We flew in from different places to Atlanta, then boarded our 767 for an uneventful flight to Paris non-stop. (Occasions where people meeting in an airport for a trip somehow always remind me of the Gary Larson cartoon). Delta was hoping to get us into Paris ahead of the announced strike, and did so. So far, we have no evidence of anything adverse coming from any planned strike, the extreme flooding of the Seine, or the travel warning issued by the State Department. Ate lunch, took nap, and went out to dinner at La Frigate across the street from the Musee d'orsay, which is closed because of the flooding, as is at least part of the Louvre. Heading out to hopefully see some things in Paris we have never previously experienced.... read more

Starting our day in Fes, we headed east for a bit to visit Ifrane and its university, then headed south. Ifrane is known as the Switzerland of Morocco. Situated in the sparsely populated middle Atlas region, it sits at an elevation of about 5500 feet and regularly gets snow in winter. It was the site of the lowest temperature ever recorded in Africa (-24oC, -11oF), and has a ski resort. Four our visit, it was just a pleasant high mountain town with plentiful conifers and few people about. The main purpose of our visit was for Robert (OCU President) and Steve (OCU Dean of Business) to meet with some of the administration of Al Akhawayn University. After this brief diversion, and a visit to the carved lion for good luck, we headed south across the mountains ... read more

Marrakech is a city of wrenching contrasts. Broad avenues and boulevards lie almost next areas of narrow alleys and souks. A square filled with buskers and charlatans and snake charmers and monkey grinders open onto an avenue to takes you within a couple of minute to an avenue with chic shops like Fendi, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. A city of modern large buildings and American-looking suburbs also has a 14th century madrassa. The streets are broader by far than those in Casablanca, and uncharacteristically have well marked lanes, and yet traffic seemed to be worse here than in the larger city. But the souk here in the medina is much better organized than in Fes or Meknes, with shops selling similar goods tending to be grouped near to one another. The alleyways are a little wider, ... read more

As we stepped off our camels at the Merzouga camp, we had been greeted with an idyllic scene - pretty ornate lamps laid out in front of the camp like lights along a landing strip, rugs covering every square inch of ground between the tents, white tents standing side by side with beckoning flaps. Awakening the next morning we found an entirely different scene. I was the first to try to leave our tent, and could not initially get out even after unzipping the flap. As it turned out, our particular tent had been ideally situated to catch the blowing sand during the storm, and our hosts had stopped a lot of sand from coming in by tying a large rug up in front of our tent, weighted down by sandbags and heavy cushions at the ... read more

The day started with a field trip. Although there may have been a few alleyways we had not yet walked in the medina of Fes, we headed out of town to two interesting settlements. Bhalil is a small town with interesting troglodyte homes built into the hillsides. The Berbers have lived here for hundreds of years, and many (but not all) of the homes have a cave as a portion of the house. It never became clear to me whether these were enhanced natural formations or were completely carved out for dwellings. They offer the usual cave advantage of evening out hot and cold temperatures. The houses in this town are painted in various colors. Although I have read of a pottery industry here, the only current industry seems to be the production of jellaba buttons, ... read more