I have spent most of the last few days settling into my new apartment. It’s very different from my last little home. I’m on the 10th floor of a giant apartment building in a complex of three buildings (with our own pool, basketball court and park) in a neighborhood of giant apartment complexes and shopping malls. The shopping mall is Palladium and it has everything from Gap and Banana Republic to Sony and Samsung. The whole building is incredibly huge. I think it’s the biggest mall I’ve ever been in. This is definitely the biggest city I’ve ever lived in! The neighborhood is all very new and modern. My apartment building is only a few years old and most complexes here are just finishing the construction. I think everything in my apartment is from IKEA and ... read more

I haven't update my blog in a couple weeks because (surprise, surprise) I'm on vacation! Everything is going wonderfully and life really is beautiful here. I have been able to see quite a few of my friends from when I lived here in 1999-2000. I lived with Gérard and Maryse Montalon, who welcomed me back into their family, which is still growing. I was at the house at the same time as two of their granddaughters: Céleste and Léane. The second day I was there we got the news that Léane had become a big sister. Her twin brothers, Yanis and Timéo, were born early in the afternoon. I haven't seen the twins yet, but the next blog will have photos of them I'm sure. While the Montalons went to visit the new babies I went ... read more

I'm not sure if that title is real Portugese or not. It's my best guess at the translation of "the Portugese beach." I spent my days in Portugal alone or with the Spanish girls who shared my room at the hostel - so I didn't actually learn more than a few words of Portugese. But I didn't go there to learn Portugese. I went there to relax on the beach and that's pretty much all I did. Like Martil, I don't have much to write about in this blog. I spent my days reading, climbing around on the rocks, playing in the sand, swimming, looking for pretty seashells and watching the waves. Once again: this is my idea of a vacation. The beaches were deserted and there were so many within walking distance of Lagos that ... read more

After Morocco I thought it would be best to start off my travels in Europe with the last stronghold of the Muslims in Spain. I took a boat from Tangier in the evening and took a night bus from Algaciras to Granada. The boat was interesting and I chatted with some Moroccan women on the way over. I saw a couple other foreigners, but practically everybody on the boat was Moroccan. After customs I found the bus for Granada, which was also completely full of Morccans. The bus got to Granada a bit earlier than I had expected - it was about 4am Sunday morning and I had no idea where to go to wait until it got light. Fortunately one of the other two women who got off the bus in Granada was very nice ... read more

When I went to the bus station in Meknes to see if I could get a grand taxi or a bus to Chefchouen I found that there aren´t any direct taxis, plus the only bus is at 5am. I didn´t feel like waiting another twenty hours for the next bus, so I took the first bus that was heading north. It would take me to Tangier and I figured when I got to Tangier I could stay if I liked it, or see if I could get to Chefchouen from there. Luckily on the bus I happened to sit next to a Moroccan who has been living for several years in Virginia and who also wasn´t intending to go to Tangier. Perhaps it´s the luxury of traveling alone, or perhaps it´s the haphazard transportation in Morocco, ... read more