.  We got to see some of the women working with the embroidery, they were all doing table clothes, and for a 2x5m table cloth will take them approx. 2 months!  We also got to see the woman weaving the carpets before getting a chance to shop in their small shop.  I bought a few things with the knowledge that it would be going back into the community directly.  The work was beautiful.

Issam told us we were staying with a local family tonight in their inn.  So I guess we all expected to see a small 10 bedroom bed and breakfast type of set up.  Where we are tonight is just out of the town of Midelet, which is in the middle of nowhere along this dirt road.  So when we could only see one building as we bumped along the road, we guessed it had to be hours, and it was MASSIVE.  The ‘inn’ is like an old Spanish Hacienda style setup to paint you a picture.  There are small court yards throughout the whole building, beautiful glass stained windows, roses and vines all creeping around inside the building, it really has some character.  It is a little run down, but that just adds to its charm.  We all love the place and glad we got here at 3.30pm, so we could go out and explore the place.  The best spot was the roof, to get a view over the higher Atlas Mountains, as we are still at 1400m and as lunch would have it, there was a storm brewing and coming our way, so not only did the temperature drop to something pleasant, we got some great photos with the black clouds in the background.  Our bedroom here is also awesome.  There is one door, and when you walk in there is a bedroom, to the left there is another bedroom with twin beds (Susan’s room) and to the right is my bedroom with a double bed!  What a great room if you have a family or a bunch of friends. 

My knee seems to be getting infected.  The wound has now scabbed over, but it is being pretty red around the edges and is starting to feel painful (well more painful than before).  I have some antiseptic cream that I put on after we got here, and I reapplied again last night before bed, so let’s see what happens over the next few days.  Based on this I decided not to go for the village walk after the storm had hit and passed.  My leg really is hurting.

This leads me to tomorrow.  We are off to spend a night in the Sahara Desert, which I’m totally stoked about; if the weather isn’t too cold we are going to sleep under the stars rather than in the tent.  BUT, we are travelling on CAMELS for 1 hour to get access to the camp.  I didn’t even know we were doing this till I was reading my trip notes on the plane from Istanbul to Casablanca in the ‘included’ activities were a camel ride to the tents.  Well, I won’t be doing that after my Indian camel debacle, there will be a van or car going there as well with our bags or supplies (India had this option), and so I wasn’t too worried about it.  BUT (again) it is the ONLY way out there.  We take our own overnight bags, the camels carry the supplies.  There is an alternative, but it is now illegal and that is to use a quad bike, but I don’t want to go breaking any laws and Issam signed the petition that went to government to ban them, so it goes against all principle even if I wanted to give it a try.  Oh there is another option, to walk, but it literally is in sand the whole way, hot sand as Issam points out and very very difficult.  So I find myself in the position where I have to ride the DAMN camel.  It is really stressing me out – but I can only give it a shot and see what happens.  I bet I’ll be dreaming of camel tonight!

The evening finished with some local dancers and musicians coming in and performing for us.  The songs are very catchy and seem to last forever, but with another group in the hotel, everyone got up to dance with them and it looked like a heap of fun.  They also dressed most people in some local costumes and the groups looked really great.  I passed feigning a sore leg, you know me, one to shy away from attention.

Night night – look out camels – here comes scare-dy cat Bernie……..

A DAY IN THE FEZ MEDINA – WHAT A SENSORY DELIGHT

WEATHER: Hot and 37C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: The Fez Medina and lunch at a local café with a pretty cool non speaking owner – lots of kisses and handstands

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Getting the runs at a bad time – but making the toilet on time should be a highlight

BUYS OF THE DAY: Lunch at 6AUD was pretty insane for what we got 

WORD OF THE DAY: Balak balak – WATCH OUT - handy word for the medina and GUT BUSTER

Ahhhhhhhhhhh what a great sleep with AIR-CON, I know I keep harping on about this, but until you are in Morocco in 40C heat to understand just how important that little box is that blows cold air, you just can’t say a word and I can talk about what an awesome invention it is.

