**File Name:** tangier-medina-2004.jpg
**ALT Tag:** The bustling streets and ancient architecture of the Medina in Tangier, Morocco.
**Caption:**

Arriving in Tangier via ferry to start our Moroccan adventure.

Tangier & Marrakesh

Our first real adventure took us from the south of Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar and into Morocco. Some had warned against it but others had claimed it as the highlight of their travels… we decided to go with the latter.

We arrived via ferry in Tangier. Met some folks on the ferry with whom we shared a ride and dinner in Tangier. Warnings of Tangier being cruel to tourists looming, and sure enough, Rob falls into an unmarked hole in the sidewalk. And I mean INTO the hole, like no bottom in sight, up past the waist, hanging there.

Merely a flesh wound though, and we traveled on to Marrakesh via a 9 hour night train for about $20 or 200 dirhams. The night train was packed, no sleeping this night. So we hung out with the folks we met on the ferry, from U.S.A., Canada, and Brazil. Apparently they play ‘Asshole’ (a card game) in other parts of the world as well.

Marrakesh was our first real test and we managed to find cheap digs (about $10 total per night) together with our new friend from Brazil, Sa. The 3 of us spent a day getting lost in Djemaa el-Fna, the labyrinth marketplace filled with Berber tribespeople, snake charmers, and shops hawking varied goods of the locals. The night produced more of the same with cheap local eats and characters abound. At night they set up many different food stands with exotic foods like bowls of live snails, and BBQ’d lamb’s heads from which you could order a hunk. Now that’s good eatin’!

Local Guide Tip: Djemaa el-Fna transforms completely from day to night. To really experience Marrakesh, you need to wander the square under the midday sun and then return after dark when the food stalls fire up their grills and the storytellers arrive.

**File Name:** sahara-desert-camels-2004.jpg
**ALT Tag:** Riding dromedary camels across the massive red sand dunes of the Sahara Desert.
**Caption:**

Trekking into the Sahara Desert on our trusty, if slightly stubborn, dromedaries.

The Atlas Mountains & Sahara Desert

Morning came early for our guided adventure to the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara. Our bus was loaded with people from all corners, and a great group of people it would turn out to be. Long bus rides from Kasbah to Kasbah (fortresses made from mud and straw), which I think actually means ‘tourist trap’ in Arabic. The long bus time (about 12 hours) left much time to bond with our crew. A crazy group hailing from Finland, Tunisia via Germany, India via Britain, the Netherlands, Mexico, Slovenia, and France we rolled through the mountains and into our first night in the middle of a gorge at a great little hotel. Did a late night star gazing expedition on the rock cliffs watching for falling stars and satellites with some of our new friends. Even more vivid than up north, for those of us from Minnesota.

The next day was back to the bus. Stopped off for lunch in the next big gorge, which turned out to be a rock climbers haven. It was similar to Arizona landscape with many interesting formations and colors to the rocks. Couldn’t resist the urge to climb, so talked some local climbers into letting me have a go at it with them. Not so easy to convince them, especially with them speaking only Arabic and a bit of French. But we worked it out. Money is universal.

Lunch was excellent and cheap, eggs and stew for about 300 dirhams or $3. We arrived at the desert just in time for Corey to capture a pretty solid shot of the sunset. The sand is huge, and we’re only at the edge. We rode Dromedaries, camels with one hump, to our campsite in the Sahara. Of course Corey got the one that wouldn’t march in line, kept jerking his head, was foaming at the mouth, and felt like a metal bar up his ass. Ouch!

We joined a second group of similar mix and our Berber guides for a traditional communal Berber dinner. First you share a welcoming pot of mint tea, sweet with fresh mint sprigs. Excellent taste, like a mint julep. We ate lamb tajine with saffron with the group around huge plates of food, using only our hands. Think about that and the total lack of T.P. and washrooms and no wonder Corey got a little stomach issue. That didn’t stop us or Raikku and Nirav, our friends from Finland and Britain respectively, from hiking up a giant sand dune and beaching ourselves under the stars to have a late night joint chiefs of kif meeting. Muy tranquillo!

The next morning came very early as sunrise was like 4:30 or so. We hopped on our trusty rides for our venture back to civilization. The massive sand dunes blew our minds and the reds against the blue sky were picturesque to say the least.

**File Name:** fes-medina-tannery-2004.jpg
**ALT Tag:** Looking down at the colorful dye vats of the ancient leather tannery in Fes, Morocco.
**Caption:**

Getting a bird’s-eye view of the leather tanning process in the old city of Fes.

Erfoud to Fes

We decided that we would skip the return tour bus trip to Marrakesh in favor of finding a ride to Fes on our own. Nirav, and Roberto and Lizette from Puebla, Mexico decided to join us. We managed to hire a car from Erfoud, a small town at the edge of the desert, to Fes for 1000 dirham or $100. Not bad split 5 ways for a 6 hour car ride rather than the 11 hours a bus would take. After a sketchy start, where we thought we’d be left at the roadside minus our dirhams and packs, we rolled on with our driver Mohammed. He drove a 70’s model Mercedes diesel that overheated about every hour and he spoke only Arabic. But we all had many good laughs about his driving (think Cannonball Run) and learned some new phrases along the way.

Safely in Fes we all had a nice dinner with good live Moroccan entertainment. Here we are in Morocco and we all order Italian food. It was really good though and maybe a little necessary. First beers in a while too. No one told us they didn’t drink beer down here.

A friendly guy at our hotel, Mohammed, arranged a guide for us to the Medina or old city. We met our guide, Mohammed, and he showed us around Fes for about 3.5 hours. The tour included the inside of the city and the inner workings of the marketplace. We explored the tannery where they manipulate the hides into bags, shoes, jackets, etc. Interesting to see the entire process from a rooftop looking down on workers stomping hides into the vats and stripping them. There was a serious smell to this part of the tour as well. Smelled a bit like pigeon crap, guess that’s because it’s what they use for the process and we smelled the ammonia.

Time for us to part with Momo and he didn’t have any change. We were basically hit with an 80% tip, bringing the total to $20 for the tour. The guides make their extra money from commission on purchases and since we didn’t buy anything I guess he felt he needed to take matters into his own hands. Tried to argue but left it alone on better judgment, since we didn’t really know where we were.

When trying to pay for our room on our final night as we’d be leaving very early in the A.M., the friendly hotel clerk Mohammed insisted that we join him in the back part of the hotel (an apartment around a patio area). He and his friends invited us for some beers, smoke, tea, and eats. They were cooking traditional Berber food; lima beans and boiled porcupine. Seriously! After this the last night in Morocco was quiet and then a morning train back to Tangier. Everything went smooth and we made it to Granada, Spain the next night after 16 hours of train, ferry, and buses.

The people of Morocco were very friendly to us and we felt welcome everywhere we went. We were definitely left with a strong impression of how beautiful the country is and a feeling that we would like to go back someday.