Hello from Casablanca and Rabat, Morocco
Date: 9/26/02 3:31:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time
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THE FLIGHT FROM NY was 6:30 hours; landed here at local
time 6:30am, or 2:30am EST in USA, 9:30am in Istanbul and
Jordan. Our 3-star hotel was arranged by the tour
company--Sunnyland Tours in New York, 3 nights included in
the tour price of 640 Dollars. At the hotel, Tom and I met
a couple from Miami, Jeremy and Isis; we could not have
picked a better travel friends. At 10:30am, 4 of us on the
tour rented a Mercedes with a driver and had a city tour of
Casablanca until 4:30pm, each of us paying 15 Dollar, and
making sure that the city itinerary included everything
noteworthy mentioned in the Lonely Planet book about
Casablanca. This is the way you too should do your
sightseeing in Casablanca and Rabat (one hour northeast
from Casablanca). Check Lonely Planet for places
recommended for seeing. Casablanca is a huge and vibrant
city of about 2 million. This is a relatively modem city
and does not offer the exotic settings of cities like
Rabat, Tangier, Meknes, Fez, Marrakesh, and more, which we
will see later on our 3-week tour. Tomorrow we will use the
same driver--for 800 Dirhams or 80 Dollars 20 each--to take
a day tour of Rabat, spend another day in Casablanca and on
the 28th proceed with the tour my friend Tom and I arranged
of our own. We will start that part by taking the train
north to Tangier, ferry to Gibraltar, 3-day drive thru
Andalusia (Gibraltar, northwest to Seville, southeast
toMalaga, west along Costa del Sol back to Gibraltar) back
to Tangier, train all the way east, with day-long stop in
Meknes, 6-day stop in Fez next, then a short stretch south
as far as the train goes. This will be about half our tour
and By then I will have sent several reports.

Again, find an introductory tour to this exotic land,
covering the first few days at the hotel, join with at
least 3 other people (total 4), study Lonely Planet for
each spot you want to visit, jot down a list, and do it. I
asked our driver to take to a place in Casablanca where we
can eat camel meat, including its testicles--which is
supposed to be specialized delicacy in these parts, as is
Mountain Oysters (testicles of butt) in Texas. So far only
Isis and I volunteered; Tom and Jeremy are making faces.


Hello from M'Hamid and the Sahara
Date:10/4/02 3:31:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time
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Well, Tom and I saw our remaining itinerary differently and
this morning separated paths; we will meet again probably
at Casablanka airport for our flight back to the LISA. And
talk about itinerary on the go, he rented a car for 4 days
and is heading directly south, presumably as of 9 am this
morn. I decided on the CTM bus from Fes to Marrakesh. We
had walked all day thru the endless medina of Fes
yesterday, almost all day, which I am told has nearly 9,500
very similar tiny passages. Though dead-tired, I could not
sleep because the room was hot, and I was worried that I
might not get up at 5am for my 6:30 am bus to Marrakesh. I
purchased the ticket to the latter, but on the way decided
that I should bite the bullet and continue to my end
destination, the Sahara, at M'Hamid, some 95 km south of
Zagora that was supposedly my end destination


The 9-hour ride to here over the Atlas mountains cost only
13 Dollars-, the 8-hour ride to the Sahara, the end of all
destinations, directly south from here, cost another I I
Dollars, VERY cheap. I am writing this message directly
from a cyber cafe at the famous Djemas el Fria square in
Marrakesh, also passing time to my bus at midnight. I have
no idea what I will find in M'Hamid; after a few photos, I
might be counting the sand until my bus back to Zagora late
in the afternoon, OR I find a camel tour there and head for
the desert for the night. To be more mobile, I took out my
small shoulder bag from the small backpack, took with me
only the essentials-, and left the rest at the bus Station,
prepaid for 4 days; the way they were stored, right on the
aisle, together with all others, I am not sure I will find
them again 4 days later.

As for Marrakesh, it is the most interesting Moroccan city
perhaps also the prettiest. In some ways the architecture
of reddish clay reminded me of Sedona, Arizona, but this is
infinitely more interesting. The activity at the square is
something to behold; it is a mad-house, with bewildered
tourists running in circles around everything. I should add
that Islam has much less influence in Morocco than any
other Arab-speaking country, though, of course, there are
some who wear the scarf; the girls are pretty and
flirtatious Tourism has opened up this culture, while it
still maintains some contact with its roots.


