Blogs from Tadla-Azilal, Morocco, Africa

Dear All, We hope you are all well. We are attempting to upload a fair amount of photos instead of boring you with writing but IT seems to have got the better of us and only allows a 'squashed' version of the photo to be shown! Not the best! We will endeavour to get them up when the wireless is better. So we are now in N'kob which is in the Jebel Sahro mountain range. That will mean nothing to the majority of you but picture desert, huge rocky sand coloured mountains with a line of palm trees running down a valley and a number of 'kasbahs' (old castle like homes) where we are currently staying. It is hot....the permanent black puffer has eventually been peeled off and our florescent white skin exposed to the sun.... ... read more

Elllo Ello, what do we have 'ere then... just got into dahkla, emily, stef, and good old andrew. got our visas in rabat, took a 30 hour bus south. and now were arranging for a car. hmm big excitement. im #$#@ing siked. went for a motor bike around marakesh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FzOyR6iauc and well... by car i mean van.. 800 euros. crazy how ppl will just approach you on the street. judge character intelligently, check their refrences. and you can get into some fairly comfterable situations. Dakhla is a boarder town between mauritania and morocco. where everyone stopes on there way south into africa. as well as where ppl have done the african tour heading north. ideas and lessons are passed from one to another over a hot cup of tea in the busy downtown streets. smoke fills ... read more

Disclaimer: This blog and all of it's contents are solely mine and do not in any way reflect the views of the Peace Corps or the United States of America. My training is almost finished so I am savoring my last week in my host site. I feel a mix between wanting to stay here and readiness to move onto my final site. My family here is wonderful, I couldn’t have asked for a better Moroccan mother and sister. They are so patient with my language and domestic skills. I have learned how to purify water, cook chicken tajine, make bread, milk a goat, clean a house, wash clothes by hand, take a shower with one bucket of water, dance to Moroccan music, and have fun. In return, I have showed them how to crochet a ... read more

I suppose I’m still at the starting line. I’ve spent the past few days lazing around Maryam’s house, my old home, playing with her daughter Salma, catching up on the events of the past year, talking with the neighbors who stop by and reading a travel memoir about kayaking in the Arctic. I’m not headed that far north, but in a week or so I do need to start heading north. For now I’m content to relax, to feel like the school year is over and I really am on summer vacation, and to enjoy being back in Morocco. I joked with Maryam that I enjoyed my ten month vacation in America and now I’m back home in time for the summer heat of the Sahara. Morocco has welcomed me back with arms wide open since ... read more

I have been hearing about the wonders of Ozoud for almost two years now, and finally got to see the splendor for myself. Photos really don’t do it justice. People have been showing me their photos for a while now and I was only vaguely impressed. The majesty of Ozoud must be appreciated in person because only then do you feel so completely dwarfed by the huge falls. I’ll admit, I haven’t seen Niagara, but after driving for a couple hours across the foothills of the Atlas, the Ozoud canyon opens up without warning in a wide, desolate plateau. We escaped the oppressive flat-land heat of Kelaa in the morning and drove along back roads through the towns of Freita, Ouarji, El Sahrij, Majden and Tanante (none of which appear on my map of Morocco) before ... read more