Bonjour-Mundo!

Today is our last day in Marrakech, tomorrow we will be setting off for the coast. It has been an enjoyable time here; but I am looking forward to some relaxing on the beach, and mainly, what may hopefully be a break from the desert heat.

Yesterday we went to the Cascades de Ouzoud, they were relly beautiful and picturesque, but the area was much too touristy for us. Too many people and not very good food for too much money. There also wasnt any swimming as our guidebooks had promised; so that was a bit of a letdown. But, I was glad we went as they were pretty to see and once we managed to hike away from the packaged tourists it was really peaceful.

We have one week down and one left to go in Morocco, and then its off to Spain. So far even in just a week I have been able to see quite a few differences in the way of life between north and west africa; and Im super glad I have had the chance to have both experiences. At least so far in Morocco the Muslim religion seems incredibly more strict. Wine and beer are only found at super high price restaurants, needless to say we havent seen any. The majority of the woman here seem to wear head scarves, much more so then in senegal. Also, we have seen a decent amount with their faces covered as well, even some that were completely veiled, very eerie at least to my western eye. In addition, the calls to prayer are much more prevalent, we were not the happiest of travellers to find that the window of our hotel room opened up to the prayer calls of at least 10 mosques, loud and clear (and really long) at 430 in the morning.

Women also seem to not get the same respect as men. Whereas in Senegal we were often hussled to buy things; here it seems we are much more just bothered because we are women. The tea cafes are also a very odd sight. Not a single woman sits at these cafes…they are just men, all lined up in a row staring out at the passers by. Very weird.

For now my time is up;but I am looking forward to ocean waves and finishing up some market shopping and one last time to the food stalls in the evening in Marrkech. I will miss the circus and the wonderful mint tea.