We went to a local little café cum dodgy shop that was recommended by Issam last night.  I ordered, well Susan did with her wonderful French, a cheese omelet and an OJ and she ordered a mint tea and a croissant for herself.  The croissant and tea came from the shop across the road, my juice from the shop on the corner and the omelet was made by him!  They must all co-op their food to get business, but good for them if it all works.  The juice was awesome and the omelet was pretty much fried to the crap and 2 laughing cow cheeses thrown on top.  It was delicious though and it was all eaten within 10 minutes as we had to be back at the hotel by 9am.  We had no idea on the price of what we ordered but when it came time to pay, get this it cost us 2.00AUD each which included the tip!!!  Isn’t that just insane!!!!!!!!!  Things are so CHEAP here.

9am departure for our day tour around Fez and the exploration of the oldest Medina in Morocco.  Our first stop was at the magnificent gates of the Royal Palace.  Then onto one of the forts that overlooks Fez, and gave us a magnificent view over the 3 sections of the city and also a bird’s eye view of Morocco’s largest Medina.  It covers a massive area, containing 10,000 streets, 350 mosques and 14,000 inhabitants still live in the twists and turns of the Medina.

Our next stop was the ceramic workshop.  One of the designers walked us through the process from start to finish the process of getting a piece of pottery to the finished product.  They need to soak the clay for a week before they can even use it, it them goes to the potter (the guy that sits on the wheel and re-enacts Demi Moore) to make the piece, which then goes to the kiln to get fired, then to the painters (these guys were amazing and a steady hand required) to then refiring again to the final piece.  What a process, Naji Art don’t use lead in their paints, they are all from natural products.  Which is good when you plan to use some of the pieces for cooking if serving food?  WE also got to see the process of mosaic tile making.  You just don’t appreciate what goes into making a single tile till you see how they are made.  All the pottery and tiles are all hand made, and these guys spend 8 hours a day making some tiles the size of a 10c piece.  Just amazing.  They need to sharpen their knife / hammers 3 times a day!  And I stress this is all done by hand!  I decided to buy some nice pieces for pottery and I’ll just post it home, so I got a set of 4 tangines to eat from, a smaller tangine for my jewellery and 2 baby tangines for my god-daughters, which I am sure they will like.

Now starts the entry into the Medina.  There were some rules that were explained to us before we entered the unknown.  As people still live here, it is a working Medina, so there are donkeys, horses and carts also sharing the same alleyways as us, so be mindful and Balak balak (watch out and move to one side) was the word of the day for us.  Always ask for permission before taking photos of the shop vendors, if you barter for something and they do agree to your price, you MUST buy the item, watch your bags, especially in crowded places and with small children, if some-one poses for a photo you will be required to pay for it – noting is for free and most importantly enjoy the ‘life experience’.

The Medina is truly an amazing experience.  The Fez Medina has been there since the 9^th century (818AD) and it is so hard to explain the sights and especially the smells associated with each section as we walked through. The fruit section was the first section and probably the busiest, as all the locals were busy buying all their groceries.  There was a lot of pushing and shoving at some points, I think their tolerance for tourists is very low, but I guess they are busy and if we are dawdling away and taking pictures, I guess maybe I would get a little pushy as well.  There were a lot of fruit and veggie I recognized and some that are only local to the area.  Lots of olives, but that is one of the main agriculture stables of Morocco.

