Al Mounia Casablanca

After an unusual expedition aaaall the way down from the dizzying heights of our hike, we hopped on a sleeper to Fez from Marrakech. We killed a couple of hours around the city and even saw someone i havent seen in ages, none other than Leanne´s big sister. Small and strange world! The sleeper was squashed and Stu was stuck behind a highly amusing man who insisted on reclining ...

... excellent English and was extremely friendly. Soon we were all chatting away, with him translating for some of the other people in the cabin. It's so nice to just talk to regular people, and not the ones who are trying to squeeze some dirhams out of the tourists.

Upon arrival in Casablanca I decided that the horror stories I had heard about it were greatly exaggerated. It looked exactly like what I would expect a big African city to look like. Sure, it was a bit dirty, but ...

... people have better access to water! We had a great (and busy) day, but what I will remember most is thinking about how we take so much for granted in our country - running water, electricity, enough food, etc. It was very humbling. I'm also amazed how Rotary does so many wonderful things all over the world, yet many people have no idea. Our hosts have been just terrific. They are so gracious and so kind, and we all keep joking that we're not coming home (just kidding mom!). :)

... us to this Ibis we are staying at. We're going to rest for a little while and then they will meet us in the hotel at 4:30. We know we are here tonight for sure, but not sure where we'll be tomorrow. I'm pretty tired, and my legs are shaking as I write this. Not sure if it's from fatigue, culture shock, hunger, etc. I definitely need a short nap, as well as a shower. I look and feel as if I haven't showered in about 10 days. :) Au revoire for now! :)

... so slimy, and lots of ancient winding streets to connect it all. Some interesting observations: Moroccan men love their coffee, tea, and people watching. In cafe's all chairs are faced to the street and everyone sits facing one direction as if at a theatre with the street as the stage. Every street has a cafe and they are always busy. With giving to the poor a ...

... liquour was free). So the 1 1/2 hour delay in conjunction with the Advil pills helped us get some sort of semi-rest, but we were still exhausted when we arrived. My bag came out fairly promptly, so I told the guys I would go take money out from the ATM for the cab ride while they got their bags. Taking money out was a matter of moments, but waiting for them to get their bags was interminable, not good considering how tired we were. Eventually, they ...

... into us later on and asked if i liked bread (yes); do i want to eat bread (no); do i want a coffee (no); and do i want to see nymphora (whatever that is). We are now hiding in an internet cafe; badly typing on a moroccan/french keyboard and failing. If anyone can tell us how to get an "at" symbol; that would be really helpful :)

... back the latest). Interestingly, on the way back we saw them loading a phosphate ship which is apparently a large product of this area. Back on the ship we showered, dressed, dined, and went to a movie. We decided to skip the casual portrait sittings as we were not interested in them. The movie was "The Bucket List" which was good but sad and then went to our room to bed as we were really tired. We were looking forward to resting on the 2 sea days that followed.

... the desert, we were incredibly fortunate to come across a rare Wookie den. After much coaxing and cajoling ...

... bizzare... Thursday we had a day-long tour of Fez with our guide Abdullah... from the tile and mosaics factory, to the jewish quarter, to the medina. 'Balak' was the word of the day... meaning get out of the way, im coming thru with a donkey loaded up with cargo. The medina was amazing... a maze with metalworks sections, textiles, food, knife sharpening sections, leather tanneries.. and by the end of the day we still didn't feel like we'd seen it all. But i did ...