La Maison Bleue Fes

From Casablanca we all caught the early train back to Rabat to find out that the visas for Mauritania had not arrived yet. At first we were advised they would be ready by 11am, then midday. By mid afternoon the visas had not arrived so the decision was made to head off out of the capital without our passports and visas, we will pick them up in couple of days. The destination was a bush camp near the old Roman ruins of Volubilis.


It was my cook groups turn at cooking ...

Just the day we could sleep in. We woke again before 7am. Downstairs for breakfast, then up to pack. Checked out at 9am, then caught petit taxis to the medina for a guided tour. Met our guide for the morning Yousef. We walked around inside the walled area, visited a mosque, then through the markets into the square where we stopped at a cafe for the mint tea we are all becoming addicted to (not sure that the amount of sugar they add to it is good for us though). We went back after that to ...

... porno s pjeris radio next lolo ferrari seks znakomstva rjazan ...

... gonwik seks sh*hzod* seks shub* piterskij seks gorod zelenodol ...

... that, in fact, most dyes these days are chemical based and are very damaging to the workers health.  Although it was amazing to view the colourful vats of the tanneries, with the sprawling medina behind, it was an uncomfortably voyeuristic experience to be a camera toting tourist looking down from our balcony on these obviously impoverished young men up to their knees in vats of deadly chemicals. We extracted ourselves from the leather shop ...

... be alone with us. Aziz would sit and stare at me and was attempting to talk to me in Arabic all the time. I would respond by ignoring him but he never gave up. Moroccan men are known for their persistence. He would tell me all the English words he knew and kept asking if i would like a massage and telling me what to do. We could feel that the sleaze factor was escalating but were enjoying the desert time nonetheless. Finally late in the afternoon we packed up camp ...

... building sites and a McDonald's that did not open until 10:00 am. When I finally caught the train to Fes, I was surprised at how green and fertile the northern part of Morocco is. It probably explains the richness of their cuisine. Five hours later I arrived in Fes. It was raining again so I took a taxi to the Youth Hostel. I asked three taxi drivers to take me there but none of them could understand my map. The forth looked confused but he took me any how. At ...

... positive. Because of this fear though, I knew it would be worth it. That;s just how things seem to work. Fear tends to be proportional with reward. In all ways I was right. There were about 50 of us in total. We went to Fez, Rabat and the amazing Sahara Desert. The trip was long because it takes many many hours in the bus to get to the Sahara. This is why it's great though because it is so vast, secluded, DESERTED :) It was great. The second night we ...

... to avoid was the dyed, wet, putrid hides from the tanneries. Our guide referred to this load as "Donkey Chanel No.5" but assured us we did not want anything to do with this perfume! The souqs are divided into different specialty areas: the wedding souq, the lampmaker's souq, the butcher's souq...how can I not describe the butcher's souq? Skinned cow head, pig brain, cow gonads, unrecognizable delights, live, partially alive and recently departed. Not a place for vegetarians ...

... on our own and we split into small groups to go shopping. We were interested in buying leather goods but a 'helpful' local who showed us the way to the leather shops - turned out to be a tout looking for commission off what we buy. We finally got rid of him, and made sure we told the shop keepers that we weren't with him. Got a good deal on a leather duffel last minute helped by Richard - they bought something similar, and we found a larger bag same ...