I woke up in Rabat. It is nice being in a hotel with good AC, but I am glad I sweated a little more for my 1st two weeks in Morocco as it felt more authentic… staying in riads is 1,000 times more special than staying in a proper hotel (even though having a pool in the heat is sweet). We got in the car and drove a bit until we hit the Roman city of Volubilis; I can’t remember a time in my entire life that I have been somewhere so old! It was recently deemed a world heritage site. They are waiting/seeking funding so they can start excavating more of this ancient Roman city. It was interesting. Our local guide described how the Romans lived. How the choice of this land was strategic. I ... read more

So my Moroocomate and I spent are last afternoon and evening in the Medina in Marrakech (as she is leaving). We went back to our first riad that we stayed at. Something was a little different this time. Was it because we just came from the most beautiful accommodation? Or perhaps it was because of Ramadan? Our guess was Ramadan. It started 3 days ago. Ramadan is a month long fast - no one eats, drinks, smokes from sunrise to sunset. In the 90+ degree heat it seems near impossible to survive without water; however the Moroccans do it! We were told it is about one’s soul and g-d. It is up to the individual to decide to cheat or not. Each region, we found that kids start at all different ages. Some children start as ... read more

Betsy and I agreed to splurge on a ride from Essaouira to Imlil as our bus experiences in Morocco haven’t been so pleasant. Imil is located in the High Atlas Mountains about 1 hour south of Marrakech. Our driver sends someone to pick us up in our riad in the medina (as no cars are allowed). We get in the car… it is sorta like a minivan, without windows that you can roll down. After about 30 minutes we ask for the AC (as we booked a car with AC of course). Well, there was AC; however it didn’t work. OYE. Our driver was on his own schedule. He stopped for lunch, drinks and smokes. The drive should have taken 3 hours in total. We spent 5 hours in a car with no AC and no ... read more

We decided it was time to see the real thing... camels and their weird looking toes. We went to a ranch that housed both camels and horses. We decided to do a 2 hour camel ride along the beach. We strolled along the ocean for about 45 minutes. We stopped and hung out for a bit in the sand. It was a deserted beach (it was beautiful so I am not too sure why). We got back on the camels and headed for the forest area. This is when we both started feeling bad for the camels. They were walking on tons of stones, branches, while tripping here and there. I was holding on for dear life at times. The beach was a super sweet ride; however the second half wasn’t so easy. Our camel tour ... read more

We were met by our English speaking tour guide/driver at 8:30am. His name was… Mohammad. We are calling him Mohammad II as we had Mohammad I in Marrakesh as a tour guide. We started the day by heading to an old Kasbah (castle like homes). It was old and broken down but still had some walls and beautiful views. Following the Kasbah, we headed to banana fields. These were amazing to say the least. We were driving through the desert (4 wheel drive of course) and everything was so dry. Before we knew it we went over one hill to see all the lushness of the banana fields and the river surrounding them. There were men hard at work (laying 1 brick per hour) as the river over flowered last year and a lot of the ... read more