Morocco - Part 1

Our first evening in Morocco.  Well, that is a story!

Jacob wrote a short essay about it, which I think captures the essence of the adventure. 

"As we are picked up at the airport by a dusty non-English speaking Moroccan dude, I settle into my van seat, and prepare for a new experience. As we enter the streets of Marrakech, Morocco, I peer out my dirt tinted window, and spot shaggy donkeys with trash heaped 3 feet high on top of them, hauling the town's waste who knows where, and children working at forges and blacksmithing by the roadside. I ponder what everyday life would be like in a third world country.

After the sun has set, a waiter from a restaurant leads us for 15 minutes through winding, narrow alleyways, and seats us at an inside table decorated with rose petals. As our meal arrives, we enjoy the exotic Moroccan salads and music, while a belly dancer comes around to each table and performs a slightly suggestive dance. My brother turns away in horror. We laugh at him good-naturedly.
After our meal, we are guided back to the hotel, and my grandma almost gets run over by a crazy drunk teenager on a broken down motor scooter who is swerving though the allies at reckless speeds. He is only my age, and l wonder why his parents let him do such crazy things or if they even care. He crashes into a wall, and we hear him curse in Arabic as his bike shutters to a halt.
I am grateful for a soft bed that night, and go to sleep wondering how many other people here can be grateful for the same..." 

 Here is the restaurant Jacob refers to...

 ...and the array of colorful salads...

Some of us ate chicken targine, which the meat eaters thought was fantastic.

We veggie eaters loved our couscous with vegetables.  Little did we know, these hot dishes are the only meals that we would be served at every restaurant and hotel for both lunch and dinner for the next 4 days.

Here is the overly friendly belly dancer, who attempted to give Nicholas some personal attention.

The dessert was crispy pastry with a sweet white topping and strawberries.

It was absolutely essential that we were escorted to and from the hotel.  The restaurant and hotel were both obscure doorways amongst a labyrinth of alleys.

The hotel door at the far end of the dead-end alleyway

Our really cool hotel room

Breakfast on the top deck

Looking down to our room from the top deck

After breakfast, our tour driver for the next four days picked us up and took us to the main square in Marrakech where there are markets and people wanting to sell you everything.  It is busiest at night until the wee hours of the morning, but we had not the energy the night before.  So we took a short excursion that morning, apparently a quiet time at the square.

People like the man below dress up and approach you, wanting you to take their photo (with or without you), and then of course require payment for taking the photo.

Inside the covered part of the market

In that part of the market, there was an amazing spice store where we received a full on presentation of the various spices and oils and their cooking, hygienic, or medicinal uses.  At the entrance to the store, there were women processing aragon nuts (grown only in Morocco we were told), for both eating and cosmetic purposes.

In the spice store

On our way back through the big square, Jacob was rushed by these dudes who put that hat on him. After a big sigh and a bit of an eye roll, he let me take the photo, and Ray handed them a "tip".

At the main square is also where they have the snake charmers.  These guys want money for every photo, and more money for more people in the photo. 

This photo of the snakes also cost me money, so I better post it.  :)

And off we went on our tour.  From Marrakech, it was a long drive on some twisty stomach-churning roads through the Tizi 'n' Tichka pass and the Atlas Mountains .  Thank goodness some of the group needed a bathroom or a snack, and we stopped for a break at this little place on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

Back on the road, with more beautiful views as we drive through the Atlas Mountains.

 Ray does not want Nicholas to fall over the edge...

Having a little fun with Ray's fear...  :)

Here is a very old Berber village.  Berbers are the native peoples of Morroco...not Arabs, not Jews.  Now we are going to walk to the very top...
(See that building at the crest of the hill?  Look for a photo below with Jacob next to it.)

First we had to walk across this shallow "river" on sandbags.  There were Moroccan kids readily available to help you across in exchange for a donation for their kindness.

We made it across the river.

Upon entering the Berber village

 As we walked higher into the village, we looked back to see the river we crossed

More photos on the way up

At the top

And back down...

 Back in the car again

Getting a bit woozy after too much driving (just joking!!)

We stopped by this old and famous "kasbah" (fortress), but we did not take time to go in, 

as we had many hours yet to drive.

I liked both of the next two photos, so I included them both.  :)

More driving...and it's dark...and we are bored.  The men gave the women foot massages!  :)

(Ray got lucky being in the front seat and did not have to give one.)

