Riad Hotel Assia 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 ...

... som glider runt i en slags rockar med stor luva som kallas jellaba. Allra finast är de män som matchar denna med en fez på huvudet, men solglajjer är också en poppis acessoar. Det har varit otroligt mycket intryck under dagen så nu vilar vi med en kopp marockanskt te på terrassen och laddar för att ikväll gå ner till det stora torget, Djemaa el-Fna, som är stället där allt händer kvällstid.

Lite senare. Mätta och ...

... significantly cheaper and their Trans went quite a bit further. We have run into the Oasis truck on numerous occasions and yes it is much nicer with coach seats and a better sound system but I'd rather sacrifice such things to be able to do more on my trip. I mean over $1000 in savings can go quite a long ways in side trips like rafting and shark diving. I would advise if you are choosing an overlanding trip that if you need the extra comfort to go with ...

... hut. By the way, Pizza hut is an incredibly posh restaurant in Morocco so it seems with proper wait staff and an extensive menu. I don’t think I’ve ever had pizza hut that tasted that good!

That night it rained, and I mean RAINED. Everyone who had been out all day in the city returned to the campsite completely drenched while those of us who stayed ran around trying to make sure there were rain covers on all the tents and all the electronics were in dry areas. No ...

... only married to Nassima's brother last year. "I'm a new one!" she told me, smiling. We talked about marriage, and she said it is totally awesome, and she's completely in love with her husband. She said that they were family friends and didn't know each other very well before getting married. It wasn't an arranged marriage, but she told me that love comes after marriage, and then it keeps coming. I loved that! We also talked about babies, and how much we both want them, which I thought ...

... of a walking path up to the mountains. While we thought the hike along the Cinque Terre was a bit on the dangerous side, it was like walking down a suburban sidewalk compared to the path we were on now. I use the word 'path' loosely considering it was really a mixture of dirt clearings, rocky climbs that involved pulling each other up, hopping stones to cross creeks and rickety bridges across white rapids. (And I use the word ‘bridge’ loosely as they were really two ...

... to spin it. That's pretty awesome - to keep it at a consistent speed and to keep it going, it was really cool to see. He used his hands the same way as we do in the states and used a thread to cut it off the wheel. The coolest thing, actually was when he created the tajine. The tajine (a dish that they cook their Moroccan specialty in) has two parts, the top fits in the bottom - so, you have to make sure it's created ...

... that was going to be habitable. At times our path was blocked by donkeys, people and bikes or, by all three. All of the women were fully covered causing extra concern for me about my wardrobe, especially in this heat. There were masses of people walking and surrounding our car, making friendly taps on the front and rear. I did keep turning around to make sure that our boot was still loaded with our bags though. We finally ...