Going to Cameroon

So, its official, we have our tickets to fly from Dakar to Douala on the 22nd of December after of 4 days of fighting with online travel agencies, who for some reason did not want to take our money, go figure. Big relief on our part, as we were looking at missing the holidays with him, arriving in January. Now everything is on track and we will be to Braggs place in Cameroon by the holidays. We will most likely be there for at least 2 months, traveling in Cameroon and becoming involved with some of the projects that he and other Peace Corps folks are working on.
Some have asked for a mailing address while I am in Cameroon. I have Braggs address below. Keep in mind that you need to have his name on it, and that it can take upwards of a month for letters and packages to make it there from the states.

Rev Brian Bragg
c/o Peace Corps
PO Box 215
Yaounde Cameroon

Morocco in a Nutshell

Hey there All,

So our time in Morocco is coming to an end as we make our way towards Mauritania and Senegal. So I figured it was about time that I listed a bit more about where we went and what we did. In the spirit of brevity, i figured I would describe some of the highlights of the trip thus far, and then for those of you who like to follow along on google earth, I have a chronology of our route listed with some of the place names.

Some of the highlights:
By far, the greatest highlight of the trip has been our host, they have made the trip what it has been. Ahmed and his friends, who first hosted us in Marrakesh were immediately our good friends and by the end after all of out time together, we were like brothers. In Marrakesh we would stay up late in the night drinking tea, joking and playing cards. Ahmed skipped his classes to join us for the trek in the Atlas where he acted as our ambassador to the local communities, making the whole experience much richer.

As we made our way Ahmad was always there to help us by text message, from telling us when Obama won to getting us in touch with friends to stay with. When we came back to Marrakesh we were welcomed as family complete with a feast to send off our traveling companion Sjoukje. Then Ahmed took to skipping class again to travel to his family in the south for a celebration of the birth of his first brothers first son. Among tremendous amounts of introductions and food we were given rings by his father, a jewelry maker, saying that he thought of us as sons.
Throughout the trip these personal connections with local people had made the experience much richer. Rather than just seeing places we have the great fortune to experience them with enthusiastic locals.

Evan, Sjoukje and I with our host Ahmed (in the back) and Hamdi (on the left).

Another of the highlights, aside from the trek and the Hammam, was a football match that we went to in Casablanca. Yet again this was the result of a great host who was nuts for his team, Raja. An entire day was dedicated to the event, with a pastry filled breakfast. The walk to the stadium was like walking towards a war zone, with hundreds of police and barricades. Our host explains how when Raja plays the other Casa team the whole city is full of riots, forcing them to play that match in other cities. After walking to the stadium and getting our tickets we got some more food and practiced the many cheers that were required to be a proper fan. We took our seats at the top of the stadium early to watch the place fill with madness. Throughout the match with Fes the majority of fans were on their feet reciting their well rehearsed cheers, which can be seen in this YouTube video,(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HbUGnOQ9tc) though our game lacked the fire. During the walk home from the match, which ended in a 1 - 1 draw, we saw the most dangerous football hooligans, 12 year old kinds. The police don't let unsupervised kids under 18 in because they are the crazed ones who threw things and started fights like a pack of ravenous monkeys.

Our group getting ready to enjoy the football match of Raja and Fes

The primary highlight that was not a direct result of our hosts were the roman era ruins that we explored in Rabat while waiting for our Mauritanian visas. The site was originally built buy the Romans, built on top of by one of the kings, and has since been overtaken by a colony of storks. The tranquil site was a nice break from the hassle of morocco and the bureaucratic hassles at the embassy.

Some of the ruins in Rabat

Enjoying the sites on the Sjoukjes last day, just as a huge group of tourists comes in like school children

Places we went; a Chronology

October
23rd - Arrive in Marrakesk.
26th - Marrakesh to Imlil, next to Jabal Toubkal for the 5 day trek.
31st - Imlil to Marrakesh, saddly not in costume.

November
2nd - Marrakesh to Ouarzazate, for our desert loop to Fes.
4th - Ouarzazate to N Kob to Tazzarine to Rissani, Lots of driving through beautiful desert.
5th - Rissani to Fes, to meet Hala and Adam for his birthday.
7th - Fes to Casablanca, change of plans, turns out embassies are closed on the weekends...
9th - Casa to Rabat, to get visas and enjoy some Roman ruins.
11th - Rabat to Marrakesh, received like family by Ahmed and crew to see Sjoukje off.
14th - Marrakesh to Essaouira, stayed with a cop friend of Ahmeds.
15th - Essaouira to Agadir to Bouzakarne, home of Ahmed.
17th - Bouzakarne to Tiznit, stay with more of Ahmed and his family.
19th - Tiznit to Tafraoute, relax for a while in the desert mountains.

Other Photos

Nkob, one of the desert towns we passed through.

The Hassan II Mosque in Casa. St Peters could fit inside the prayer hall.

The final pass on the trek.

The main square in Marrakesh during the day.


Same square in Marrakesh 30 min later, now ready to serve dinner.

Never Been So Clean

It has been a very busy couple of weeks as we have been touring Morocco with our fiend Sjoukje from the Netherlands. Yesterday after returning to Marakesh our trio meet with our host as well as Hala and Adam. Feeling rather durty we decided to try out the Hammam, or traditional bath house. We set off in the evening with our hosts, towels and soap to the neighborhood Hammam. After dropping the ladies off on their side, we entered the changing room, shedding all but the undies. We then descended into the hottest part of the Hammam, which is like a VERY hot sauna heated through the floor by a wood fire, which they also bake bread with. The first room in the Hammam is the cool down room, and the room get hotter the farther you go in. Usually you go to the hot room and work your way out.

After 15 min or so of laying on the ground softening-up we smeared ourselves with the traditional soap, which resembles a cross between molasses and grease, and continues to roast in the hot room. When sufficiently soft we moved from the very hot room to the hot room, We then took turns getting battered by the "rubber" who is the reason we got so squeaky clean. First, this 200 pound man, also only in undies, stretched me out. Not just a pre-game warm up, but a forced stage 3 yoga session. some of these poses included him, 200 pounds and all, sitting on my shoulders with me face down pulling my legs up over his shoulders, jamming my face into the hot tile floor.

After we were sufficiently loosened, the rubber then proceeded to scrub us down. All of I could think of to describe the feeling was like a dirty grill being scrubbed with a stiff metal brush, pealing of layers of old meat. It was not just a bit of dead skin, it was enough that it rolled up into spaghetti-like rolls, which were then washed off with plenty of buckets of cold water.

After our encounter with the Rubber we slowly made our way to the cooler rooms, and out. The whole ordeal took about an hour. Over our post-battering dinner we made plans to do it again, enjoying the experience immensely.



Today we said good bye to Sjoukje, who we could not convince to quite her nursing job and travel with us. We are currently in Marrakesh and are going to wake up early tomorrow to make our way to the coast with our host Ahmed. We will then begin heading south to Ahmeds home town to meet his family and attend his first nephews naming ceremony. After a few days of getting a first class tour of that area he will come back to school and we will continue heading south, with the deserts of eastern Mauritania in our sights.

More pics and stories of Morocco will come soon... ish.