Post from Sue

Hi Everyone
We have been outside on email range for a few days. As Reggie wrote, we had a lot of fun in the Sahara, riding camels over the sand dunes, eating and sleeping under the stars, and experiencing the quiet AND the sand storms of the desert.

Since then, we have been in Todra Gorge, the Grand Canyon of Morocco, where we went hiking and rock climbing. It was very beautiful.

Then we drove to Ait-Ben Haddou which is a Ksar and a UNESCO world heritage site. The Ksar was very striking. On the way, we stopped at the Atlas film studios where Gladiator, the Ten Commandents and many other films where shot. That was good fun too.

We also went to a cooking demo, so we are now ready to cook Moroccan food, though we are probably not going to do that for a while since we are getting tired of the limited range of possibilities. Basically, they eat 3 things: tajine which is a stew; coucous; and brochettes which are grilled meats. After 13 days, it gets a little repetitive. There are also Pastillas but those are not available every where. Also, I think that French Fries are one of the four food groups here and are served with almost every meal.

We went up to the Atlas Mountains and stayed in a very rural village in a Gite (basic mountain lodge). We hiked in the Toubkal Mountains and enjoyed the tranquility of the scenery. There was very limited interaction with the locals as they mainly speak Arabic, French and/or a local berber language. They have an uneasy relationship with the tourists. Many earn a living from tourism yet they do not like their pictures taken and are having their whole way of life changed by tourism. It is a conflicted experience.

We are now in Essaouira, a seaside fishing city that used to have a large Jewish population. Most of the Jewish community left after the founding of Israel and after the 1967 war. Many of our guides have pointed out how sorry that there are about this. Often, they strongly identify as African or Berber and not as Arabs. More on the Berbers later.

Next Stop: Marrakesh. And, hopefully more internet cafes.

Sue