Rabat, Morocco & Cairo, Egypt

After our trek we went to Rabat to relax for a bit. Even though it is the capital of Morocco, it is much more laid back than Marrakech. We arrived on the 21st and had 2 Heinikens overlooking the main road of Rabat then walked through the medina to find some food stalls for dinner. Even the medina is slightly more relaxed without as many pushy souq owners. The next day was the beginning of Ramadan and we learned that most stores do not open unill around 11:00 am, if they open at all. There were not many people walking around town so we decided to walk through some Roman and Islamic ruins, the Chellah. It was cool and they had a some interesting flowers throughout the gardens. Since everything was shut down, we walked on the beach for a bit (the only thing we could think of that is free). It was hot so there were a lot of people swimming - the women swim with all their clothes on. On the 23rd more people seemed to be out and about and we headed to the old Kasbah to look around. It is right on the ocean looking over to it's sister city Sale. All the buildings were whitewashed and look very different than the homes inside the city. There were many fisherman on the piers and Ben was not impressed with their skills - we did not see any of them catch a fish and according to Ben they were fishing in the wrong spot.

Then it was off to Cairo, but first we needed to mail off a tea set that we bought in Marrakech. What a disaster - their Postal service makes ours look great!! After standing around for an hour and a half just to buy a box and bubble wrap, we had to leave to catch our train to the airport - not even succeeding in mailing our package. But we made it to the airport on time to catch our flight and landed in Cairo at about 1 am (of course one of our glasses broke since we had to check the tea set). We went to see the Great Pyramids of Giza (the guy that took the picture below just threw those on our heads and grabbed our camera claiming it was free - naturally he wanted some money afterwards and when he did not get any he got mad and ripped them from our heads), the Egyptian Museum, and got lost walking around Islamic Cairo for about an hour. We planned on staying in Cairo for 4 nights, but realized that the train to Aswan (our next destination) was 14 hours so we had to leave a day early and catch an overnight train.

You can see all of our pictures on our Flikr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99157019@N00/

Don't forget if you want to e-mail us it is: benandkristingo@yahoo.com

Berber's and Blisters

After several days in the big city, we decided to move on to something more peaceful and up our alley, hiking! The premier hiking destination is the Atlas Mountains, about 2 1/2 hours east of Marrakech. The highest Mountain in North Africa, and the second highest in all Africa only to Kilimanjaro, the Toubkal. We didn't know what to expect from the hike or the travel to get there, as all the travel so far has been very difficult since languages can range from Berber, Arabic, or French. After finding out where to catch a "Grand Taxi" (normally a 4 dorr Mercedes) we caught a "Petit Taxi" to that spot. As soon as we stepped out of the Petit an English speaking man said "You go to Imlil? I have English speaking driver, for 300 Dirham ($35)". We did not bargin at all, which is customary for everything in Morocco, and said OK. After our previous travel experiences in the country and the language barrier, you could say he had us at Hello. It would only be later that we found out a Brit we met had paid about $50 Dirham for the same ride, but hey $35 for a 2 hour cab ride works for us. In our cab with us was the nicest person we had met in Morocco yet. A 20 year old Berber (Berber's are the mountain village people that occupy the Atlas Mountains) named Ahmed who wouldn't you know it, his family ran a house and guide service out of Imlil. Coinceidence? I think not, but he was genuine, unlike the snake charmer and cabbies of Marrakech. So genuine that we stayed at his house and did the entire 7 days through his suggestion. His mother cooked us the best lunch and dinner we have had in Morrocco. A salad of onion, tomoatoe, cucumber, and spices followed by a huge Tagine of carrots, onions, potatos, cabbage, and chicken (likely killed that hour). Dessert was bannana pudding, grapes, and other fruit, and as with every meal, Mint tea. Dinner was along the same lines, and the best part...the room was $150 Dirham ($15) and the meals $50 Dirahm. Ahmed, Kristin, Ben and Hassan

The next day we started a six day hike of the high Atlas Mtns., and plan to summit the 4,247 meter peak of Toubkal (Tube-Cal). The next morning we met our guide, a 21 year old named Hassan, also from the same village as Ahmed. He speaks Arabic, Berber, English, Spanish, French, and is touching up on his German. Pretty good for quitting school at 15. Our other guide is also named Hassan, but doesn't speak English, and mainly stays with the mule. We have nicknamed him "Beastmaster". Hassan quickly took over the lead for "nicest Moroccan". He is a great guide, if only we could have gotten him to quit waiting on us hand and foot, or eat a meal with us. Hassan - the guide

The first day of the hike was about 5 miles, and besides being about 100 degrees, was not that hard. We talked a lot with Hassan about different things, especially America and Obama. It is interesting to hear their opinions on our country, and how much the President really does represent foreign view of Americans. Basically Bush changed the American people into bad, and now Obama has "changed" us to good people again. We tried to explain that they don't change us, and only about half of the people ever agree with an issue anyway. I don't think he understood this, as in Morocco you do not talk bad about the King whether you like him or not. He did tell us of the King's 3 going on 4 "Cheeky" wives, who have changed Morocco for the worse, in his opinion. They appear in public, go on vacation, and don't cover their faces....Crazy right? We also discussed Michael Jackson! Even at 9,000 ft, in rural Morocco, you can't get away from MJ. We let him listen to some MJ on our Ipod, as he needed some new tunes, since his only song was "she's a lady", by Tom Jones or Wayne Newton (we couldn't remember).