The fish and meat section was next and I do have to mention the flies.  They weren’t everywhere, but the shop keepers had palm fronds that they were swishing around to keep the flies off their meat.  They literally hang legs of lamb off hooks at the front and then they have the other meat already cut on their bench.  As prissy as I am, I wouldn’t be buying my meat from there, but then where have my meals been coming from I wonder.  Two things that need mentioning are the snails they sell here.  The ‘snail’ guy had bags and bags of them in his shop and then 2 plastic containers of them out front for purchase.  They were also climbing his shop walls and were also on the roof.  Thank goodness I don’t eat snails.  The other thing was the ‘preserved meat’ guy.  He cooks the meat in fat and then it is also preserved in fat and then he stores them in these long plastic barrels with a glass lid.  The interesting fact is that this meat can last up to 6 years in these containers and still be edible and this is with no refrigeration – needless to say no taste test here.

Walking through the Medina is like stepping back into a living museum.  People are pretty much doing what their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.  Men walking around with live chickens in a hessian bag and eggs in the other, donkeys carrying 3m pipes, horses with chairs and tables on their backs, shops selling live chickens while the shop keepers played cards out the front.  It was amazing to feel like you had stepped back in time.  Carts were the other form of transport in the small alleyways.  They also carried everything and anything, I saw a TV getting transported for a lady, a cart full of melons, one of eggs, veggies, leather, silver plates, ceramics, animal skins, you name it these carts moved it around the Medina.  This way of life has not changed much over the centuries.

We saw the blackhand section of the Medina where the silversmiths and blacksmiths still use traditions passed onto them by family members.  Nothing is done by machine, everything is still hand made from large silver dishes, with the imprint made by a stamp the size of a 5c piece to the hammers and screwdrivers that are all still hand made from the handle to the iron blade still placed in the hot embers and banged into shape, and these guys are working in the 38C heat – they deserve a medal.  

Our last stop before lunch, yes we have had a busy day, all that before lunch, was the Tannery.  This is also something that has not changed over the centuries and it was an amazing photo opportunity for us.  We climbed 3 flights of stairs to get to the top of the leather shop and as rounded the last set of stairs, as the smell can be a little overwhelming, we were given a sprig of mint.  The view that greeted when we got to the top was awesome.  It is a classical Morocco shot of guys inside large iron tubs, coating and treating the hides in preparation for the leather making process.  These guys are literally knee to waist deep in the brown the barrels which are for the coloring of the leather and the barrels are filled with pigeon droppings which removes the hair from the skins and makes the skin softer. They then hang the treated leather to dry.  I would say there had to be at least 100 tubs and men just going about their business in and around the tubs.  What a sight!  The pictures look awesome!  The prices for the leather goods looked okay; we had people from our group buy some bags, foot stools and a leather jacket.  I wish I could have bought something, but just don’t have the need or the room at this point in time.  I did get a free leather Moroccan key ring slipper though!

 Finally lunch – Khobz Darrou Joua - we were all starving. We ate in a local restaurant located in the Medina.  It was an old house that they have turned into a restaurant.  It was a set menu for 6AUD, and we got a choice of what we had for the main.  Starters was made up of chickpea……eggplant….and an onion based dip, to put an Aussie word on it, served with bread and my main just for a change was a chicken tangine with fried potatoes.  They were all so tasty, like delicious, but at the back of my mind was where the food had come from after walking through the food section hours before.  Oh well Issam keeps telling us of the ‘Real Life Experience’ so I just sucked it up and tucked into my meal.

After lunch visited a carpet place that was housed in an old Caravan Serai (Foundouk). These buildings are amazing.  They were hotels used by travelling men when they used to ride on camels.  The downstairs area was where the camels slept and their owners slept on the levels above.  So they are quite tall buildings and quite beautiful.  The carpets were hung from the top of the railings and stacked throughout the whole building, even though I didn’t buy a carpet, it was a great experience to go inside one of these buildings.  We did get shown the spiel from one of the carpet guys, and their carpets are amazingly beautiful, and I can understand why they are so expensive, with the work that goes into them, but firstly I don’t have a home to put a rug in and secondly I don’t know what my colour scheme is, so what shade would I buy?  They did get 3 carpets from the group though – so I am sure that was a good day for them.  It was here that my stomach started to feel a little upset.  Hmmm should I go to the toilet now or wait 45 minutes till the hotel?  I’m pretty good with that stuff and decided to just wait and we headed to the silk factory.