Hello from Barbary Coast (Agadir and Essaouira, Morocco)
Date: 10/7/02 1:44:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time
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Huh, I think I found a place that may be even hotter than
Miami at noon on a hot July day: the Sahara, hot like oven.
Reminded me of my days in Saudi Arabia. Loved it, but did
not stay overnight because it was all a tourist setup.
He)), I used to be as good as the Bedouin in the desert. .
. I paid a desert guide extra to let me ride the dunes with
his 4-wheel Toyota, but after 5 minutes he started
screaming NO in some language and finally gave me the extra
back. I guess the guy earns his living with it, so I
agreed, leaving the jeep on the edge of a high dune. He put
it in first gear to get out; I pushed the jeep from its
side on the outside so it would not roll, until we reached
down. I think he learned a new trick, but can be done with
at least 2 people. And I gained his respect as dune rider,
not a naive tourist.

The sands of the Sahara are beige in color, unlike the
crimson sand of Saudi Arabia, and more powdery. I also took
a 2-hour ride on a camel over the dunes. The most amazing
part of that experience was that the nomad boy who walked
ahead walked on bare feet on the sand, so hot that my feet
burned thru the sandals. To walk that way, one needs to
shovel the feet into the sand so that the toes push aside
the very hot top layer of the sand and bury the feet under
it. I used to be able to walk this way, but it takes
practice, especially climbing up, for the step one takes
forward is soon canceled with the running sand. Anyway,
even then the difference is instead of outright frying the
feet, this just broils them-, he had my respect.

After the 12 (not 8) hour bus ride from Marrakesh to
M'Hamid, and my play on the sand dune, I caught a bus back
the same afternoon. Sleepless for 2 days, I just could not
take the remaining 5 hours back to Marrakesh and stepped
off the bus in Warzazate and got a room. The next day, I
changed directions and decided to head west, over the Atlas
Mountains to Agadir, on the Barbary Coast and some 600 krn
south of Casablanca. The scene was exquisite. Agadir is
almost at the same latitude as Miami Beach; it is a
delightful place with a long boardwalk, more like the
Copacabana beach in Rio. From there I headed north to a
town called Essaouira, with a beautiful rampart surrounding
the old town. It is a very scenic town and full of
leisurely tourists. I decided to adopt Morocco as my
(another) home country. Though very few people speak
English, this was a fine visit, thanks largely to the
beauty of the country and the friendliness of its people.

A few hints if you decide to travel backpacker style. 1)
Have on hand the Lonely Planet book for the area,
especially if you will visit several places. 2) Collect
train and bus schedules-, they come handy if you do part of
your trip on the go. 3) By all means, bring along a roll of
toilet tissue. Many of the basic hotels in Lonely Planet do
not have paper in the bath. Bring along also a washcloth,
soap, shampoo, a small towel, etc. if some of your trip is
going to be on the rough or very basic. 4) Carry a copy of
the front page of your passport (and credit cards) away
from where you keep the passport- divide your money to 2 or
3 places on your person, just in case you are robbed. 5) Be
resourceful. If you have to go to bathroom and you do not
have your hotel yet, and what is available turns you off,
take a taxi to a 5-star hotel, enjoy, then take your time
to decide on a hotel. Taxi rates in Morocco are so low that
you can use taxis liberally.

OK, tomorrow I am heading back to inland, to Marrakesh. I
was there for about 6 hours already connecting to my bus to
the Sahara; this time, I will enjoy that city. From my
brief encounter I had very positive feelings about
Marrakesh, like it is perhaps one of the most vibrant, fun,
alive, and very pretty cities  an earth, a combination of
Italy, Spain, and Morocco.


Hello from Marrakesh; bye bye Morocco (page 2 missing)
Date: 10/10/2002 5:55:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time
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Friends, this trip is about to wind down. I was in
Marrakesh on the 4th, came back on the 8th to 10th. I had
already seen the activity at the famous Djemaa El Fna
square the first time I was here. While the activities, the
noise, the huge crowds are all addictive, part of my mind
became a spectator, a judge. On the one hand this seemed
like a county fair and 4th of July combined, AND for 365
days, every evening. Imagine. Yet, the thumbling, boxing,
snake charming routines with lethargic snakes would not
sell in the States, perhaps for only one night. I had the
feeling the locals secretly asking themselves what in the
heck so many tourists found interesting in this pedestrian
spectacle. But the event is certainly a money maker for
Marrakesh--though I was also told that 94 percent of the
foreign tourists do not return. (Personally I do not find
this shocking, as there are so many places to go.)

Anyway, this time I walked around the souqs, visited a
local handicraft museum of fine works of brass, glass,
inlaid metal and ceramics, carpets, what have you. I
visited the Badii Palace; the better Bahia Palace was
closed for renovation, and the Royal Palace was closed
because the King--Mohammed VI--was visiting in Marrakesh.
There is one custom in Morocco that I will adopt as soon as
get back home: the exquisite mint tea of Morocco, with the
whole . . .