Oh dear. So much hilarious stuff to record, so little time. Yesterday I arrived in Lisbon after taking a night bus from Seville. It was a routine drill--the bus was late, packed with people, and Laurn and I were forced to listen to the sounds of an amorous couple in the row behind us. Par for the course. Around 2 am the bus stops in a town called "Davida" or something like that, so that one lonely passenger can disembark. When the driver gets up and comes to the back to call out a "Meester James," I assume that this fellow had fallen asleep. Not so. The guy was either drunk or crazy or looking to make trouble, because he blatenely refused to get off. What insued was an argument of epic proportions. This is a ... read more

Back in Spain. Seville, to be exact. From my last entry, you may think that I hated my trip to Morocco. Not so. The country is beautiful, the people are very hospitable (once you get to know them), and I still drool at the mention of Berber whiskey. I ate more tangines than I care to count, and I got to see snake charmers for chrissake. I loved Morocco. I hated the harrassment. And towards the end, I was getting pretty militant about it. After Fez, we took a 4 hour bus ride through some of the curviest mountain terrain I have ever experienced. The driver had the delightful habit of speeding up on the turns; I thought we were going to tip over and fall to our deaths every 5 seconds. But the death-bus was ... read more

Day Tour: Fez on a Friday Getting there and away: Take a petit taxi to the Medina. You don't speak French or Arabic well enough, nor do you know the area, so don't even bother trying to ask for a specific entrance--just let him drop you off wherever he feels like, and pretend that's what you wanted the whole time. Spend a half hour or so trying to find your way in through a back alley. Activities: BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE TANNERIES. You will have at least 100 + people remind you of this during your day in the Medina. And they will all be more than willing to show you the way. Choose the "guide" that follows you the longest, as his persistance obviously means that he is trustworthy. Orientation: You WILL get ... read more

Signs of culture shock may include: dizziness, claustrophobia, displacement, and a slightly glazed over appearance as you realize there ARE no streetsigns. I write again from Marrakesh in something called the "cyber park" where I am mostly surrounded by other tourists with equally bad french and dressed eerily like myself. I figure I'd take the opportunity to write an entry as internet here is not always reliable, judging from the dank upstairs hole with one working computer we used yesterday in Tangier. We set foot on African soil yesterday after taking the ferry from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco. I had steeled myself for an onslaught of people the moment we arrived, but instead it began as a slow trickle that rapidly grew as we headed deeper into the city. Apparently, everyone here is a guide, ... read more

In the hills of Quieros, near Bárzana, there lives a cow. Something is wrong with this cow. Kait, who sleeps across the street from this cow, was, at first, concerned for its well-being. But after two whole days of listening to its incessant, demonic cow-calls, now all she wants to do is bludgeon it to death with a blunt object. And so, leaving Bárzana was bittersweet. Fortunately we happened to be in town for a ¨festival¨which felt more like a Lord of the Rings convention to me. Everyone looked like a demented leprechaun. I loved it. Copious amounts of bread, cheese, and chorizo. EVERYWHERE. We went from stall to stall buying pastries, the flakes of our previous victims still fresh on our lips as we greedily moved on to the next and the next. Unfortunately we ... read more

Preparing for a full 24 hours of travel tomorrow. It's my own fault, really. The true miser that I am, I picked the cheapest flight possible to Madrid which accomplishes two things: a 9 hour layover in London, and a bus ride from Heathrow to Gatwick. I have no idea what my mental state will be like at the end of all this. I plan to document everything. So here's hoping for the best...no flight delays, no customs issues, no visa problems, no one falling asleep on me...It's all going to go smoothly...oh yes.... Coming up next: ESPANA! P.S. "The Craigslist Killer"? Has anyone else been following it? Fuh-reeky.... read more