Hotel East West Casablanca

... too long there, and Tommy and I actually got to talking to a Moroccan guy while we were waiting outside for our group to re-meet. He asked if we were Americans and then told us how he was from Casablanca and had done things with Semester at Sea groups before. So that was pretty cool. Our next stop was at the souks, which are the little stores that you guys are probably picturing that countries like that are famous for. First we went as a group to a ...

... to have our last dinner in Morocco and the great things happened here, there is a cultural performence performed by all the etchnics in Morroco.. really impressing me..Besides to see the culture and the lifestyle, about shopping..ermm...to me,it is excellent, people can bargain to get the good price in bazaar...;) it's fun....

... soapbox, and sometimes like a therapy session, but hopefully it mostly feels like second grade Show-n-Tell (in a good way). and bearing in mind, that when i write, i tend to take on the voice of a 2nd grader with ADD, who has just discovered the magic of Pixie Stix, i will try to include moments to take a "that milk tasted really, really good, but i forgot to breath" gasp. If you're finding yourself getting a bit anxious, these are great ...

... again, haha. Plus, they were not kept very well either and I actually felt bad about riding them. It was the craziest and funniest hour of my life though. I will always be able to say now that I rode a camel in the rain with some interesting details that if you really want to know them, feel free to ask me some other time!! After the traumatic camel experience, we headed into the Atlas Mountains. They were amazing. We passed numerous Berber villages and kept climbing ...

... 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 ...

... More and more I think that people around the world want to get along, and we would if the political leaders would stay out of the way and quit tussling for power. We had lunch together, and most people had "tagines," which is a steamed dish with meat and vegetables, or couscous (which is what I had). The meats available were chicken, beef, lamb, and pigeon, and the menu was in French and Arabic. I was able to work out the French and help my compadres. I knew ...

... annehmen wollte. Also gegen wohl horrende Gebuehren mit der EC-Karte 500 Dirham abgehoben und in drei Etappen ins moderne Viertel Maarif gefahren: Erst mit dem Zug zum Hauptbahnhof, dann mit dem Taxi ins Stadtzentrum und schliesslich zu Fuss zum McDonald's. Die Strassen waren zu diesem Zeitpunkt wie ausgestorben, da wir nach wie vor Ramadan haben und sich die Leute um 18 Uhr die Baeuche vollgeschlagen haben. Waehrend der Dreiviertelstunde sind nicht mehr als zehn Autos an ...

... into Casablanca 25 minutes away. We had no idea were we were so we saw a Novotel hotel and walked in pretending to be guests and asked for a map of the city. They also organised a taxi for us to the markets. Casablanca is a unusual mixture of old and modern, strict dress and relaxed. It has a great vibe with people everywhere. Cool city. We finally met the Glovers at the station with a mixture of joy and relief that we had finally managed to connect. We then went to ...

... two hanging mezzanines where women are permitted to pray, and an additional 80,000 in the courtyard. Imagine, almost the entire population of ...

... moved there to relieve pressure on the rapidly overflowing arrivals hall upstairs. Hours passed during which countless flights were cancelled. Suddenly we became aware of a number of armed police surrounding the area. The reason for this became clear as the flight to Algiers was cancelled and there would be no further flights there until after the Christmas period. The passengers were asked to leave the airport immediately. A tense period ...