Le Gallia Marrakech

Confirming my ever-strong belief in fate and allworking out eventually, we ended up in Morocco right on time for the 2009 Marrakech Film Festival! As film fanatics, we hot-well, actually cold-footed it-from freezing cold Casa to Marrakech making it just in time for films galore...

Getting back to the Western world is weird after adventures in African countries like Mali and Senegal as it seems so different yet only a drive-or even briefer flight ...

091201.


Efter att ha tillbringat natten på en kall flygplats i Barcelona var det otroligt skönt att igår eftermiddag äntligen komma fram till Marrakesh och få vila hela eftermiddagen på vårt toppenmysiga riad (typ hotell) "Marhaba”. Mot våra förväntningar var Marrakesh kallt och regnigt, så vi fick plocka fram elementet i rummet och dra på oss långkalsongerna.

Idag är det fint soligt väder och vi ...

... and left to have your own adventure. Side trips can be taken but they aren’t always organized by the driver. The road conditions vary from paved, dirt, mud, and everything in the middle. Sometimes you wonder how it is physically possible to make it through the narrow passengers that our driver navigates or the streets full of people and parked cars. It puts Austin Powers to shame. But there is really no other way to see Africa, at least for me.

Marrakech is most definitely my favorite city thus far. I hate to say it is also one of the most touristy places we have visited thus far. I wonder if maybe I just found it comforting to see people in shorts and tank tops again. We stayed in a camp site full of the usual wild cats but with a twist, we had about a dozen Peacocks. Simply stunning. Happy were we to find the campsite equipped with hot water and western toilets, but I do believe that the Spanish may have had their ...

... getting out of the buses was play soccer with the kids, of course! I have now played soccer in both a dry river bed with the kids in Yorkin, Costa Rica and in an empty lot (later used for community prayer) with the kids in Amzmiz, Morocco. It really is the game that ties the world together...so I should probably get better at it haha! From the game, the group divided into homestays. I volunteered to go with the first homestay, and I was thankful for the rest of the weekend that I did ...

... incredible sights, sounds, and smells (actually, a few of the smells were fairly un-incredible). You may have noticed one thing missing from the day so far… and that is no beer yet! Yes, it’s true – we have not yet consumed any beer while in Morocco (actually, no, untrue – Murray did have a bottle of Moroccan beer (called Flag) last night, from the hotel bar), but we’re heading out to dinner soon (at Le Caspien, a recommendation from an ...

... to tempt our tastebuds. You can fill up well for AU$5. The onion flat bread cooked up by all the little ladies on the street just before Ramadan break fast has been our pre-dinner snack everyday and for 3 dirham each piece you can't go wrong. There is a really cool mint tea guy who is always smiling and serves fresh mint tea from giant brass kettles. Two nights we have bought dinner for beggars and also ice-creams for the kids selling tissues. One of the ...