Ourida Rabat

The last couple of days have been pretty relaxing, relatively speaking. After work yesterday, I took a nap (exciting stuff so far, right?). I never normally do that, but was so wiped out, I just had to. It was roasting hot at the hospital and that combined with my cold just drained every bit of energy. The nap worked, and fingers crossed, I am over my cold for now. In the afternoon, we had a ...

... a taxi to the Marjane, which is the Moroccan version of a Wal-Mart. We were looking for a few key supplies we couldn't find elsewhere. I don't plan on going back. The store was nice (too nice) and was much too Westernized - it is everything I am trying to get away from on this trip. Turns out all three of us felt that way. After five days, we're all like, yuck, all this stuff??? Who needs it??? Anyway, we did our shopping, and ...

... of the men are also dressed in interesting gear); I saw one woman walking with a baby swaddled to her back and two other kids in tow. Also, mopeds are everywhere and people seem to have a lot of faith in them, as they load them up and drive fast, zipping in and out of traffic. (and yes, actual mopeds that require peddling to get them going) This evening, we all just hung out getting to know one another, explored the house and ...

... was via a small narrow side street. My instinct told me that it was a bit unsafe so none of us went that way. When we all continued down the street a little bit further my instinct was telling me not to go any further. The street was filled with 20 year old guys with nothing better to do but hang out on the street. It looked as though it was getting into the dodgy part of the town so we all turned around and left the Kasbah and headed ...

... arrive in Rabat before sundown. At that point we had our first (and last) disagreement with Pat and Nick and decided to split. We caught the next train to the more relaxed city of Rabat. We found our hotel after an hour or so of broken English, head nods, and misleading sign language. The hotel was much more than we had hoped for. It was a clean, traditionally decorated hotel with a balcony that looked ...

... asked how much, $20 Euros the girl replied...Doh! First rule of travel, determine the price before hand. We managed to escape this scam with 20Dirham, or a $2 payment instead. We found the beach and were a bit surprised to see a few dozen surfers. The smell of burning garbage in the air, trash between our toes...ahh the beach life in Rabat. That night we wandered the market, almost got ripped off on buying some spices, and ate more schwarmas.

... pre dinner treat. Had some vino and watched the sunset which was lovely. We also had two new comers join the group - Murray who we've already nicknamed Muzza or the Muz Man or just Muz from South Africa 25 and Kristy from Sydney 32, which means we now have a totally full truck to Cape Town. I have a feeling that things will start getting interesting which goes along with Oliver's first comment: "The spice has arrived". Watch this space.

... because of the damn mossies. This morning we went out with Hassan Dilil (from LP book) and his boat to look at the birds. The weather was bloody horrible, but the birds were beautiful. We saw Flamingoes (in the hundreds not the thousands we were hoping for), Cormorants, Curlews, Osprey, Dillin (spelling?) 2 types of Shanks, Plover and several others that we can't remember. Having done the Twitcher thing we headed back to the campsite, picked up our ...

... laughing between different doors. And this is where you find an even more enticing veil. There is a rich architectural tradition of old houses called (Ryads), characterized by their winding stairs, labyrinths of rooms, open courtyards, lush curtains and couches and elaborate tiling. But these ryads are hidden from the casual passerby by drab, stained white walls and rusty tin coverings. A thick, carved door may be the only thing belying what lays inside. If you explore the narrow ...

... witnessed true, overwhelming joy from people whom Americans would consider have nothing. What I enjoyed so much about the desert trip last weekend was seeing the people who live in the rural parts of Morocco; in the villages, the countrysides and literally in the middle of nowhere like our camel guides. These people have little furniture, no tv and sometimes no running water or electricity. Their most prized possession is a prayer mat which they lay on ...