Bonjour-Mundo!

 First, announcement. For all of you who have been curious, Alex has officially decided to accept a position in the masters program at the U of MN, Twin Cities. Thus the two of us will be in good old Minneapolis for at least the next two years. So, get excited to have us around for a bit after we finish travelling!

Second, Emily and I have now completed our circle in Morocco and are back in Casablanca. However, this was not the original plan. The original plan was not to get back until tomorrow afternoon after a fun filled two days in the wonderful beach town of El Jadida; or so our guidebooks promised…This, unfortunately was not the case.

 We left essouaira early early on Wednesday morning after having a very wonderful time there. The city was charming and peaceful full of lots of great cafes and beautiful ocean views. I was a little sad to leave. But our plan promised fun on the beach in the next town too. We arrived in El Jadida about 5 hours later by bus, and walked down to our hotel. The place was enormous with huge rooms. Very old and kinda creaky, but it seemed nice and we were to pay 3 dollars each a night with a view of the ocean. So far so good. (Little did we know that later at night the hotel would just seem kinda creepy. Emily mentioned today that it kinda seemed like a place for a mystery novel or something.)

Then we went out to look around. The city had a very odd vibe. Hardly any tourists, and certainly no western women. Lots of those cafes I had talked about before that are all men that just stare you up and down as you walk by, ick. We finally found a restaurant that served food and looked decent. But it was not so good. They didnt have half the food on the menu and the food they did have was particularly awful, especially emilys pasta. Who knew you could screw up spagettii?

Em and I decided we deserved some ice cream after a meal like that. We went on a long hard search for some. Announcement: There is NO ice cream in El Jadida. (We did find some really awful stuff, but I refuse to classify it as ice cream) What? Whats a girl to do? We even went to the ice cream shops that had pictures of yummy sundaes all over their signs, nope we were told, no ice cream until june! Boo to them. We went into a grocery store to buy some cookies for later at that point. The grocery was the most awful depressing sight. The shelves looked as if they hadnt been stocked in ages; the lights were pretty much out, and there was no refridgeration. And; Emily discovered later that one of the packages of cookies she had bought had nice little nibble holes on the back! Mice in the grocery! ISH! That about did it and we decided no more El Jadida for us thank you.

The only plus side was the old cistern in the portugese city part of town. Its this old eerie well/resevoir thing. When you go inside it at first glance looks like a large moldy room with a bunch of water on the floor. But then, as you look around, its really pretty cool. It was used in the filming of Othello, and looks extremely shakespearan. Its got all these huge old arches and colomns and because of the one circle letting light in in the middle, they all reflect onto the floor. It creates a really stunning effect with the light, and the pictures I took I think actually may turn out very cool. PS. I am eventually hoping to get you all photos, my camera just doesnt work with these computers yet.

In any case, for now, we are back in Casablanca, have had our fill of delicious ice cream and chocolate crepes, and are very satisfied. We will be taking a day trip to the capital city of rabat tomorrow, and then its on to Spain on saturday! I hope you all are doing well!

We have sucessfully departed Marrakech and made our way to the beaches of the coast. Yay, its lovely! Things here are much more laid back, and its a really nice atmosphere.  The medina has lots of little stone streets and then opens up to the sea and nice long beach.  Its also not even windy like the guidebooks warned. Theres tons of shops and lots of wooden crafts, jewelry, and art.

Upon arriving it took us a million hours and lots of wandering to find our hotel; tucked away on a side street of the medina. But once we found some one to lead us there; it worked out nicely. Our room is huge, and although slightly weathered and showing its age, we are spoiled for 4 dollars a night a piece.

Yesterday we wandered the streets and walked along the beach. We even had gelato and ate and a super cute little Italian place, Kate you would have been proud. And; they have wine here; so we finally got to try some moroccan wine; which was great. 

Also yesterday; senegalese hospitality was again showcased. Emily and I wandered into a  little jewelery shop along one of the streets and Emily recognized some of the jewelry to be from a people near senegal. The owner was impressed by her knowledge asked if she spoke wolof and then he was thrilled to hear that she did. The two of them took off into a conversation, and later we walked by the shop again to buy some earrings; and no sooner were we brought tea, stools to sit on; family pictures to look at; and then a bit later, as I tried to say we were hungry in an attempt to get the price bargaining going; wonderful hot sugared crepes and yogurt. We ended up talking to the man and his brother in his little tiny shop for next to 2 hours, and although we said we couldnt make it; he even offered us to come back for lunch the following day. The guy actually spoke 6 or 7 languages; and so was switching back from wolof and french with emily to spanish with me.  They were really sweet people; and it was fun to talk with them for a bit. 

 Today we hope to enjoy the beach and then tomorrow we are moving on up the coast.

I am now in Marrakech, Morocco; and I can say without a doubt it is one of more fantastic and exotic places I have ever been. And I love it.  But first things first. Casablance ended up very well yesterday. Emily ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hey all, I have successfully made it to Morocco. Nothing too exciting to report as of yet, except for the ticket agent in Dakar who tried to tell me my ticket reservation wasnt vaild. Brief heartattack on my part; but after ... [Continue reading this entry]