We arrived very hungry at the hotel at 9:30pm.  They fed us a scrumptious dinner (targine, couscous, veggies, of course) pronto.  It was a beautiful hotel in the middle of the Dades Gorge, which we discovered was shockingly magnificent with daylight the next morning.

Interior of the hotel

At breakfast

They even have processed chocolate cereal (Nestle no less!) in Morocco, which Nicholas does not pass up.  We liked the Arabic words on the box.

There was no elevator, but next to the stairs, there was a ramp for pulling up your rolling suitcases.  You'd never guess that the boys liked to climb up and slide down the ramp rather than use the stairs, right?  That morning I heard shoes swooshing down the ramp and looked to see which of our boys was sliding down to breakfast.  It was yet another teenage boy staying at the hotel.  Most teens must share the same enjoyment.  :)

Views from the hotel

We left the hotel and went up a windy road to this hotel and lookout point.

A couple photos of the view

We stopped at this rock formation called "monkey toes"

So many donkeys in Morocco...

More villages along the way

 They have figured out how to save delivery trips...

They have this large "writing" on the hillsides.  Wish I knew what it says.

Here are a few photos of the villages and countryside.

We then arrive in the Dades Gorge with 1000ft cliffs.

Guess who wants to climb?

We saw climbers who reached the top...

We left the gorge and went to lunch, then took photos just behind the restaurant.

On the continued road trip, we stopped along the road and learned how they dug wells.  

These wells are all old and dry, but interesting anyhow.

Some of us even went down into a well...

Here is another example of complete strangers wanting a photo with you...for a price.

After the first photo, the guy drops down into the splits for another photo...for money.  :)

The next stop...to try camel's milk.  We thought it tasted pretty much like cow's milk.

And we reached our hotel before dark!  It was a great place (chosen by our tour coordinator) in the middle of nowhere, in a small rundown village far from anything you would think is interesting.

We took advantage of the pool.  It was a little cool outside, and the Moroccan folks were dressed in warm clothes...I am sure they thought we were crazy for taking a dip in the pool in this weather.

Dinner at the hotel was fabulous.  We had a couple new things in addition to the chicken targine, veggies and couscous.  First, were served a giant salad of flavorful veggies...

...then a curious but yummy pasta: angel hair topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar! 

We topped off the dinner with tea and hot chocolate...seriously the best hot chocolate (oh so creamy!) that we can ever remember having.  Nicholas proceeded to ask for hot chocolate at every meal at every place we ate in Morocco from that time on. 

The next day we headed for a day in town...and a lot less driving.  

Our driver first took us to hear some traditional Berber music and some dancing.

We stopped along the side of the road to see what we thought were kittens.  Sadly, they were baby foxes that the kids stole from their den so they can use them to make tips.  If we had known, we would not have stopped to support this endeavor, in which the pups will most likely die.

We also saw camels along the side of the road, which we thought were probably wild and free.  However, our driver, Mustafa, told us that all camels are owned; you can't find wild camels anymore.

 In town, we went to another market.  

Lots of olives!

Some basic veggies

Fruits and more veggies.  We found that the produce they had was very basic.  Fruits were apples, bananas, and oranges.  The veggie selection was pretty simple, too.

Some nuts...their displays are simple.  Don't step on the nuts, Mr.!

 

This guy had quite a collection of...ummmm...stuff to sell.  

He turned around and went into a yelling fit when he saw us taking photo.  Sorry, dude!

Our driver ordered us pizza.  We told him what we wanted in it, then he went to buy the ingredients at the market, then gave them to the pizza shop to prep and cook in our stuffed Berber "pizzas".  We sat down to wait about an hour for the pizza to be ready.

It was a great people watching session at the market.  I love this photo of all sorts of transportation--cars, bikes, donkeys.  The boys and I talked about how cool it would be to have a donkey they could ride around town to dance class, the store, school, etc.

Pizza boxes being delivered

 Pizza bread ready to be stuffed

Here is the finished pizza!

Nicholas is eating the chicken stuffed pizza.

This is the veggie stuffed pizza.  It was good!  And a nice change from veggies and couscous.  :)

Back in the market, Ray, Jacob and I (not pictured here) were garbed in Moroccan headdresses.
We bought a couple and found out how helpful they are to have...

 ...in the Sahara Desert.
Stay tuned for that adventure.