ANDY’S TRAVELS & RANTS

in the high mountains again today. did a hike of over 1200 feet up to the top of the mountain. course was only about 4 miles long. but took a while to reach the top. Slovakia is great and cheap. good for and extended vacation. we are in the high mountains between slovakia and poland. the area was hit by a great wind a few years ago and the damage is still extensive. in a week we will post the pics of the stary smokovec area. the devistation is quite impressive. they are still removing debris.

just made a long post from slovakia and it went to never land,. well we are in slovakia met some cousins..stayed with them. the trip up from morrocco was not bad but will post pics when i get home because of computer problems here in slovakia.

andy

been in the desert for 5 days then made a drive though the high atlas mountains. the country is much greener near the coast than i expected. marrekech is a mixed city with african islamic and european influences. dress is of all types both east and west. women wear skirts or the traditioal dress. much shopping here plus a nice bazar, with snake charmers, henna painters and the like. rooms go from very cheap to very expensive. something for everyone. cant post pics because th internet is too slow. but in a few days on april 18 we are heading to germany and hope to pick up a better conntection to post some of the desert pics.
andy

cant make much of a post now, just finished 5 days in the moroccan desert. and the internet cafe is very crowded. when i get back to a faster connection i will post the rest of the info. desert was great. stayed in tents and experienced sand storms./ but more later\

andy

did a walking tour of the medina in sale (cant make the accent mark over the e) very interesting place with many nice resturants. took a walk down the ocean walk in sale. did find many women walking in western dress by themselves. this is an artists colony with many fine works and decorative doors )see pics\0 did talk with a local young adult woman who told us of many reforms under the new king. as of 2003 there have been the start of some rights for women. seems even some of the women want reforms but as a measured pace. people that we talked to seemed content, and happy with their type of life style. it is a secular govt. with religious overtones, but the king has the final say in many matters. education is excellent in the cities and is free through college, but out in the farm areas only elementry education at best is offered. great mix of western and eastern dress and styles, people friendly and very nice to be with. the new king has a >commoner> wife. and it is the first time in history that the common people have even seen the face of the wife of a king of morrocco. the king seems interested in reform but in this part of the world things including dinner move at a much slower pace than in the west. the kins wife is interested and visible in womens reform issues, she even wears blue jeans, a first for here.

Today we are going to Rabat’s Royal palace, the gardenss of the Chellah (necropolis) and andlusian gardens as well as the kasbah of the oudaya. Sale is a roman town and rabat’s sister town, seperated by a river. sale is the more ancient site with many sites from the days of the romans. will try to post pics if i can get more computer time.

andy 

im having some difficulty with the computer, the keyboard is not us style, so the keys are different than im used to. makes for some interesting typeing, since the setup is in French. but the price is right \9free\- so pardon the more than usual amount of mistakes

just got back from the hassan II mosque. it is the newest mosque here. it can hold upto 25.000 people in the interior. the roof also retracts and opens the entire mosque to daylight and for ventilation!!!. This evenng we also visited old town \Medinia shopping area in Rabat. this is also where we are staying tonight and tommorow night. Pea soup and lamb for dinner tonight. very good meal, lamb was excellent. The bazar was intersting because of the lack of any foreigners \like us\ we seemed to be the only western people in the bazar. no shops for the toursists. this was kind of refreshing not to see the usual “t” shirt type shops that cater to foreigners. all in all a very good experience. people for the most part are very friendly, but some take great exception to having thier picture taken, which Betty found out the hard way. this is truely a eastern meets western place. cloths are mix and match western and eastern. makes for some unusual combinations. \i am also keeping track of the treck with my GPS unit and will down load our travels to Google earth to see exactly where we go in the towns and expecially out in the desert. later andy and betty

we arrived in morrocco today. after 3 flights and one delay. they are buiding on to the airport and cutstoms was a bit slow. casblanca is a very beautiful city. intersting beach area. weather is still a bit too cold to take advantange of the water. by the way we are using a morroccian key board and all the letters do not align withe the standard us board. so typing can be quite a challange. im going to see if i can start posting pictures on the site. not sure when i will find another computer to use. we, by the way have moved out of casablanca \9quite expensive\- to Rabat. found a great plance to stay on the water.,

ive seen some posts on the clothing styles it seems , just in the first day to be a mix a western and eastern \09islamic\- its not unusual to see a mother dressed traditional with her kids in jeans and baseball caps. i

we are going to marrakesh and then on to the atlas mountains with five days in tents in the desert. if you have any questions alonng the way let me know

anbdy

transitioned the rv from flordia to cleveland, ohio. made the drive in 2 days (about 18 driving hours) and now we have a few days to pack for the trip. got a “world phone” from Mobal communications. its a gsm phone and seems good amost anywhere for emergency use. I like it in case of emergency because we will always have the same phone number.

Well we are doing the final trip prep. have been in contact with our person in Slovakia and have arranged a date to meet around apr;20. to do the genealogy on the Slovakia part of the trip.

This trip is in three parts. - Morooco - Germany to see Betty’s son Jeff at school outside of Frankfurt and the genealogy part in Eastern Slovakia/

Well times wasting and i still have to set up the rv before i can leave the campsite and go home to pack for the trip to Africa and Europe.