The silk factory was the second last stop for the day thank-god.  Even though it has been a massive day, I wouldn’t take anything out for the world, but enough was just about enough.  Anyway we got show the silk factory and explained to about the 3 types of thread used, cotton, silk and wool.  They do something really cool and they each wrap a turban around all our heads to get a group photo, and after a few snaps, I went white and I had to go to the bathroom – NOW!!!!!  Our guide Hakema saw straight away that something was wrong and we made a dash back to the carpet place to use the toilet, and all I can say was we made it in the nick of time!  How bad did I feel I was using the carpet stores toilet and I didn’t even make a purchase.  I had a thumping headache (which I never get headaches) and I felt like I was going to vomit, add that to the runs and I am putting it down to either something I ate at lunch or I had a touch of heat stroke?  Either way, I felt just terrible and I couldn’t get back to the hotel quick enough.  I took some nurofen for the headache and had a sleep for 2 hours and I felt so much better.  It wasn’t from lack of drinking water, by 7pm I had consumed 3L of water and 3 soft drinks – that is how hard it is to keep up with the sweating.

I bypassed dinner tonight and decided to take it easy and pack all my stuff for our departure tomorrow to Midelt in the Atlas Mountains.  I have now separated all the stuff I won’t need and this will now stay in the bus.  Fingers crossed the bus doesn’t get broken into.  I am now thinking that I may use the Royal National in London to store some of my stuff for the 3 months that I will be in Africa.  At only 50p a day, it will only cost me like 30GBP to store it all, rather than having to take it all with me.  This idea only dawned on me today – smart thinking 99!!!

So the day ended with a touch of heat-stroke.  Morocco 1 – Bernie 0.  The trip has only just begun, so stay tuned for further scores.

MOROCCO = HOT AS AN OVEN

WEATHER: Hot and 37C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting our tour guide back

BUMMER OF THE DAY:  It is H-O-T, H-O-T, H-O-T

BUYS OF THE DAY: Camel burger – Intrepids shout

WORD OF THE DAY: Beslema – Goodbye in Moroccan Arabic

Considering just how hot it was in our room last night, thanks to an old Darwin trick I used to do as a kid when we didn’t have air-con was wet a towel and lay it on my upper body to keep me cool.  Back then at least we had a ceiling fan as well, but the wet towel last night did its trick and I slept pretty well.  We had half a day in Meknes, before we headed to Fez.  My roomie Susan headed out a little earlier than me at 8am, so I got some room time, shower, wrote my blog to get ready for internet load-age and just cruised till 9am where I was meeting Tom and Leslie to explore the city.

As you would expect these days, internet access seems accessible via café’s, it’s the Wi-Fi that I will have trouble with, which I need to upload my blogs from my computer.  They just aren’t that far advanced yet.  So I will continue to write my blog as a word doc, but you just may find I will upload a few days at a time, when I finally do get Wi-Fi, as it will be internment on this trip.  I guess it’s not a bad thing and won’t kill me right? 

Today is the first day of summer.  The summer solstice has begun.  Well I could have told you that and I rekon it started 2 days ago if you ask me!  After breakfast, Tom and I caught a petit taxi to the Granaries of Moulay Ismail and ran into Amy and Georgie, so we stuck together for the rest of our time in Meknes.  The Granaries are massive walls where the royal granary was built. Barrel vaults of the mighty vessel divided into 23 storage chambers, where the grain was stored from the Imperial City.  They were massive and petty impressive.  Adjoining the Granaries was the stables of the Imperial Palace which in its hey day had 5,000 horses!!!  Imagine that 5,000!!!!!!   

