Casablanca 11/19/08

We just arrived back in our hotel in Casablanca after the trip from Marrakesh, and a Casablanca city tour. Tonight we have a farewell dinner, and tomorrow catch the plane to New York.

Tuesday night we had a dinner at Chez Ali that included a lot of music and a thirty horse show. The photo is Nancy and Casey at the entrance to the Dinner/show.

Yesterday we had our cooking lesson; which was wonderful, here is a photo of Casey cooking a way. We started our cooking by buying all the ingriedients at the market. Casey picked out the Chicken, which was so fresh, he was running around on the scales. We brought the breqd from the little bakery, it was right out of the oven, and still warm. We went to a Riad, a house turned into a small five room hotel. There was a sink, stoves, and six tables set up for our class of eleven. We prepared four salads; two entres (remember the chicken), and two deserts. We then sat around eating, and drinking wine (except Casey).

We have had a wonderful time!!! We will see you all soon.

Nancy, Roger, and Casey

Monday 11/17/08 Marrakesh

Happy birthday Matt!!!!

Were in Marrakesh!!!! We arrived yesterday, after a bus ride accross the Atlas Mountains. We then took a carrage ride to Yves St Laurente Garden. Today we toured Marrakesh, saw some water sellers (photo), and saw the snake charmers in the square. We will probably go shopping, and then head back to the hotel.

Photo 2

Looks like I need to load the imgines in reverse order.....

If I am successful:

The first is Casey with our local Blue Man Guide.

The second is Casey, in the red shirt, in the market souk.

The third is Casey and Nancy with our camel driver on the Sand Dune.

The fourth is Casey on his camel.

The fifth is Nancy and Roger in front of a nomads tent:

Photos 1

Attached are the first five photos, you should be able to click on them and enlarge them.

The first is Casey with the Royal Guard at King Mohammed V Mausoleum.

The second is Nancy in the Medina.

The third is Casey and Nancy with a new purchase.

The fourth is Casey dancing at the folklore show; the belly dance photo will be later.

The fifth is Casey feeding some stray dogs we stopped to feed.

Elections

Kathy asked about the elections, and the reaction. Everywhere we go, we are greeted with "Obama". It has almost become a way of greeting Americans.

The people are very friendly. You get overwhelmed with the sales people, but the average Moroccan is very kind, and they have a great sense of humor.

Fridqy 11/14/08

Today was a long bus ride from Erfoud to Ourzazate. We visited the narrow gorge of Todra, and along the valley of a thousand kasbahs. We were very tired of the bus by the time we got in, and called it an early night.

Thursday 11/17/08

We took a day trip to Rissani, and you get a real feel of the desert. Most of the desert is rocky. There are only a few scattered houses.

We took the optional trip into the desert in four wheeled drive vehicles in the late afternoon. Once we arrived at our destination, we boarded canels, and rode into some of the highest sand dunes in Morocco. A number of movies have been made here; including the Mummy 1 and 2. We watched the sun go down; then rode back to the jeeps four the cross country drive in the dark. It was a great day.

Wednesday 11/12/08

Today we drove over the Middles Atlas mountains. We were on a narrow road, and hqve left the cities behind.

Our first stop was Iefane, clearly a tourist town, that looks somewhat like a swiss vilage. There was snow in the mountains;and we started to see a lot of the country people. Once we crossed the mountains, we started to be in the Sahara desert. We were following a water source, a river, so there were sheep and goat hurders. There were scattered small mud brick houses? qnd if we stopped; the kids would run up and try to sell us something.

We passed quite a few kasbahs, the fortified towns and houses. We aere cleqrly in a very different area then the rich land along the coast. This are has small towns? arid land, and scattered houses.

We arrived in Erfoud at dusk, and the city, just a small town, was alive with bicycles, but few vehicles.

Tuesday 10/11/08

We spent the day in Fez.

A tour of the old Medina was one of the highlights of the day. You walk down through narrow streets, maybe six to eight feet wide. There are no motorized vehicles, just foot traffic and donkees. We were accompanied by people trying to sell us things the whole route. At one narrow point Casey was slimed by a donkey carrying some kind of hides that brushed against him.

The other highlight of the day was a forklore dinner; that included music, dancers, a magician, and a wedding ceremony. We have have great photos of Casey with the belly dancer....

Monday 11/10/08 Casablanca to Fez

Today we drove from Casablanca to Fez, via the imperial cities of Rabat and Meknes. These cities were the capitals of Morocco during various kings. The road was a divided limited access highway, through rich farm land along the coast.

In Rabat we saw the outside of the Palace of the current King; as well as the remains of the Hassan Mosque where construction started in 1199. The mosque was never finished due to the death of the King; and most of what had been built was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755. We also saw the Oudaia Kasbah, which was constructed in about 1200. A kasbah is a house; section of a town; or town; sorrounded by a high wall for protection.

In Meknes we saw the kings granery and stables. The king who lived here had 12,000 horses in the stables; not to mention his 500 wives and 500 concubines. We toured the old part of the city, called the medina, which has changed little. Then we drove on to Fez.

All of these cities are very modern and busy, except the old sections.

Sorry

We are sorry we have been out of touch for so long. Both our hotel in Fez and in Erfoud were a long way from a cyber cafe. The one in Fez, had a very expensive one in the hotel, and the one in Erfound did not have internet. But we are back, and will try to catch you up as much as possible. The keyboard still places the a and m in strange locations, and you have to shift to get the period, so we apologize that there may be more typos then normal. We were going to send pictures; but we think we need to concentrate on text today, to catch you up on our adventures.

Sun November 9th Casablanca

This could be a rough post; we are working with an Arabic/french keyboard and lanquages, neither of which do we understand.

We arrived about 7:15am; via our Royal Air Moroc Flight. It took quite a while to get our group rounded up and to the hotel. Then we had to wait until noon for our room. It is a wonderful hotel; the Royal Mansour Meridian.

We, Casey, Roger, and Nancy, then walked through the Old Medina, the old town, to Ricks Cafe. An American Ex Pat started it four years ago. We had a wonderful lunch, including a Moroccan Salad and a Tangine, a kind of stew, in this case a beef stew, that you could cut with a fork. We are on our way back to the hotel; for a brief nap, before, meeting our 33 other traveling companions for our initial briefing and dinner.

We have to go now; as the A and W on this keyboard are in different places; and we get about two words down, before we have to go back and correct something. The weather is sunny a wonderful.

Nancy, Casey, and Roger