Le Pietri Hotel Rabat

... give instructions in Arabic and French, and well over half the class didn't speak French, so we would just be lost. The classes were just below my level, and it was frustrating. Every day, at 1030, we have a tea break, for the traditional Moroccan mint tea with LOTS of sugar. Class ends between 1245 and 1:00, and that's when we have lunch. Lunch is good. It is always traditional Moroccan food, like ...

... He showed me how to pronounce words in Arabic, and then I helped him pronounce the same word in English. I received kisses on the cheeks from a few of the kids (the European greeting) and it was really sweet - another new experience. They seem to be trusting us more and getting comfortable. I think we're getting more comfortable with them too. I hope tomorrow goes as well. Tonight, Olivia paid me a huge compliment and I'm ...

... the right one. That put us at the absolute end of the line. Then we waited two more hours in another line to go through a medical review that was required for all US and Canadian citizens. We went into a small office one by one, met with a doctor (I assume he was a doctor - he was wearing a white coat), and he wrote down our names, passport numbers, local address we'll be staying at in Rabat, and then told us if we come down with ...

... is defintely worth the visit, I didn't go in but others that did said it was very interesting and beautiful. Went back to Rabat and celebrated Kirsten's 22nd birthday, the first birthday party of the trans. 20th - Still no Mauritania visa so we're heading off to see the Volubilis Roman Ruins north of Meknes. Leaving our 2nd home in Rabat, and Morocco, the Marjane.

... late afternoon in the Capital and Gary did a quick run to the Mali Embassy to obtain all the application forms for the when they were filled out he made it to the embassy and back just in time for the visas to be obtained. Mali visas obtained. The following day we were back to attempt to get Mauritanian Visas. The night was spent celebrating St Patrick's day: Complete with face paint and an Irish flag



The main meeting ...

... while another offered us oranges, everyone was helpful with bags, and for the first time in 4.5 months of travel the person behind the ticket window was smiling, very helpful, and had fun telling us a few jokes...we were really starting to like Morocco. Our ticket south was an easy to handle $10, the trains were really nice and 5 hours later we arrived in the Capital city of Rabat. We walked to our hotel and then ventured out to get some ...

... lunch at traditional Moroccan restaurant. Totally yummy and discovered by the need of wanting to sit on a roof terrace. Good choice indeed. Met back with the rest of the group to get cook group supplies before catching sight of our tonka truck towering above the rest of the traffic. Climbing on board we wait with anticipation to discover where the rest of our stay in Rabat will be... the luxury of a hotel or grime of a campsite ...

29th September 2008 Hotel Ibtissama, Mehdiya Plage Cool and wet We left Asilah in glorious sunshine and headed south towards Larache, There was quite a nice stretch of road where the scenery was quite nice, through some wooded areas, but all in all it's a bit samey. We arrived in Larache at lunchtime having only cycled some 50kms and headed straight for Pension Amal, from good ole Loney Planet and it was everything they said it would be. We managed to get ...

... then at the expansive cemetery that covers the coastline with graves from seemingly every century, then at the machines, temporary walls and debris of a massive development project stretching for miles along the coast and down the river, then at the crowded stories of Rabat's well-established business life, then, finally, at the Kasbah and Medina walls, whose reddish hue, winding asymmetries and signs of time passed demand distinction from the environment around them. (Though they ...

... like mess, and I am left unable to communicate in any language. I find myself muttering yet another language (Ndanka, ndanka: slowly, slowly) very often, just to remind myself not to get too overwhelmed. But in general, Morocco has been absolutely amazing so far. I've gotten the chance to explore some of the souks and key monuments and historical areas in Rabat so far: from the royal palace to an old Roman city, to an unfinished mosque from centuries ago. I can already see ...