From there we walked around 25 minutes (part in the shade thank-goodness) to the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail.  Moulay Ismaïl Ibn Sharif  who reigned 1672–1727 was the second ruler of the Moroccan Alaouite dynasty. Like others of the dynasty, Ismaïl claimed to be a descendant of Muhammad through his roots to Hassan ibn Ali  

We then walked another 20 minutes to get to Place el Hedim where we were to meet the group for lunch and our CAMEL BURGER.  We walked through the Medina for about 10 minutes to get to our Camel Burger restaurant, which was a little room with a table to fit approx. 8 people at a squeeze and long benches around the table.  Welcome to Camel Burger land. 

It was at this point that 2 guys approached Issam, a few heated words were exchanged, and then he walked off with the men.  We all interpreted what we saw little differently, but to me it didn’t look good, and put it down to an altercation with which Camel Bugerman we went to?  So we all sat patiently waiting for our fearless leader to return and our burgers to be served.  With no breeze and no fan, it was a tad warm in the little room while we were waiting.  When the grill guy next door started cooking there was so much smoke coming from his fire, we thought we were going to suffocate.  It was thick black smoke and it gave us an insight into what it would be like to be in a fire, no joke, everyone except Amy and I stayed in our little sauna, it was that thick **cough cough** and watery eyes.

Out came the burgers, and I think I expected a white meat, but the patties looked just like beef, and they were flavored with herbs and spices, just as you would expect any meat patty.  Served on a fresh roll with tomato and cooked onion, they were surprisingly delicious and would happily eat one again. Mmmmmmmm camel………………. Who would have thought.

At this point there is still Issam, when then the Burger guy got a call to get us out of the Medina to meet Issam back at the square.  So we walked the 15 minutes back and waited another 30 minutes and still no Issam.  He turned up another 15 minutes later, and he had been taken to the police station!!!  As mentioned in a previous blog, Issam is not allowed to guide in Meknes at all.  That is why we did the self-tour ourselves and he just met us for lunch, because he is not allowed to take us around.  But the police here in Meknes are renowned for being a little corrupt, and they know that we meet at the square and they just waited for Issam to arrive and swooped in on him.  It is the 5^th time that they have done it, and they take him away and then charge him.  He can avoid the charge if he pays a little money, but he refuses to do it, as he has firstly done nothing wrong and secondly will not pay for bribes and contribute to a corrupt system.  He is quite adamant on this and when he came back and explained it all to us, out of the five times he has been pulled up, he has paid ZERO!!!!  Onya Issam!!!!!

We were transferred back to the hotel in 2 minivans to collect our bags, and hit the road for Fez with a few stops on the way.  One of them was the Roman Ruins of Volubilis 2 hours’ drive away.  We were told to have hats, scarves and plenty of water as the ruins are in the middle of nowhere and there was no shade for the hour that we would be at the ruins.  I cannot stress just how hot it is today.  When we left Meknes the temperature was 37C, so I know it was at least that at Volubilis.  The ancient city that stood here.  The Romans evacuated most of Morocco at the end of the 3rd century AD, but unlike some other Roman cities, Volubilis was not abandoned. However, it appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake in the late fourth century AD. It was reoccupied in the sixth century, when a small group of tombstones written in Latin shows the existence of a community that still dated its foundation by the year of the Roman province. We were out in the ruins for 90 minutes and by the end of the tour we were standing in each other’s shadows to try and keep out of the sun!  In saying all that, they were certainly an impressive ruin and definitely worth seeing, the condition of the mosaics, which are 2,000 years old was super impressive – the upside – still working on that tan!

A further 2 hours and a photo stop at the Sidi Chahed Dam near Nzalat Beni Amar, got us into the city of Fez.  We are going to be spending 2 nights here, so it will be nice to not have to pack again so soon.  We currently are travelling in 2 minivans, but come Thursday when we leave, we will all be in one bus and I will be able to leave a bag on the bus for the duration of the trip.  I really don’t need to be lugging thermals, beanies and dresses around to each hotel.  I just hope the bus won’t get broken into and all my stuff stolen, but we won’t put a jinx on that okay!?

