Friday 25 October 2013
The Brotherhood of the Goat.....
Yes the goats are in the trees. They eat the thorny Argon plant and nuts and spit the nuts on the ground.
One of several storks in Marrakech
Sleeping beauty at the Kasbah
Donkey at the Kasbah
Sweetie loves Sprite!
In the Sahara
A visitor by our feet at lunch!!
This is 'Prune'!! He was gorgeous. He understood French only but will come to a whistle or the promise of a good scrub!
New friend in Essaouira!
Reflections
During one of his concerts Harry Chapin said of Watertown New York, he spent a week there one afternoon. I always took this to mean time dragged. This trip was completely the opposite - 2 weeks tripping around in North Africa was like a month of adventure and somewhat unreal. While life carried on at home, I learned about a centuries old country and it's people. The desert heat will carry on but at home we're headed for snow.
I'm so glad I did the trip. I saw things I didn't think I would ever see and met wonderful traveling companions. I'll definitely do something like this again!
There are too many things to record in a blog but the following snippets will stay with me:
-This was a very diverse group (10 travelers and guide) with way more travel experience than me.
-Our fluent languages:
Spanish
English
French
Arabic
Dutch
Cantonese
Tamil
Mandarin
Portugese
German
-Our 'get-by' languages:
Swahili
Malay
Japanese
Italian
Turkish
-I also found for our multi-fluent friends, mixing chinese, spanish and english often makes more sense when the right word can't be found in either language.
- Pink soap and matching toilet paper definitely do not mean soft. When the soap doesn't feel like its getting wet, let alone lather, then the toilet paper does not bode well.
- Bridesmaid dress coloured table cloths are very popular.
- Disco on the bus - complete with multi-coloured lights flashing- was fantastic! Khaled's "On va s'aimer, On va dancer, We c'est la vie, La la la la la" is perfect for travelling!
- Peter, our bank manager for tipping and taking care of group water purchases, did a wonderful job.
- Exodus Tours had a group of people who cycled 80 km on Oct 21 in an exceptionally mountainous area. Pictures attached. This was the company I cycled with in France - biggest hill there was the one leading up to a winery. Way more motivation to make it!
- Wow! We drank 18 1.5 L of water everyday until Tuesday when we hit the coast and cooler (everything is relevant) weather.
- Walking barefoot in the Sahara sand was very cool in so many ways and, just like at our beaches, the top is hot and underneath a few inches, it's cool on the toes.
- Mohamed did his best to give us language lessons on the bus. I forgot almost everyday!
- Africa - America!! Rashid's challenge to Peter at every opportunity. Pushups on the side of a highway was a hoot! Picture attached
- Tagine is a great meal except for the version with potatoes and carrots which we had constantly for a number of days.
- Tagine is the best word for getting people to smile for a camera shot
There are too many things to record in a blog but the following snippets will stay with me:
-This was a very diverse group (10 travelers and guide) with way more travel experience than me.
-Our fluent languages:
Spanish
English
French
Arabic
Dutch
Cantonese
Tamil
Mandarin
Portugese
German
-Our 'get-by' languages:
Swahili
Malay
Japanese
Italian
Turkish
-I also found for our multi-fluent friends, mixing chinese, spanish and english often makes more sense when the right word can't be found in either language.
- Pink soap and matching toilet paper definitely do not mean soft. When the soap doesn't feel like its getting wet, let alone lather, then the toilet paper does not bode well.
- Bridesmaid dress coloured table cloths are very popular.
- Disco on the bus - complete with multi-coloured lights flashing- was fantastic! Khaled's "On va s'aimer, On va dancer, We c'est la vie, La la la la la" is perfect for travelling!
- Peter, our bank manager for tipping and taking care of group water purchases, did a wonderful job.
- Exodus Tours had a group of people who cycled 80 km on Oct 21 in an exceptionally mountainous area. Pictures attached. This was the company I cycled with in France - biggest hill there was the one leading up to a winery. Way more motivation to make it!
- Wow! We drank 18 1.5 L of water everyday until Tuesday when we hit the coast and cooler (everything is relevant) weather.
- Walking barefoot in the Sahara sand was very cool in so many ways and, just like at our beaches, the top is hot and underneath a few inches, it's cool on the toes.
- Mohamed did his best to give us language lessons on the bus. I forgot almost everyday!
- Africa - America!! Rashid's challenge to Peter at every opportunity. Pushups on the side of a highway was a hoot! Picture attached
- Tagine is a great meal except for the version with potatoes and carrots which we had constantly for a number of days.
- Tagine is the best word for getting people to smile for a camera shot
- Biggest worry at some rural stops (breaks) in days travel was not falling into the toilet! Picture attached
- Getting goosed by agoat herder wasn't what I had in mind when I booked this trip! Picture attached
-Friends are great on the road. Traveling with Shirene was perfect! Picture attached.
The Road to Morocco...
.....often seemed to be the road less travelled. From 4-lane blacktop to moonscape here's a sample of bus window pictures and a map to try and follow the journey.
Food Glorious Food!
There's no doubt about it - if we went hungry, it's because we chose not to eat. We took pictures of everything. The following is a selection. The seafood platter was approximately $20 and was supposed to serve one person! The chocolate cake wasn't shared - obviously!!
Thursday 24 October 2013
There and Back Again....
....to borrow a line from Tolkien.
Short blog for today. An uneventful 3 hour drive brought us back to the beginning of our journey in Marrakech. There were two final short tours if we so choose. I choose to window shop the new fashions coming out of Europe (Marrakech is quite cosmopolitan). Prices at places like Zara and Mango were unbelievably inexpensive compared to Canada for the same clothes!
This was Rashid's last day with us as his wedding is tomorrow. A group picture and gifts were our way of sending him off in style. He is a super person. Everyday big greetings and some funny sayings. A very kind and lovely man!
Short blog for today. An uneventful 3 hour drive brought us back to the beginning of our journey in Marrakech. There were two final short tours if we so choose. I choose to window shop the new fashions coming out of Europe (Marrakech is quite cosmopolitan). Prices at places like Zara and Mango were unbelievably inexpensive compared to Canada for the same clothes!
This was Rashid's last day with us as his wedding is tomorrow. A group picture and gifts were our way of sending him off in style. He is a super person. Everyday big greetings and some funny sayings. A very kind and lovely man!
Supper included belly dancing and traditional music in a restaurant that once was the governor's home (many, many years ago) - another lovely evening but bittersweet as this is the end of us as a group. The first airplane departure leaves tomorrow morning heading to Hong Kong via Casablanca and Dubai.
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