Tangiers to the train

 Goodbye Tangiers!

I’m writing this post from a train that’s going 320 kph. It’s insanely cool. We are heading to Casablanca again to catch our flight tomorrow to Egypt.

We opted for a driver for this leg so we could visit Chefchouen, the blue city. Glad we did as Chris had tanked in the night with fever, so we changed course and had our dude take is straight to tangier. I swear our man belongs in Nascar. It was a very fast but lightly harrowing drive.

So I don’t have much to say about Tangiers as Chris had a flu (and I can feel the little virus bastards clinging to my body as well) and we rested. But.. Checking in at the Hilton I mentioned Chris was sick and the lady peeked at him miserable on the cough and gave us a super upgraded room, so that was really awesome. We slept the whole first day and I went on a solo journey to find him throat stuff and juice.

I ended up in a mall and all malls look pretty much the same. Found the grocery store and got lemonade, fruit punch, orange juice and milk for tea.

Everything but the OJ was milky and the OJ was tang. Arabic is tough to learn and their food photography misleading.

                                                      "lemonade"

Next day headed to DHL to ship some stuff home as we have a better sense of how much we actually don’t need (or want to carry) and unloaded the souvenirs thus far. DHL took forever but it’s all security cleared and customs ready now so that’s great.

Had a really good lunch on the walk back.. got the platter for 2. Ate half of it and asked for a go bag, and the server says, “you don’t want the chicken? It comes with a whole chicken. It’s almost ready” and we laughed and let them keep the chicken and the dessert course that no doubt followed that. The whole meal cost less than 20 bucks. Just insane food culture here.

I should add that while the rest of Morocco had to deal with French colonizers, Tangier got Spanish ones. There’s a quick ferry that will take you across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain so it’s a huge European gateway to Africa. Much more diverse than what we’ve seen so far.

                                                                this is what you get when you order juice.

Back to the hotel to rest and get properly healthy.. but on the pretty awesome pool deck with views of the whole city. We had a bunch of beautiful fruit juices and a couple with rum in them, lol. Then a quick dinner on the rooftop and bed. Got to the train station which was right across from the hotel and are currently soaring through space and time at 320. 

I had a bag of nuts and Chris had a box of nerds for breakfast.

Arrived at the hotel in Casablanca by the airport for our 1pm flight to Cairo tomorrow. By Morocco, please do figure out the color cheese should be.

                                                         (that's not mustard)

Kisses!!!

Somewhere near the Sahara

 


This photo should be accompanied by another that I can't find right now, but it looks much like this with a grid laid out on the dirt with reeds going back from the road several feet. I asked our driver what it was and he said, "It's to keep the desert from spreading"

Wow. I knew the Sahara would be wild, beautiful, alien looking... I did not consider that it was a rolling waste that consumed everything in it's path. The sand blows on, coating and killing the living plants, breaking them down in it's caustic oven over time and expanding it's reach. 

And humans who search every day for shelter, water, shade - are building little grids out of sticks to hold back the onslaught of sand.

The incredible perseverance of these humans, the so very visible effects of climate change, the quiet acceptance of a difficult life faced with elegance in it's own way... I was just struck with the contrast between their world and mine, and the stark reminder that it's all the same planet in the end.

Fez

 Fez!

back to our awesome driver for an 8 hour drive to Fez. Stopped at a few little towns for bathroom breaks and food things. The scenery went from desert to mountains to forests... almost felt like the drive from Osoyoos to the coast lol. 

Slight detour to the monkey forest.. They are Barbary Macaques and they are endangered. Local kids give you nuts to feed them and take your pics... it's a great side gig for them. The monkeys asked for food by tugging on your skirt and will hold your hand.. but one baby kept climbing the tree and jumping on my head. If I look afraid at the beginning it's because I have a slight childhood trauma involving a monkey.. but these guys didn't get tangled in my hair at all!

Short time later we arrived in Fez to another beautiful Riyahd (I don't think ugly ones exist).

so every Riyad is a series of rooms around a central courtyard. To be a Riyad it must have water in the middle and a tree. Literally mandatory. Every home must have marble, cedar, plaster, mosaic and water source.

the water source.

We went for a crappy dinner of pizza as we were exhausted, but I am very pleased to report cats do grow on trees here.