Our hotel in Fez has AIR-CONDITIONING!!!  I would be happy to stay in a one star hotel as long as it had a bed, toilet and AIR-CONDIIONING!!!! You just need somewhere to escape the heat and our room will do just that.  We had time to pop some washing in at the Laundromat as well, we know how I feel about machine washed clothes, which is going to have to happen a lot more on this trip, as you just get so sweaty is hard to re-wear anything without at least rinsing yourself. We are all drinking around 3L a day of water and not many of us are having to go to the toilet; we are just sweating it all out and trying hard to keep up with it, as we don’t want to de-hydrate.

We splurged on dinner tonight and Issam took us to this really nice restaurant that is renowned for a Fez specialty dish called Pastillia which is chicken, onion, herbs and spices wrapped in a pastry and then sprinkled with icing sugar.  Sounds weird right.  I was a bit unsure whether to get it or not, so Lesley and I decided to go halves in the dish, so I ordered a starter of Pil pil which was basically loads of garlic and shrimps served in a tangine dish.  Issam told me to hold off on the seafood till Essaouira, which is a seaside town, but I just couldn’t pass on the garlic and ordered it anyway.  It was DELICIOUS and it was loaded with garlic, sorry Susan, you will need to out up with that smell as well now!  Then out came the Pastillia and I have to tell you this was also delicious.  It was a savory and a sweet dish all rolled into one.  I am glad that I only had half as it got a bit too sweet at end but it was really good all the same.  The total cost for this fancy dinner was 15AUD – see I told you that we had lashed out!!!  This also included tip and a drink!

Walking back to the hotel there was talk of going for a few drinks and a shisha.  I decided to pass, I was dead tired, besides being another massive day, the heat I think is starting to take its toll and I just need to rest up.

Fez has a great feel to the place.  It seems cleaner, more modern, well where we are staying anyway, as the massive city is broken up into 3 sections.  We have another massive day planned tomorrow with most of it walking around the Medina which is the oldest and largest one in Morocco and still has 14,000 people living there. Let’s hope the weather won’t be as hot as the last 2 days, but it shouldn’t matter too much being in the Medina I guess where it will be partly shaded. 

Hello from Todra Gorge

Hi everyone,

Just letting you know I havent stopped blogging, I have had no WiFi for the last 5 days but I am up todate with each day.  I was hoping to get them all loaded today off the hotels computer, but they have an older version of word and wont let me open the documents!!!!

So we have a few more days with no access and then there will be a mass upload!!!!

Morocco is an amazing counrty and the people are the friendliest I have ever met!!!  Highlight so far has been getting back on a camel, riding through the Sahara Desert and getting hit by a sand storm AND a thunder storm at the same time!!!! And for the record it hasnt rained all year in the desert; we are one of the lucky few to experience this!!!!!! This is supposed to bring good luck.

Hope this finds you well and Beslemar from Morocco

B xoxoxxoxo

COLOURS OF MOROCCO-3 Cities in One Day

WEATHER: Super-Hot and 36C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Catching an air-conditioned train from Casablanca to Rabat

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Catching a non-air-conditioned train from Rabat to Meknes

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Dinner – restaurant specialty of half a chicken with rice and fries and a coke and water $4.50

WORD OF THE DAY: Man how hot is it?

Good morning Casablanca. 

Today our final destination is Meknes later tonight.  But we had a lot to see and do before our eventual arrival at 8pm.  We had some free time this morning before heading to the train station in Casablanca, so we decided to make the most of our time and visited the 3^rd largest mosque in the world the Hassan II Mosque. 

