Atlas Mountains, Sahara Desert

Just hangin' out here in Marrakesh, you know... standard stuff really. My time in Fes, Morocco was definitely enjoyable. It's a massive city with pretty much zero city planning behind it. I'm told about 300,000 people live inside the old/medieval city, or Medina, making Tangier's medina look like sleepy hollow. On the first morning I met up with some Brazilian, German and Austrian guys who invited me along on a tour they had booked. Our guide, despite being official or so we were told, still took us to the carpet, leather and trinket shops (where he of course receives a commission for every item purchased). Not that I'm complaining, really - we still got to see a lot of the city - the tanneries where they make leather, and which smells like hell on earth, the place where they make tiles and bricks from mud, one of the current King's palaces, and various others. My two new Brazilian friends, Daniel and Gustavo, and I ended up leaving for a 3 day trek into the Atlas mountains and the Sahara desert for 3 days with our guide and a model human being, Namir. If you are ever in Morocco, get in touch with this guy for a tour (website).

I cannot emphasize how amazing this experience was. It was THE most beautiful scenery I have witnessed in my life.

The first day we had a pancake breakfast in a small village. Deeeelicious. We stopped for a bit in a town that looked like an authentic Swiss village (clearly a skiing playground for rich Moroccans - yes, there is lots of snow here in the mountains). Before the end of the day we had cross the Middle Atlas mountains. The pictures will speak for themselves. By the end of the day we could see Saharan sand dunes on the horizon. Did i mention we were doing this journey into the desert in a really nice Mercedes? So just before sunset we got onto our camels and had a guide take us 2 hours into the desert, a few Km away from the Algerian border. We stayed in an authentic Berber camp (the peoples who first settled Morocco, long before the Arabs or even the Romans). I picked up a drum and had a jam session with them. Sleeping in a tent under the desert stars is freakin' unreal. It gets near freezing at night but with 5 blankets you manage. The food and the hospitality was amazing. When the women went to bed we had 'man talk', them inquiring about whether it's cool to sleep with women before marriage, to have more than one wife, and the average price of a hooker where we live. Apparently masturbation jokes are universal.

Trekking out of the desert at sunrise was equally phenomenal. Getting back into our chariot we covered more of the Atlas mountains, hitting a place called 'Todra Gorge' which is indeed, a gorge. The river than runs thru it literally begins out of the ground at a point within the gorge. Cool pics but unfortunately a bit touristy. On the third day we make the final push to Marrakesh thru the High Atlas. The Grand Canyon is a piece of shit compared to what I saw here. The roads became treacherous and winding and as we descended the snow disappeard, the rocks became redder and the landscape lush and green. So very impressed.

Marrakesh is not quite what I expected. It's been defiled by tourists over the last decade and the hustlers in the main square (which is massive) are suicide-inducing. However, it's not to the point where it's lost all of it's medieval charm and a lot of the stereotypes still ring true, whether it's a show for a tourists or not (I don't believe it is entirely). The locals still make up the 95% majority of people that actually hang out in the square. Snake charmers, that crazy snake charming music, food stalls everywhere and mass confusion and chaos. Today we checked out some tombs of princes from the Saadian Dynasty, as well as two palaces, one more of a ruin really. Interesting places to check out for an hour or so but nothing to write home about.

I haven't quite decided yet but i'm likely to head off to Casablanca tomorrow and spend a day and a half. Then perhaps Rabat, and onward to South Africa from either Madrid or Frankfurt (Who knows). And now I'm going to go get some street meat and get drunk on Anise with my (now 4) brazilian and 1 Australian friends on the roof of our hostel. Peace out.

ps. the internet here has decided to screw me so no pictures available at this time, sorry!

*update Jan. 25 - pictures are now up, here

Spanish roadtrip, Morocco part 1

(disclaimer: french keyboards lead to frustration and typos)

Guess what? Im in Africa! (with a big f'in grin on my face). Jake and I rented a car a few days ago and did the 7 hour drive from Alicante to Algeciras. Southern Spain is unreal - i think the pics speak for themselves. this process involved me having to learn how to drive stick. in summary, the gears were mislabeled and i was starting in 3rd gear for the first 10 minutes. the white smoke coming from the hood was comical... i have never heard of anyone driving 700 km with 2 engine lights flashing but apparently its not impossible. to complete this adventure i was forced to parallel park on an upslope. yes, i smacked a parked car pretty hard. remarkably no damage but we still decided to get the hell out of there before the engine light inquiries began. regardless, im pretty proud of myself for getting us there alive haha.

