Nevadagirlamber

Marrakech was a 7 hour train ride from Fes and is one of major stops for tourists, though I'm not quite sure it lives up to its hype. Another imperial city, it is also a mix-up of various cultures and has your typical sites; mosques, medinas, palaces (the King has many across the country) and gardens. This city never stops - motorbikes and vehicles clog up the narrow streets and the honking and sound of the motors quickly grow exhausting. We took a day trip to Ouarzazate (Where-zeh-za-tee), the Hollywood of Morocco. We first traveled through the Atlas Mountains for a few hours, seeing some beautiful scenery. We then stopped of at Ait Ben Haddou, an earthen village along a former caravan route, where we were forced to use a local guide to see the location ... read more

The Blue City of Morocco is truly one of the most interesting sites in Morocco. This is for several reasons. First of all, as the pictures will show you, the city is really Blue. The labyrinth that makes up the old city (created in the 1400s) is painted in blue. Apparently the color comes from the Jewish communities who settled there after being expelled from Spain. As for the meaning of the color several theories exist, including it's being a spiritual reminder of heaven and earth or keeping the mosquitoes away (there were no mosquitoes in sight). Second, the city is in the Northwest part of the country and as such is this incredibly mixture of Arabic, Spanish, French and Berber communities. Here my terrible Spanish was just as useful as my terrible French. This city ... read more

Cuba! Oh Cuba how I love you. I had a fantastic time traveling throughout the western half of the island of Cuba with my friend Barb and 14 other travelers on a guided tour. Many of you may be confused as to why I would choose a guided tour and it really came down to concerns over changing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, my poor Spanish skills (I can buy a beer and find the bathroom, but not make reservations or take care of business), and just time pressures. We booked our tour with Cuba Adventures and we met our fellow travelers in Havana before heading out on the road. We completed a brief walking tour of old Havana, which included a look into the various squares, churches and the sweet ass Cadillacs so ... read more

Today Canada celebrated 150 years (edited for accuracy! woops) and as such we went over the bay to visit the Prince of Wales Fort. This fort was originally built by the Hudson Bay Company as a means to protect their fur trade interests. Sometime around the late 1700s the French took possession of the fort, but with few resources to man the fort they quickly returned it back to the English. Not before trashing the place of course. Today there is quite a bit of reconstruction work going on as the building is crumbling in this harsh atmosphere. While on the island we tasted Inuit bread bannock (sp), which is basically an unleavened, flour-based, bread. It was very good. We also learned more about some of the research being done in the area - apparently the ... read more

Hello from Hudson Bay! Today I arrived at the Churchill Northern Science Center in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada and I wanted to check in briefly before we get on with our program tonight. I flew in this morning from Winnipeg and it was interesting to see the terrain change from heavily wooded to the tundra. At the airport we were all picked up and taken here to our dorm/classrooms/everything we will need for the next couple of days. On the way in we saw a sandhill crane (no pics sorry) as well as a lot of Canada geese - or as they say here - geese - and their babies. Had my first mosquito bite shortly after arrival, so all is going as expected. It is a spectacular facility surrounded with water, puny but pretty trees and ... read more