Eating around Morocco

Morocco is so much fun when you are allowed to eat.......almonds, olives, goat cheese, tanginge, poulet roti, brochette, almond butter, gelatto, fresh orange juice, mint tea, cafe au lait....and it is just beginning.

In Chefchaouen today. Feels like a fairytale town with brightly colored buildings, winding lanes and staircases with a mountain backdrop and shopping pâradise. Here for another day then on to Fez on Tuesday.

Must go eat some more.

Mahdia

Wow I realize how this blog needs to be updated, that pic is pretty old. Anyways the trip is going well. Tunisia is nice. We compâre it alot to Morocco and it does not fare so well. There is a tonne to see if one likes ruins, but dad warned they only wanted to see a few. We saw amazing ruins in western Tunisia, call Dougga a few days ago. Tomorrow we go to see a huge colosseum called El Jem. Today we wandered around the Mediterranean city we are in, called Mahdia. I am incredibly lazy this trip and reading far to mcuh. Oh well it is vacation.

Tunis

I remembered my password so thought a quick post was in order. Had a great two days in Tunis with the family. Yesterday it was warm, around 25C. Tricia and I got lost wandering around and it was fun. Funny how now getting lost is fun, remembering the Eastern Europe trip, even though at times I still need the security of a map. Tricia and I were laughing thinking about how much we fought on that trip but how that trip was our true intro into challenging travel.

Today we went to Carthage and wnadered around some of the ruins. It was great. Mom is having so,e trouble with her foot but she managed o.k.

So Tunisia is great. Very laid back but crowded. Tunis is beautiful, the people are friendly but not to pushy. It has been awesome. And we are even getting along.

Tomorrow we go to Le Kef which is in the west near the Algerian border.

Happy New Year.

Sorry re. typos this keyboard is arabic and the keys are different and I am to lazy to fix the typos.

Marrakesh

So for those who actually read this thought I would update because Tricia is sick. She got a bad stomach flu the night before our long train ride. So dad and I went on ahead so we would not lose the hotel. Tricia puked her gutts out, loaded up on gravol, and made it here a few hours later with mom. But she is still sick, not eating anything yet, and minimal energy for exploring which really sucks since this is a fabulous exploration place. Dad keeps talking to all the touts which is annoying, but he likes to talk so whatever. They are riding on a tour bus and I am doing my thing. Tomorrow we go to Ait Benhadou, where they filmed Jesus of Nazareth, Gladiator etc. Hope she is better tomorrow.

We got back from an overnight hike yesterday. It was 32km long, it was Mikes first real hike and he did really well. Looking back I realize how mean that was, making him carry his stuff and go for 32 km. But he really liked it. It was beautiful along a canyon and it was relatively easy. Although there was some rock climbing portiong in the begining, kinda tricky with a pack. We are stuck in Myvatn because I didn´t read the bus schedule right. So just resting after our long hike. Heading off tomorrow, to a place that I forget how to spell and can´t pronounce.

Icelandic Story

Well I have my first good Icelandic story. Today we were got off our bus, and as it was pulling out of the parking lot, Mike realized he had forgotten his camera on the bus (we were inside an information building). With my backpack on, I started running after the bus waving my arms in the air trying to catch the drivers attention. Of course it didn´t work. The bus went out of sight and I was just starting to walk when a girl called out from her vehicule that she would take me to the bus. So I hopped into the vehicule figuring an Icelandic girl seemed pretty harmless. She tried her best to catch the bus. I kept saying how greatful I was and she said "this is a government vehicule, so the government is paying for it" and laughed. We caught the bus shortly after and found the camera. Poor Mike of course had no idea where I was because he had still been inside when I took off in the vehicule. And when he went outside, I was gone. So we found him running down the road looking for me.

What a nice thing to do for a strange tourist!! I told her that I already thought Icelandic people were so lovely, but now I had definate proof. She laughed and said she was glad I would have a story that made Icelanders sound like wonderful people.

I guess I´m not really one to talk about not reading blogs or commenting, I only occasionally check blogs and rarely leave comments. But Sarah it´s nice to hear from you, it´s been a while.

Aunt Noreen, that´s really exciting about Emma Rose. I will look forward to hear about her progress!!!

Dear Tricia and Aunt Noreen

Since you two are clearly that only ones that care, I will just adress this post to you.

That sucks Tricia about the flights. Probably something will come up agan, just keep looking. I´m still in for Morocco if everyone else is. Heck I´ll go alone.
Went into a great knitting store yesterday. They were selling lopi light for 350kroner (around $4). Does the website say how much it is at that factory? She had the skirt I want to make there. It was in brown...and so pretty. Also go a great idea for a felted hat from ones I´ve seen in the tourist shops. Hotmail won´t work on this computer so I can´t check to see if you emailed me the link for the directions. If you want wool for any specific pattern just tell me, as they will probably have all the books there and I could get it for you. I will try my best to get there.

Had the best bus ride ever yesterday. The fun began shortly out of Rekyjavik with about 30 horses blocking the road for 10 minutes. Then it was sheep at random times. I hadn´t realized what our bus pass entitled us to, so we ended up going to geysir and gulfoss again (meaning I wasted 100 each on the tour....oh well). But it was nice to see it again. Then the craziest roads ever and just dirt roads. Thank god I didn´t decide to rent a car....I can´t imagine driving on these roads. The driver kept letting us off for "photo stops" and then frantically counting after to make sure he wasn´t leaving anyone in the wilderness. There was seriously no houses for 5 hours of the trip. Definate wilderness. We had lunch at a nice hot spring.

Keeping up the tradition of nightly swims in the local hot pool. I love it. Plus then I don´t have to use the dirty shower at the camp ground. They make you shower naked before and after the swim in an open shower room, which is kinda uncomfortably but whatever.

Today we went whale watching. We saw a humpback whale, minkes whale, and about 10 dolphins. We both suck at getting good pictures, but it was funner just watching them. Sorry no pictures yet, internet is cheapest at the libaries but no USB ports. And I was too cheap to do it in Reykjavik where it was so expensive.

Tomorrow going to Myvatn for the weekend and probably doing an overnight canyon hike.