So we crossed the strait of gibraltar (we saw the rock of gibraltar by the way) from Algeciras to Tangier, Morocco and spent two nights there. without a doubt it is the most alien place i have ever set foot. we walked to our hotel around midnight (after almost not being let off the ferry), through the medina (old/medieval city). what an experience that was... Miles and miles of winding narrow, claustrophobic alleys. The night watchman, wearing his Jellaba, or hooded robe, thankfully stirred long enough to open the gate for us and sign us in. I cant say how helpful my little bit of French has been already.

We were woken up the next day by some exceedingly bizarre 5, 6 and 7am prayers. Now I have heard many of these in my lifetime, having lived in Malaysia for 2 years, and i have great respect for Islam, but the sound of this particular prayer was very out of the ordinary and terribly disturbing. Jake got a good recording. Our explorations deeper into the medina and kasbah (castle) later in the day ramped our culture shock up to full throttle. We were adopted by an illegal tour guide, Moon, who showed us some very cool spots. but invariable we ended up in his good friend's carpet shop and why were we so stubbornly refusing his efforts to get us a great deal?? When he tried to collect 40 euro from us for his trouble (without having mentioned money until now), of course we refused and he got pissed off with 5 euro. Hey, what can you do?

So now in Fes, the 'cultural capital' of Morocco, after a stunning 6 hour bus ride, Im feeling a lot better. The tour guides are still annoying but the city is far more cosmopolitan than shady Tangier. Im looking forward to exploring this medina tomorrow, which is the largest in the world. Until then, enjoy the pictures (if i can get 'em up) and i'll talk to you in a few days. Peace...

Welcome to Spain

It only took a year and a half of planning but I'm finally on the road, and the feeling is priceless. I landed in Madrid January 10th, but unfortunately my luggage decided to catch up with me later. "Sorry sir, your bag is in Britain." So, no problem, they would deliver it to Jake's place in Alicante next day, and I could still make the last train out of Madrid. But the backpack confusion, combined with the struggle to decipher the subway system with a vocabulary of 3 Spanish words, meant I ended up rolling into the train station 5 minutes too late. So, no problem... I'll just hang out here until the next train - 11 hours later. I had lots of movies on my ipod, a magazine, and I can catch a few hours of sleep here.

That was a great plan (no, not really) until they kicked me out at midnight. On crossing through the doors my two thoughts were 'damn, it's cold' and 'now what'. So I walked around for 4 hours snapping pictures of some weird shit and cursing my shoes that needed to be broken in. I killed off the rest of the time by sleeping on the roof of the train station. Thankfully it opened at 5 right before hypothermia set in.

After getting about 30 minutes sleep in 42 hours, I had no choice but to snooze the train ride away. 4 hours later Jake and I were having a sweet, sweet cerveza in sunny Alicante under the palm trees. They came to deliver my bag while I was having a nap, but regrettably I don't remember packing only golf clubs and my name is not Mr. Escobar. Learning of this screw up, Jake's Venezuelan roommate Rebeca said "Welcome to Spain," which is a phrase that describes the general backwardness of this country. Long story short, I got my actual bag yesterday, the 14th, and my golf game still needs work.

For those who like to party with a drink now and then, Spain is definitely the place. Until today I hadn't seen the sun since being here. We go out at midnight and come home around 7 or 8am. The drinks are generally cheap, the food is great, the music is a lot of fun and the people are cool. I did finally force myself out of that routine today and did some sightseeing at Santa Barbara castle which overlooks the Mediterranean. That salt water air on your face feels damn good. The pics are amazing, check em out.

Jake and I are off to Morocco on Thursday, and definitely looking forward to it. Next post coming soon...

one week to go

The flight is booked for January 9th! The plan has drastically changed!

I realized a few weeks ago it wasn't realistic to do the entire continent in 6 months so I've scaled plans back to just the Southern part of Africa. In a crushing twist of fate, Lesley will not be able to come with me for an extended period of time... But she does have 3 weeks vacation so hopefully she can join me in Spain and Morocco.

The working plan is:
1) Fly into Madrid, Spain, bus it to Alicante to meet up with Jake
2) He and I cross the channel into Morocco and spend a couple weeks there.
3) I fly from Casablanca to Johannesburg
4) Spend the next 6 months in South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique and Swaziland, hopefully with a 2 month period of volunteering.

who knows if this plan will stick. fun times...