More Morocco

Hi,

 

today we've got the afternoon off and I've found a keyboard which is English so I can type a bit.

 

The last few days have been fantastic. Last night we slept under the stars in the Sahara desert and woke up at 4:30 am to ride a camel for half an hour to watch the sun rise over the sand dunes. An amazing sight - I took plenty of photos but can't download them at the moment.

 

Before that we spent a few days in Berber (the original people in Morocco) villages in the High Atlas mountain range. The huts are made out of the clay that is in the mountains so they look like they are a part of the mountain. Entire villages are made out of clay with wooden logs for a bit of framework and straw to help keep the clay together. When it rains (not that it appears to happen all that often) the houses need to be touched up because part of the walls and rooves wash away in the rain.

 

Before that we were in Marrakesh. The only part of the town we saw were the souks (markets) and the Jemaa el Fna (the main square). The souks are huge, they sell just about anything you can imagine and plenty of things you can't. Jemaa el Fna means the 'square of the dead' - it's called that becuase one Sultan used to display the heads of people who displeased him in the square. During the daytime there are snake charmers and story tellers (at least I think that's what they're doing but I'm not totally sure because I can't speak Arabic) and people with performing monkeys. At night, groups of musicians come out and play. There are also shady looking 'doctors' who sell all sorts of herbs and potions. There was even one 'dentist' who had a pile of old teeth - he could choose another for you if you were missing one.

 

We've come to Morocco during Ramadan so during the daylight hours no-one is allowed to eat or drink. This makes it a little bit tough sometimes to find something for lunch because most of the shops are closed during the daytime, but we always manage.

 

In some of the more country areas the Moroccan people have played drums and sung for us in the evening after dinner. It's pretty cool to listen to even though I can't understand what they are saying. I bought a drum in the souks at Marrakesh so I've been listening to try and get some pointers on how to play it Moroccan style.

 

Got to go now,

Pete