This building was amazing and a sign of the modern times but still keeping with tradition when getting built.  The building is made of 100% Morocco materials, except 4 large chandeliers that were imported from Italy.  It stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic, and has room for 25,000 worshippers. A further 80,000 can be accommodated in the mosque's adjoining grounds for a total of 105,000 worshippers present at any given time.  Its minaret is the world's tallest at 210 m.  It only took 6 years to complete the building, with 2,500 construction workers and 10,000 artists and craftsman to build the mosque; they worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on shifts.  It has a retractable roof, (that is 4 meters in depth) so during Ramadan and other busy holy days, the roof can open to help ventilate the mosque if required.  It takes 200 cleaners to keep the mosque clean each DAY, and there are 350 speakers concealed on pillars inside the mosque for prayer call.  It is so modern, yet keeps with the tradition in which it was made for. 

I can’t believe how cheap things are here.  The petite taxis are 10 MAD (which 1 AUD is about 8.5 to their dollar) so I am just rounding up and using 10 to the 1.  So if something is 20 MAD it is $2AUD!  So the taxis are 1AUD to get around anywhere in the cities.  They officially fit 3 people and generally are 4 door Fiats.  In Casablanca they are red, in Rabat they were a dark blue and Meknes they are a light blue.  An easier way to get around town, and If there is just you, the driver will stop and pick-up other people if you are all going the same way.  They also have Grand taxi’s which are the old 1980 styled Mercedes Benz cars and officially they can fit 6 people in.  We gave it a shot going with the 6 of us to the Mosque, but it was a tight squeeze and settled for 2 x petite taxi’s coming back.  As there were 7 of us returning back to the hotel, our petite driver let us squeeze a 4^th person in his car, but if he got caught, he would be fined 400MAD.  There was only once that Tom had to crouch down as we passed some police, so we made it back okay without getting fined.

11am out train departed Casablanca.  It was an air-conditioned train that looked very similar to the Italian trains that ChelC and I caught to the port and airport when in Rome.  It was a little struggle to get on with all my bags, but I did it.  It also reminded me of my Trans Mongolian experience, negotiating exiting and entering people and getting to seats once the bags were stacked.  The journey was only an hour and had us arriving into Rabat just after lunch. 

We get to have nearly 5 hours in this city that is also the capital of Morocco.  This city has a better feel than Casablanca and I guess being a capital city it felt a bit more cosmopolitan and cleaner.  We stored our bags at a restaurant just a short walk from the train station.  We ate lunch there, which I have seem to have taken a liking to the Tangine Kefte, which is basically meatballs in a vegetable sauce and the tangine name comes from the pot it is actually cooked in.  It is delicious and for 3AUD, it is a bargain.

After lunch Imman then gave us an orientation tour of the city. He is officially not allowed to guide in the city, so he would just point out a few things on our walk and give us our bearings for when we were given our free time.  We walked for about an hour and a half, and I cannot begin to tell you how HOT this place is.  I rekon the temperature would have been in the 35C.  Not a cloud in the sky, and besides walking through the Medina for about 25 minutes, we were in full sun all day.  It reminded me of my Central America trip, when it got to 41C in Leon, Nicaragua and it was just too hot to put on sunscreen, as it just sweats off.  I knew it would be hot in Morocco, but I don’t think I expected the temperature to be this BLOODY HOT!!!

Our free time took in some of the sights including the Hassan Tower which is the minaret of an incomplete mosque.  It begun in 1195 AD, the tower was intended to be the largest minaret in the world along with the mosque, also intended to be the world's largest. In 1199, Sultan Yacoub al-Mansour died and construction on the mosque stopped. The tower only reached 44 m, about half of its intended 86 m height. The rest of the mosque was also left incomplete, with only the beginnings of several walls and 200 columns being constructed.  It was quite cool to see and a little eerie at the same time. 

