lub Salam Hotel Erfoud

I have so many good memories: Staying at this crazy hotel, drinking Moroccan red wine in a phony Amazigh tent, while the static made Federica's hair stand on end. Watching the sunset atop the highest dune in Morocco, chatting with Max and then talking God and other things of equal importance with Kyle while watching the ...

... poor some mint tea and you sit with the seller and talk about the rugs. The the back and forth begins. Josh and I stayed out of it, and watched Kim do her thing. She was great, and got a great rug for herself as well! From Fes, we headed south to the Sahara. Hot does not describe the weather here. We showed up at 4:30 in the morning and went straight to bed. We stayed in a restored kasbah (castle) right along ...

... baking, gritty and tiring. We all enjoyed our 3 day tour... but 3 days is very much enough. Our first day of touring ended in a tranquil hotel settled amidst a gorge that at least made for a few hours of tranquility after a day of shock and awe. The second day was by far our best, and saw all concerns over the wisdom of our tour purchase decision easily assuaged. Our first stop was at Todra Gorge amongst a rock formation that seems barely possible - one giant ...

We have been having some political problems here at the Fondouk. The Moroccan government will not recognize Dr. Frappier as a veterinarian who can practice in Morocco. Because Moroccan vets must take an extra exam to practice in Canada and the USA, but Canadian and USA vets don't have to do anything to practice here in Morocco, the Moroccan government wants it to be equal. For some reason, that I have not been able to figure out yet ...

... that you can twist the throttle and leave the annoyances behind - a far cry from the backpacking days, when touts clung to your backpack like barnacles until you scrape them off at the hotel of their choosing. Park the bikes, check into our Pension and then its time to immerse ourselves in the famed medina. If you haven't been there, think of the best bits of the Indiana Jones market scenes and stretch them all out to cover about 300 football fields ...

... the boys were there to pull me across. At end of the walk Megan fell in, and I came very very close, needed two boys to catch me!! Walked through several villages, bit of a power walking tour, local guide was half mountain goat, and the rest were nearly running to keep up. We kept our own pace and made sure we stopped to take pictures. I would have liked to spend more time in the villages, all mud brick with no electricity for the most part - local kids ...

... who thought he could get us a two day camel trek for 500dirhams, but when we talked to his brother the price went up to 800dirhams. We bartered a bit and got it back down to 550, but the guy didnt seem too happy about it. The trek was great, the desert dunes were amazing and riding a camel is an experiance unto itself; watching the stars at night is something i will never forget, if not for the sight of an unblemished sky then for the hilarious stories that the guys tol

... what would happen next. They chased after us and agreed to a lower price (first the bosses' son and then the boss himself), but by then we thought they were dishonest and told them so and apologized for wasting their time. There's a few places out there albeit a fair distance is between them, but we were approached by more men after we hadn't walked far. They agreed almost to our price. They drove us to a nearby village to stay with a family till the evening when the camels would ...

... and make for fantastic pictures. The camels are ready for us and as the get down on their knees to help us get up, the middle camel puts up quite the fuss! He makes the funniest noises and starts to bare his teeth. He just seems very upset with the state of affairs. I have to get on the camel in front of him - they are all attached together so they don't wander off. It makes me a bit nervous to get on the camel enough though without the one behind ...