Blogs from Morocco, Africa - page 238

Africa » Morocco » Meknès-Tafilalet » Tighassaline March 19th 2006

My alarm went off at 5am and as I turned it off I wondered what I was hearing out in the street. Pre-coffee, I though of dogs and pictured all the strays of Kelaa sitting in the street below my apartment talking very loudly. I went upstairs to the kitchen, and as I crossed the open roof from the stairs to the door to the kitchen I could hear the sound more clearly. It was the three closest mosques calling out the pre-morning prayer with the usual delayed repetition that prevents me from distinguishing any one of them very well. I generally sleep through the early call to prayer and when it does disturb me I never fully wake up. This was the first time I realized how long it is. I had stumbled out of ... read more

Casablanca

Africa » Morocco » Grand Casablanca » Casablanca March 17th 2006

MikeCatty

The few days we had spent in Marrakech had come to an unfortunate end and the alarm waking us at 0700 didn’t make us feel any better about leaving. We scoffed down breakfast, packed, grabbed some money from an ATM and barely made it to the station in time to catch our train to Casablanca. We tipped the petite taxi driver handsomely as without his ducking and weaving we could well have missed it. We’d pre-booked our hotel and thought that getting a taxi should be fairly easy. We struggled to find any driver prepared to use the meter and when we did; our man mentioned a baggage fee as he placed our backpacks into the boot. We swiftly removed them and walked around the corner – away from the station. We found a driver willing ... read more

Our last day in Marrakech

Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz » Marrakech March 16th 2006

MikeCatty

After breakfast, Jo and I headed off to the Saadian Tombs, located just south of the Koutoubia Mosque. The tombs are well hidden in a maze of narrow streets and my navigation seemed to be on the money until we made the mistake of following a sign with an arrow pointing to Saadian Tombs. It transpired that an enterprising businessman has set up the sign to point tourists straight at his shop and we had to go through it in order to get to the block where the tombs were located. Just as crafty, even if leaching from the merchants’ good idea, was the guide that waited for us at the exit of the shop. The tombs were lavish in design and featured intricate Arabic designs and verse on the surfaces. Our guide (he had followed ... read more

Marakech - Paul Heads Home

Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz » Marrakech March 15th 2006

MikeCatty

Breakfast was the standard French stick and jam on the roof terrace of Hotel CTM. The sight of a now quiet Djemaa el-Fna belied the action from the previous night, the odd food scrap being the only remaining remnant. Paul, Jo and I were all stuffed from a week in Morocco and decided on a quiet day of limited sightseeing. This was to be Paul’s last day with us as he was booked on the 2100 train back to Tangier – leg one of a long trip back to Newcastle. Our first stop was Palais el-Badi , a 400 year old palace in an equal state of ruin and repair where we spent an hour or so taking photos and discovering all the nooks and crannies. Towards the Ville Nouvelle is Koutoubia Mosque – at 70 ... read more

Marrakech

Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz » Marrakech March 14th 2006

MikeCatty

Having found the public transport to be consistently inconsistent during our Moroccan adventure, we were not surprised that out overnight bus did not arrive on time in Marrakech. We were very surprised to be pulling into the bus stop 40 minutes early at 0420. This posed a bit of a problem as we were none-to-keen to be out walking around town in the dark. Fortunately a bakery displayed an opening time of 0500 on the window so we stayed put at the station, eventually passing the time over bread, jam and hot chocolate. It was 0630 when the sun started threatening the dark of night so we hit the streets in search of the main part of town. It was a good 10 minutes before the three of us realised that something was amiss and it ... read more

6 MONTHS!

Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » Ouarzazate March 14th 2006

Got Indy beat here

Peace Corps Rich

Unbelievable! Yesterday was the 6 month anniversary of our arrival in Morocco. I've now been out of the US for a full half-year and it feels like somewhere inbetween an eternity and a split-second. On the one hand, each day can seem to take forever, but on the other hand, looking back on everything that's happened since our arrival, I can't believe that we've already come this far. The most startling thing is just how NORMAL this all feels now. Psychologically I am firmly established in the mindset of "Hello, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer!" We were trainees for so long that at times it felt as if we would never actually be doing what we came here to do. All of the volunteers we met during training, even those who had only been here ... read more

We've come a long way since we last shook hands, we've still got a long way to go.

Fez Medina & Souq

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Fes March 13th 2006

MikeCatty

After waking at 0900 we put our pack-safes on our backpacks before checking out and leaving them at reception. You can never be too careful and our hotel was in no danger of making it into any luxury travel brochures. Ali's neighbour showed up on time at 1000 and our first stop was the train station where we tried to buy tickets on the overnight train to Marrakech.... or, to be more accurate, the two overnight trains to Marrakech. Ee learned that we'd be swapping trains in Casablanca in the middle of the night. We had concerns for our security or, worse yet, getting the wrong connection so we headed for the bus station and bought tickets for the 2200 bus to Marrakech - due to arrive at 0500 the following morning. We all caught a ... read more

Still Learning Tolerance at the Six Month Mark

Africa » Morocco » Tadla-Azilal » El Kelaa des Sraghna March 13th 2006

Writing At Home

Ezeur

Real happiness is linked to pledging oneself to a great purpose. One who lives this way is strong, strong enough to be happy under any circumstances. “The Buddha in Your Mirror” Last Thursday I celebrated six months since leaving Boise with phone calls from both a parent and a friend back home. This Monday, however, marks six months that I have actually been in Morocco. The flux time in Philadelphia doesn’t get any kind of anniversary. The time has flown by and I can tell it is only going to keep speeding up. Happily, I haven’t dealt with too much homesickness yet. I think this is in part because I have been making a conscious effort to make Kelaa my home. I came here thinking of this as my new home, a town I will live ... read more

Fez, Sefrou and Cave Houses

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Sefrou March 12th 2006

MikeCatty

Fortunately the train to Fezwas not nearly as crowded as the one we had caught from Rabat to Meknes and we ended up sharing an eight seater cabin with the Dutch tourists from the restaurant a few nights earlier and a local man Ahmed Ali who claimed to work in the tourist information centre in Meknes but lived in Fez. We probably should have seen through the story (if it was indeed untrue) but by the time we pulled into Fez an hour or so later, we had arrangements in place to be collected from Hotel du Maghreb at 1400. At 1355 a Grand Taxi pulled up with Ahmed Ali already inside and we were whisked away to the suburbs to meet his wife and five year old son. I'd be lying if I said we ... read more

It's already hot here

Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz » Marrakech March 12th 2006

The Road to Marrakech

Ezeur

Be brave enough to live life creatively Alan Alda While my parents were skiing in McCall, Idaho I went to hot, sunny Marrakech on my day off. If I am sweating in a T-shirt in March I don’t even want to think about August. They weren’t kidding when they said it gets hot here. Today’s bus ride to the city was a bit more exciting than usual and I blame it on the heat. Nobody is very happy to have the summer heat set in already. The rising gas prices have forced up the bus fare from 15 or 17 dirhams to 20 dirhams from Kelaa to Marrakech. One woman must have been convinced she was cheated by the guy on the bus who takes money since she spent at least the first half hour of ... read more

Brief history of Morocco

In 788, about a century after the Arab conquest of North Africa, successive Moorish dynasties began to rule in Morocco. In the 16th century, the Sa'adi monarchy, particularly under Ahmad AL-MANSUR (1578-1603), repelled foreign invaders and inaugurate...more history

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