The Mausoleum of Mohammed V is a historical building located on the opposite side of the Hassan Tower.  It contains tombs of the Moroccan king and his two sons, late King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah. Its construction was completed in 1971. Hassan II was buried there following his death in 1999.  You were allowed to take pictures inside no problems.  The building had 4 doors and each one was guarded by a National Guard in full regalia, and inside the building, there were another 4 guards in each corner.  A little bit of overkill?  This doesn’t include the 2 National Guards on horseback standing at both entrances and 2 guards at the front stair entrance to the building!  It was quite funny, the guard let you take pictures of them, and then they would start talking to you!  I guess we are just used to the British National Guards where they don’t really even make eye contact to these guys who were chatter boxes compared to them!

We then had to make our way back to the restaurant, which on foot, back in the blazing sun took us 30 minutes.  We got a chance to have a quick drink in the cool of the shop, before reloading our bags and heading back to the train station.  It has been a massive day so far, and we still had another train to catch at 5.15pm.  My Aussie mobile number doesn’t work in Morocco and my UK sim is out of money, so Imman and I went to a phone shop and I am now running on a Moroccan sim card for the next 2 weeks.

Our train was 30 minutes late arriving, but when we go on, it was like a European train, compartment style, no reserved seating, so a shit fight to find 11 seats, which we ended up spreading out over 2 carriages.  This was okay, I was happy for a little Bernie time, so once I got seated, after the bung fight of storing bags, it hit me that the train WAS NOT AIR-CONDITIONED!!!!  Imann did warn us that we may get an older train, which I was happy to accept thinking that the train would have open windows.  WRONG.  No air, no window, no breeze, no nothing for 2.5 HOURS!!!  I kid you not; it was 35C outside it would have been over 40C in the train.  It was sooooooo HOT.  The Moroccan lady sitting across from me looked like she was about to pass out, so it wasn’t just us ‘Westerners’ being soft.  So it really wasn’t the best journey and by the time we got into Meknes, we were all hot and bothered and needed a good shower after the day and especially the train ride from HELL we were on.  My train cabin was full of young groovy Moroccans, all dressed in their fancy shirts and fancy jeans, talking on their mobiles and each other even though they hadn’t met before.  I seriously at one point had 6 guys in my cabin and another 5 sitting and standing just outside my door all chatting and laughing with each other.  They seemed really nice and not creepy at all – new generation coming through I suppose.  For the record none of them spoke English – I did ask at one point.

Our hotel was just a short walk from the train station again, which was great, as I am now sunburned, hot and carrying a billion (well 4) bags and feeling very tired.  I do believe the heat really saps your energy and we need to make sure that we keep drinking plenty of water.  Once we got to our rooms we realized that there was no air-conditioning at all.  The room had 2 large windows and that was it.  It was like we had moved from the sauna of the train to the sauna of a hotel room.  It was so HOT in there.  No time to think about that, as we had to meet back downstairs for dinner.

Imman took us to a local restaurant, where the food is cheap, the service is lousy and the food is served pronto!  He was right on all fronts and especially about the food being SUPER cheap.  I ordered a local potato cake, the local specialty of BBQ chicken for main, with fries and rice, a bottle of coke, a bottle of water (large) and the whole thing cost me 4.50AUD!!  I kid you not; the meals were MASSIVE and wait till you see the photos. 

10.30pm and it was time for us to head back to the hotel – we were all pooped.  When we left for the hotel the temperature was 35C at 8.45pm and when we got back to the hotel at 10.30pm it had dropped to 32C, at 10.30pm AT NIGHT!!!  I told you it was hot.  I knew I would never sleep in that weather without air-con or a fan, so I wet my bath towel and went to sleep with that across my stomach and I didn’t have too much trouble sleeping through the night.  I just hoped leaving the windows wide open, with no screens, that no unwanted bugs would turn up un-expected.

What a massive day – 3 cities, 2 trains and 40C heat – Morocco, I think we need to talk about some cooler weather – but I am liking getting back into some culture and it will be HIGHLY unlikely I will be having a BIG night on this trip.  Can you imagine walking around in oppressive heat hungover?  Yeah not going to happen to this black duck.