I am happy to be safely tucked into the corner of our Riad tonight as it is so noisy. I am more contented in some of the smaller areas that we have travelled and there are too many people here in Marrakech for my liking. Our guide today said that half of the people in Morocco are under the age of 25, which blows my mind a little. Clearly it is going to create a HUGE job shortage and it is easy to see that it already has. Another interesting tidbit that Mohammad supplied us: The population of Morocco had doubled [View Full Entry]

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We added pictures to "There would be sand..." if you are interested. And on to the blog: We were back on the road today for another four hour drive but with stops, it took more like nine. We stopped for a few hours to get some real coffee... It is the small blessings that we enjoy! Besides, I am sure that the coffee at the desert hotel is the same one that had me kissing the ceramic thrown. We ducked into Ourzazate for a few hours to tour one of the oldest restored Kasbahs in the area. Our guide for the [View Full Entry]

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We appologize that we haven't written for the last few days. Mom and I have both been pretty sick, and no easy way to blog. My seven year record of no puking flew out the window yesterday... hopefully that means I will be good for another seven years! We ventured off into the high dunes in Merzouga for a trek with the camels and we had a great time. We watched the sun set as we slowly made our way to the Berber camp. There really is no way to describe how breath-taking the sun and sand can be. We were [View Full Entry]

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Oh the tears! Today was our last day working in the Kasbah, and how do bonds like that get established so quickly? We were only with these woman for such a short time and they have left a lasting impact on us both. I guess when there are no words all that is left is character and heart. These woman have it in spades. They kept making hand motions to us that was something similar to don't get on the plane. I thought that I was keeping it together really well until Wedid struggled to find the words to tell me [View Full Entry]

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So what does one say about today? Well today we went back out to Hanaboo Kasbah and mom worked with Hadisha and I went out to the high school to hand out 200 more toothbrushes. Yet again, we did not have enough, we were 34 short and I will have get more and go back tomorrow. Going to the school was much more organized than when we went to the other Kasbah, Aziz says that the kids are afraid of the director, but it seemed to work in my favor! Being in the school was difficult for me because I got [View Full Entry]

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Today we went to the Hanaboo Kasbah which is 13km away from Erfoud. We were welcomed in by the ladies, who seemed to be a little shy in the beginning, but it didn't take them long to warm up to us. The children only had a moment to be skeptical of us and then I think that their curiosity of us two white women took over. The woman who we saw today look to be early to mid twenties and it is too hard to even guess how old some of them are. The woman are very grateful and happy for [View Full Entry]

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The relaxing atmosphere of Erfoud and the Dadani's Cafe/appartment caught up with us last night and we slept so good! We may have even slept in a little... We went to one of the Kasbah's today and we were overwhelmed by the children. We brought 80 toothbrushes with toothpaste and we didn't have enough for them all. We did what we could to do some teaching about oral hiegene but the kids were so excited that I don't know how much they will have soaked in. I did one on one teaching with Aziz's niece and hopefully she will teach the [View Full Entry]

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This morning we were up early again and we seem to be having trouble sleeping through the night. The long day in the car was difficult at times because we were so tired and the views can be so unexpected and spectacular that we were afraid to close our eyes. We stayed at the Hotel de Jardin last night and were treated very well by all the staff. They all try to use a combination of English and French to communicate with us and we use what little French and Arabic we are learning to communicate with them. Today we arrived [View Full Entry]

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Here we go again, trying to type English on a French keyboard! This morning we woke up early drove through busy Marrakech and were treated by the beautiful Atlas mountains. There is really no way to describe what an incredible experience it was, but I will try and do it some justice (thank goodness for the camera!). The mountain ranges leave you breathless and the view is ever changing. The crayon-box blue sky was the back-drop for the rusty colored homes that blended in seamlessly into the rock of the mountain side. The most spectacular views were dipping into the valley [View Full Entry]

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After running on only few hours of sleep for forty some odd hours, straight caffine, rapidly swelling feet, a plane with a broken wing (only a slight exaggeration), and three hours worth of driving, we have arrived safely here in Essaouira. The stop in Casablanca had us slightly worried as they kicked us off of the plane and didn't give us any instructions on where to go... too bad we can't read Arabic! I think mom was stetched beyond her comfort zone getting into a plane with not one English word to be seen. What little french we know seems to [View Full Entry]

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