Kansas? Morocco!

We spent a week in Morocco. After some quality advising to avoid Casablanca as much as possible, we hightailed it out of the airport and directly on a train to Marrakesh. (We spent one night in Casa on the way out, so we could get to the airport, and that advice was AMAZING. Thank you. To everyone else, should you decide to go to Morocco, skip Casa. Go to Trenton, NJ instead.)

At first, we were struck by how different Marrakesh was from Cusco (they say that Latin America and North Africa are somewhat distinct). It was a bizarre combination of tourists, both Moroccan and Western (though very, very few Americans), and locals trying to tout every possible tourist attraction under the sun (and some non attractions--like alleys and dried chameleons). We got many offers of help, marriage (You are beautiful. You want Moroccan husband?); Tori got the requiste comments on her eyes every ten minutes. We were offered snakes to pet and monkeys to hold, fresh juice, mint tea, and more henna than anyone has body space for. It was like being at the circus 24/7; however, we loved the time we spent there. Especially our beautiful hotel (Hotel Medina for anyone looking for a super cheap, gorgeous old, friendly hotel) and the amazing food (mmm, dried fruit, nuts, the best almonds we've ever had, fresh squeezed oj, tanjines, and nougat--just don't buy any pastries in Marrakesh. Fes has amazingly better ones.)

We caught the train to Fes. We spent 7 hours on a train with scenery that looked like ... Kansas. With mosques scattered throughout. As the train got more and more crowded, we got to spend some quality time and space with native Moroccans. Including the ever present boy who wants to practice English, man who wants to show us a better hotel, and the boy who wants to play music for everyone on his cell phone. It was an awesome train ride. Amtrak looks better and better.

Fes was awesome! Very different than Marrakesh, a very busy city, complete with tons of people, donkeys, horses, bulldozers that had no intention of stopping, and very angry taxi drivers who were unhappy with our bargaining skills!!

So much fun! Now we are in Egypt, exhausted after a full day at the Pyramids (LIFE GOAL ACCOMPLISHED)! To bed!
More to come ...