finally some computers

We are now in Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. It is a relatively small port town, with a lot of fishing boats and a nice beach. We're spending three days here to relax and decompress before it's back to the chilly USA.

Marakesh was wild. It is by far the most tourist populated city we have been in so far. This is a plus and minus. It is really fun and never seems to sleep, but it can get tiring after a while. One rule of thumb we discovered very quickly, STAY AWAY FROM THE MONKEY MEN! If you want the lively bazaar experience, this is the place. Huge medina with markets and craftsmen everywhere. Spices, clothes, shoes, dates of all varieties. At night the square transforms into a huge party. Storytellers, musicians, henna artists, snake charmers, carnival style games. Rows of tables are set up in the middle of the square. You can get different food in different stalls, snail soup, kebabs, sheep's heads, lamb. Each stall has a cook or two and a few hawkers who try and pull people into their stall. The stalls are numbered and there are usually only a table or two in each. It doesn't matter how soon you have eaten, you can always eat again. I can't tell you how many times we would decline by saying we just ate and then they say, 'but you look so skinny'.

We've spent the last week on the guided part of our tour. Exploring the desert and seeing the breathtaking Ziz valley. We spent several amazing days getting to know more about the nomadic cultures and people that make up this area and still live there today. We rode camels (Shelley's had just apparenty come away from a large feast of beans), toured through kasbahs and ksars (large adobe compounds where families and whole tribes live), camped out overnight in a Berber style tent camp amidst the dunes, drove through Ouarzazate where the king is visiting right now, visited family farms and homes, attended a small performance of Ghanan musicians, and so many other things I can't list them all here.

One of our favorite things was the time we spent with our guide Tata. When you travel it can sometimes be difficult to get past the typical tourist experience and really get a taste of the local day to day, espcially if you are not spending much time in one place. Tata took great pains to explain and show us about life in the Ziz valley. Our experience was so much richer with him to add the extra details we may have missed. Everyone in the valley seems to know him. His main business is dates, but he also works with Journey Beyond Travel to serve as a local guide. Not only that but he is president of a local association which helps people in need.

Many of the cultures here are still semi-nomadic, or maintain a traditional lifestyle. Needless to say it is not an easy life, and many people are underserved by the government and the tourist revenue. Tata's association helps those who have nowhere else to turn or assistance. Through small donations from businesses, tourists, and local contacts he helps to give people even small basic necessities that can make all the difference.

Now that we have some computers available to us we can post a little more about some of the other things we've done. Also, we probably won't be posting much of the pictures until we get back. Photobucket changes the picture quality slightly, so we've been posting to photoshop.com. I don't think you can make that album public.

Now my fingers are tired and it is time for lunch.