Morocco!

So much has happened!

I arrived in Gibralter on Wednesday, found my hotel and headed towards the rock! Gibralter is a British coloney situated on a huge rock on a peninsula in the southern most part of Spain. You need to show your passport as you enter because it is considered a seperate country. Not only that, the instant you have crossed the boarder, everyone suddenly speaks English and with a thick British accent! Amazing! I took the bus to the cable car and went to the top of the rock. The views were amazing! Equally amazing was learning a little about the long and complicated history this place has had. It was a stronghold in nearly every thinkable war for the last few hundred years. During each war, caves and tunnels inside the rock were used for a wide variety of purposes. I toured St. Michael's Cave - the formations inside were impressive, along with the space used as a concert hall!

The next day I took the ferry from Algiceras, Spain, to Tangiers, Morocco! Arriving in Tangiers, I realized that I only had a vague idea of where my riad was (riad means 'rich house' in Arabic and many of them are kind of like hotels or hostels). On exiting the ferry terminal, several men approached me asking if they could show me around, take me places, etc, etc. I got a local guy to take me to my place. He winded me up and down tiny streets, crowded markets, and through alleys. Finally I arrived. He wanted money of course, but I had realized that he was trying to turn me around along the way and then wanted me to continue to use him. This pissed me off so I told him where to go and got rid of him. My place was FANTASTIC! The most beautiful place to stay. I wandered around the Medina of Tangiers overcome by the spectacle! Shops and salesmen, liter small streets only big enough for pedestrians. I was in awe! I did nothing but wander around all day!

I met up with my tour in Casablanca. There are 10 of us in the group, plus our tour guide. The group is great - a couple from Austrailia, a couple from New Zealand, four other girls from random English speaking countries, and my roomie from New York. We toured the Hassan II Mosque which holds 25 000 worshipers normally, and during special days, 80 000 more can fit in the square outside!

Yesterday we did a city tour of Fez. Another amazing experience! We walked up and down and through the markets or souqs as they are called. A souq is a working market where the things that are sold are made right in the street. We toured a pottery place, a textille place, a tannery, and a carpet store. The tannery was AMAZING! hundreds of basins built centuries ago where hides are washed and dyed are crammed into a small square. Workers get right inside the basin with the hides and work with them. The carpet stores are an experience too. The merchants are very good at their jobs and try various techniques to get you interested in thier rugs. I had been through several of these experiences already, but somehow, I ended up buying myslef a magic carpet.........

Today we toured Volubilis - some ancient Roman ruins. Very similar to Pompei in Italy. I enjoyed it alot - I like using my imagination to reconstruct the ruins and picture how life was 2000 years ago! Also went to Meknes today and did some other sight seeing.

The Moroccan food is tasty - cous cous is a very popular dish and I have certainly eaten my share of that! Tagine is the name of a dish named after the name of the dish it is cooked in (if that makes any sense). Had a bunch of that too! The fruit juices here are amazing, and I have only shit my pants for one day so far! Since this is an Arabic country, alcohol is not common. There are many cafes, but the drink of choice is mint tea (which is pretty good, but not on a hot day when you'd love a beer). Speaking of hot, it gets down to about 30 at night and the daytime temperature has been about 38.

Tomorrow we head to the Sahara dessert. Last week it was 56C there. I've heard that it has since cooled to about 45 so that is good...