Day 2 of the hike was BRUTAL and I have the blisters to prove it. We hiked about 2500 meters in elevation, to a pass of 3550 meters in about 2 hours. The first night we slept in a hotel like Kasbah, that was gorgeous, the second night we slept in a mud hut used for sheep, and with in 30 yards of 2 cows, 4 donkeys, and some goats. We are still not sure what to expect.

Days 3/4 were fairly Easy, with about 5/6 miles a day. The blisters were very raw, and going into our hardest 2 days. Ben ceased wearing his boots, and wore his Teva's after day 2, even up the summit. On Day 4 we hiked to a lake, where we washed some clothes and camped. Many people were swimming at the lake, but not us as Hassan our guide, and Ahmed had told us that it was dangerous and people get sucked under. We came to the conclusion they couldn't swim and that it was just a local legend, but we were not going to test fate and stayed in the shallow end. Hassan could not help cracking a joke that Berber women were supposed to cook and do laundry for the men, but Kristin imformed him that was not the way in America. Naturally, Ben tried the "When in Rome" line without success.

Day 5, was about 3 miles straight up, and 3 straight down. I don't think the berbers are the best path designers, as they do not follow ridges like paths at home, but seem to go straight over peaks, and back down. We camped at a crowded refuge that night, and got good hot showers. Our night however was spoiled by the guy in the tent next to us who vomited every hour from 1 to 6. We weren't sure if it was the 3,200 meter altitude or the food....but it didn't sound good.

Day 6, We left for the Toubkal around 6, and it was steep the whole way up. We summited around 9:30 and got a couple of cloud filled pics of us at 4,167 (13,400 ft). It was a lot colder up at the summit but quickly warmed back up as we began our descent. After the climb back down we had lunch of vegatables and sardines (the same lunch for every day of the hike).

After this we headed back to Ahmeds house in Imlil valley, and on to Rabat the next day!

Marrakesh, Morocco

First day: Drive to Charlotte, 2 hour flight to JFK, 5 hour layover, 2 $11 beers, a $10 pizza, and a $4 hotdog. Then a 8 hour flight to Casablanca, where we met our first scam of the trip trying to get a taxi to the train station....lets just say we overpaid. This was followed by a 4 hour train to Marrakech, where we stood for 2 hours of it, in about 99 degree hallway.




Anyway we made it. We upgraded to the hotel with AC after that. Its a nice cheap place, with a cute little courtyard pictured above. The staff is friendly but speaks limited English like most people around.

The next day, we woke up and had a great breakfast at the hotel with the best orange juice either of us have ever had. We walked over to the medina to see the market square with all the food stalls, snake charmers, etc. This is where we learned our second scam, the guy above tried to ask for money after he put the snake on us and let us take pictures. When we gave him some coins he said that was "no good" and wanted paper money. Ben told him he could take our 6 DHR or walk away with nothing. He got nothing. Then we had some mint tea overlooking the square before walking through the souqs (market) where we made little eye contact since we knew we were not going to buy anything.

Donkey Cart and Market

Dried fruit/ spices


Compared to the price of food at JFK, it has been a little cheaper. $1 is around 9 Dirham the Moroccan currency.






Lunch: two bananas from the Market, and two ham sandwiches from a pastry shop around the corner from our hotel = 29 Dirham or about $3.

Dinner: a vegie pizza (twice the size of the one at JFK)

and a tuna melt with fries, and a huge water= $92 Dirham or about $10

We figured we would pay a little homage to Vincent Vega, and get a Royal with cheese today, thats a quarter pounder (metric system) for those who are not pulp fiction fans. Unfortunately Mcdonalds prices are about the same here...go figure.

This took a very long time to post, since the keyboard is not an English one. We are headed on a 7 day hike in the Atlas Mountains, to the highest peak in North Africa tommorow, so there probably wont be another update for a bit. You shoot us an email at benandkristingo at Yahoo.com

Made it

We have arrived safely. We got to our hotel in Marrakesh around 4 last night after a 3 hour train ride from Cassablanca. not many people speak English here so we are figuring stuff out on our own which takes a little time.
Having a good time and love you guys.
Ben and Kristin