Things in my head:
- a man delivering goods via donkey and cart talking on a cell phone
- menus in many languages but none of them English (Arabic & French are the common languages)
- Arabic = squiggly lines and diamonds...
- the beautiful and haunting call to prayer
- maybe the women wear scarves on their heads to keep from getting sunburnt (Morocco is rather progressive and we've seen women in full hijab as well as in jeans and tees)
- I wish someone would put the rooster that lives near our place out of it's misery...not because of it's crowing but how badly it crows
- donkeys that look near death
- Cats
- my friend Angie would love the fabrics and colors!
- I miss my Seattle neighbors and think of them often (and am sad to confuse little Sophie by selling our house)
- The most important part of any transportation is the horn and there appear to be no emissions checks in Morocco... Mmmmm, the fresh smell of diesel.
A little more on Marrakech from MARK:
I'd like to give you directions from the bus station to the place we're staying. On the map it appears to be about a 15 minute walk down a major street, turn left, then right. Today we walked around most of the city; I mean literally, around it. The city wall is one of the only discernable items you can make out. Let me elaborate. Here's what happened once we found the bus station and attempted to walk back home. We entered through the city wall and decided to
follow the what-looked-to-be major street. There are no names anywhere to be found. Sometimes you get lucky and find an Arabic sign. As we came to the first "Y" in the road we decided to veer left as it looked to be more traveled. Keep in mind the 'main street' was a little over a cars width with non-stop buildings on both sides about two stories high. Just enough to keep you from getting a baring on anything. We come to another fork, and not following Frost's advice, we continued on the what-appeared-to-be the most traveled path. The street began to narrow and shops started overtaking the sky that was once above us. We turned right, and after another fifty feet the road forced us left, then right, and then right again. I think we were headed North, and I looked for signs of shadows where possible to get a reading on my internal compass. At every intersection boys and men alike are ready to tell us which way to go... and for a fee, they will take you where you'd like to go. This is kind of them, but we'd very much like to find the place ourselves. If you have a sense of adventure, and don't mind wondering around a bit, do take this option.
If you ever need to get somewhere quickly, I strongly advise that you ask someone to take you after agreeing upon a price. Several men ensured us that the direction we wanted to go was right. We kindly thanked them and continued onward. Lets see, we had made a left, right, then swung around to the east on another winding street. We hadn't seen a single landmark that we had noted on the map. We did however see a gold door that was familiar looking. Another gentleman assured us that we wanted to go that way, and he began walking in front of us. We felt like we were close, but couldn't be so sure. Was it down that alley or this one? The man in front of us had good intentions; he wanted to escort us to a tanning area where many colors abound. We would like to go, but our desire to stop by our place took precedence.
Then we passed a riad that seemed extremely close. We turned left at the next tunnel after about forty minutes from the bus station and this was it, our street-alley that we live on. Our escort was about twenty feet ahead when we took our turn. He turned around and started to follow us down our street. Everyone wants to help, and for good reason, they need to make money, and I am certainly glad to pay when services are rendered. Morocco is filled with adventure, the moment you step onto the street. Our lesson for the day was to keep an internal smile, no matter what happens. We kindly thanked the gentleman and went home. We look forward to more exploring and our camel trek that is several days away.
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