Trip starts April 24 with flight from RDU-->Paris-->Rabat, we hope. I'm not expecting to have anything to post on the 20th, so I'll just do this now (a week early) to get the blog set up!
Morning walking tour through a bunch of market areas--as usual, separate districts for wood, iron work, textiles, etc. Got bread fresh from the wood oven. Then to a carpet store for a very interesting presentation about different styles of carpets, Ice cream for lunch, then home for a nap (already in the 90's). Late afternoon crazy carriage ride, with horses, cars, busses and a million motorcycles all sharing the road. One of our horses was white with an orange mane and tail (henna) Nice Spanish/Italian meal for a break, then home exhausted to laundry and bed!
Another amazing day! Started with a camel ride across the dunes. The camels here are single hump, so each person gets their own. No muzzles on these camels, but they were very well behaved. Next stop was to learn something about gnaouan music (people from father south in Africa who ended up in Morocco). We had a lesson on drumming, then played along to a couple songs. Next stop a nomadic family. They stay in one place for the winter now, and have built an adobe house (with solar power) in the desert near a well. Climate change means the desert is expanding, so not clear what will happen. As usual in Morocco, we were served mint tea and homemade bread. They mostly make money now by renting out their the camels for tourists. Soon they will head to the High Atlas to get out of the heat. Then to our tent camp. Rather miserable afternoon-- temperature 100+ degrees and windy so sand everywhere. But then it finally cooled off enough to enjoy a bunch more activities: watched them prepare the c...
Today was a relatively quiet day. Made our way from our lovely, simple riad in the m medina (photo shows the central courtyard) to the completely different modern hotel where the tour will start. Went to the Museum of History and Civilizations. Nice small museum with some beautiful Neolithic (and Roman) artifacts, but I think we're spoiled by having spent so much time in Greece and Italy. Then to the botanical garden, which turned out to be a pleasant park, but didn't feel like a botanical garden to us as the plants weren't labeled. Maybe we're just tired from the 9 miles we walked yesterday! Met our group for dinner... Seems like a nice bunch, and clearly our tour guide has a good sense of humor!
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