We hired a local guide for the next morning as this is the Medina in Fez (ancient market); it's the largest in the world and a complete maze.

like, every building you can see in this was built around the 13th century. It's insane. So our new friend Abdul (and the best guide ever) took us around to see whatever we wanted.

this is how mosaics are made, generationally and by hand with natural clay and dye. 

grocery shopping area

communal;l bakery. Everyone makes their bread and brings the dough to this massive wood oven where the bakers bake it.

a cool lentil soup with olive oil from this huge clay vessel I had to try. It was really, really delicious.

this is a typical sight of inside the Medina. there's over 10 thoudand "roads" like this, many full of people, carts, donkeys, motorcycles, stray dogs and partially employed cats.

peeking into a central mosque. Only Muslims allowed in though.

this is actually a road, connecting a food area to the tannery district. Little doors on the sides lead to peoples homes. Our guides was raised in the Medina and absolutely everybody knew him. Fistbumps and treats for the children, hugs from the elders.. it was so neat to see the community interact like that.

Next to the tannery, still inside the Medina, also build in the 14th century.

The view from the top of it was incredible. You had to hold mint under your nose because ammonia is what tans hides and they get theirs from pigeon shit. They tan cow, sheep, goat and camel.

These are the very ancient stone cats for tanning and the families that have handed down the ways for many hundreds of years.

On the left in the white vats are limestone for the acid to break down the hides. The rest are pigeon shit with natural dyes - saffron,indigo, and cobalt, red is poppy, black is charcoal and orange and brown are henna. The smell could drop you to your knees. Somebody may have a custom red camel leather jacket being made right now lol)

This is one of the oldest houses in the Medina, the guide thought around 1100.

Then on to see the weavers.. the men do the clothes and scarves, the women do the carpet.

she gave me permission for the photo but had to adjust her scarf first. One does not directly photograph women without express permission here. She's making a rug tapestry from camel hair (yup they have to shave camels, I asked) from a pattern in her head. She learned the skill at her mothers knee.

This is the family water source in the weaving house. Left tap is drinking water for the family. Middle is for rainwater collected for washing and such, and right is for absolutions before prayer.

I asked how many rugs were in there and the guy immediately said, 7300. He did inventory yesterday lol

This is the one I want. It is died with indigo and mint in different stages of growth to get the different shades and took a year to make.

I call this street bbq alley. The smell is awesome and the most cats are here.

I got the stuff from the big copper kettle stuffed into bread as a sandwich. Some of it was chicken?

building my feline army. There's 4 in this photo. Shopkeepers kept trying to chase them away.

DONKEY

CANDY. I thought it was Halwa but it is basically Italian Torrone. This guy was so sweet and made up a whole new mixed pack for us that the bees hadn't touched yet.

Last stop of the day was the scarf weavers. 

Berber stylez

Sahara Sunset

 We loaded up and headed toward the desert. The drive was breathtaking, winding roads up and down mountains and a stop at the Gorge of Todgha, with it's impressive rock walls surrounding a popular swimming river. We are here in the off season so we are seeing more ocals than tourists by far, and that's how I love it! So many families joyfully splashing around and laying on the rocks.

The goats did not care about me at all.

I tried to feed them grass that I had picked with some difficulty. No dice. The animals here are not part of the tourist industry, that much is clear lol.

Back in the car to a roadside lunch stop and so our driver could pop in the mosque to pray. It was the first meal here I completely finished, an incredible chicken olive lemon tagine.

Then on to the desert... we picked up some beer and our driver found us a cafe we could drink it at... on the top floor away from all customers and very secretively, ha. It was cold and deli cious. We were killing time to arrive at the desert closer to sunset so we didn't incinerate upon arrivall.

We also hit a police checkpoint which involves either paying or letting them check your vehicle for every safety measure ever. We chose the latter and the police offered Chris a sip of espresso. Chris drank the whole shot fast and they had a good laugh at us.

We decided last minute on an ATV tour through the dunes before the camel ride and it was one of the best things I've ever tried!

sand angel.

I was so proud of myself for driving all over the sand dunes and having a great time but when it was done a young child hopped on my ATV and zoomed away with much more skill than I exhibited. 

Next was camels to our camp.. much bunpier and slower than the ATVs.

After a very long trek we arrived at our "camp" for the night, a luxtarsury experience unlike anything I've ever seen. Again, low season. We were the only guests. We were served a comically large dinner and then showered and watched the stars come out on blankets in the middle of nowhere. It was something I've always wanted to see and life delivered. I may have cried a little at the milky way.

"camping"

this was all for the 2 of us lol.

Slept like a baby, huge breakfast, then 4x4 to the driver. Currently on an 8 hour drive to Fez. 

Almost forgot, we got to see 2 fennec foxes! another bucket list item crossed off.