Friday, October 12, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Marrakech
Considering the frequency of posts on this here blog I wouldn't be surprised if nobody actually read this. For those that do here's what's happening:
Maddy and I are in Marrakech having arrived a week ago at about 2am local time. It is Ramadan however and thus nobody sleeps at night, they're too busy eating their only meals of the day.
This place is a constant rollercoaster of great and terrible experiences but always exciting and interesting. Once you get past the constant requests, offers, and demands of the locals for change, hashish, and inflated prices, you start to see a lot of more of what this place really has to offer.
Our hotel is cheap and cheerful in the extreme and the staff range from eccentric to insane (possibly with hunger given the time of year). The street life is incredible, including wonderful food stalls that fill the main square every night; touts from each try out their unique approaches to get you to choose their stall above all others. One calls himself Denzal Washington, one stops just short of abuse, and our favourite wooed us with Kath and Kim impressions and delicious lamb skewers.
After spending most of our time in Marrakech city we decided to go on a day trip to the incredible Atlas Mountains just 50km from town. Our guide Muhammed comes from a Berber village just south of where we were and had a great relationship with the locals which we were able to share in. Far from being a big tour group it was only Maddy, Liz (Maddy's friend who met us here on Monday), myself, Muhammed, another Berber guide, and our mule Mermusha. Muhammed went out of his way to assure me that the mule was included in the price.
We walked along the trail that the local men and women take from the weekly market back to their home along a river running through the High Atlas. This meant crossing the river many times, resulting in several wet shoes, and a few hairy moments. We stopped for lunch and a swim in a small lagoon of ice cold, flowing mountain water. After this we headed up and saw just some of the incredible views offered by the mountains. It was certainly one of the most amazing experiences any of us have ever had.
On returning to the village from which we started our expedition we met up again with our taxi driver who took us all the way back to town (grand taxis: Creamy mercedes that the driver packs full of people and does trips between major centres for about the cost of a cab to the city from Webbs Ave). The sour note, and another example of the constant contradictions of this place, was that I discovered that I was missing some 800dh (about 110 australian) from my money belt. The only time it had been out of my sight was when we were swimming and we left with Muhammed and our Berber guide, at their insistance. Not wanting to have any bad feelings about a wonderful day we organised to see Muhammed later on and I spoke to him about it. He seemed shocked and very upset that it had happened and insisted on paying back all the money. I didn't want this but only wanted to feel completely ok about my relationship with him. The agreement was for him to pay half and to investigate with his guide whether or not something may have happened. His sincere desire for us not to have any negative feelings about him or about Morocco were clear and impressed me greatly. Perhaps it is hard to understand why this meant so much to me unless you've experienced the great uncertainty of Marrakech where it is hard to tell the difference between people you wouldn't look at twice and those that you could trust your life with.
It is with these mixed feelings that we spend our last full day in Marrakech before heading to Tangier. However it should be said that the positive far outweighs any negative, and all of it is part of the experience of this amazing place.
Hope you are all well and enjoyed reading something about our experiences here. I'll try to update you about the rest of our time here and perhaps something about our farmstay which is coming up in Spain!
Love,
Ben
Maddy and I are in Marrakech having arrived a week ago at about 2am local time. It is Ramadan however and thus nobody sleeps at night, they're too busy eating their only meals of the day.
This place is a constant rollercoaster of great and terrible experiences but always exciting and interesting. Once you get past the constant requests, offers, and demands of the locals for change, hashish, and inflated prices, you start to see a lot of more of what this place really has to offer.
Our hotel is cheap and cheerful in the extreme and the staff range from eccentric to insane (possibly with hunger given the time of year). The street life is incredible, including wonderful food stalls that fill the main square every night; touts from each try out their unique approaches to get you to choose their stall above all others. One calls himself Denzal Washington, one stops just short of abuse, and our favourite wooed us with Kath and Kim impressions and delicious lamb skewers.
After spending most of our time in Marrakech city we decided to go on a day trip to the incredible Atlas Mountains just 50km from town. Our guide Muhammed comes from a Berber village just south of where we were and had a great relationship with the locals which we were able to share in. Far from being a big tour group it was only Maddy, Liz (Maddy's friend who met us here on Monday), myself, Muhammed, another Berber guide, and our mule Mermusha. Muhammed went out of his way to assure me that the mule was included in the price.
We walked along the trail that the local men and women take from the weekly market back to their home along a river running through the High Atlas. This meant crossing the river many times, resulting in several wet shoes, and a few hairy moments. We stopped for lunch and a swim in a small lagoon of ice cold, flowing mountain water. After this we headed up and saw just some of the incredible views offered by the mountains. It was certainly one of the most amazing experiences any of us have ever had.
On returning to the village from which we started our expedition we met up again with our taxi driver who took us all the way back to town (grand taxis: Creamy mercedes that the driver packs full of people and does trips between major centres for about the cost of a cab to the city from Webbs Ave). The sour note, and another example of the constant contradictions of this place, was that I discovered that I was missing some 800dh (about 110 australian) from my money belt. The only time it had been out of my sight was when we were swimming and we left with Muhammed and our Berber guide, at their insistance. Not wanting to have any bad feelings about a wonderful day we organised to see Muhammed later on and I spoke to him about it. He seemed shocked and very upset that it had happened and insisted on paying back all the money. I didn't want this but only wanted to feel completely ok about my relationship with him. The agreement was for him to pay half and to investigate with his guide whether or not something may have happened. His sincere desire for us not to have any negative feelings about him or about Morocco were clear and impressed me greatly. Perhaps it is hard to understand why this meant so much to me unless you've experienced the great uncertainty of Marrakech where it is hard to tell the difference between people you wouldn't look at twice and those that you could trust your life with.
It is with these mixed feelings that we spend our last full day in Marrakech before heading to Tangier. However it should be said that the positive far outweighs any negative, and all of it is part of the experience of this amazing place.
Hope you are all well and enjoyed reading something about our experiences here. I'll try to update you about the rest of our time here and perhaps something about our farmstay which is coming up in Spain!
Love,
Ben
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Father's Day and Lily's Grand Final
We had a lovely afternoon tea at the Brittons. A photo to mark the occasion:
We went to Menai for Lily's Grand Final yesterday.
They won!!
It was a bit close and tense but all went well!!
We are fine hope all is good with you!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Verona
Hi all,
Sorry to hear about Les but glad hear (and see) that he's ok. Tell him that I understand what it feels like and not to worry :) Florence was nice but a little overwhelming for us with tourists and heat and next to no locals in sight as they've all gone on holidays. We escaped to Verona for a few nights and really enjoying it here, it's like a mini Florence and it's beautiful, although a little quiet as well as it's a uni town and it's holidays. Still next is Rome where there is guaranteed to be plenty to do and lots of fun to be had.
So the intinerary will be from here on:
Rome
south to:
Napoli/Ischia/Amalfi
east to:
Bari/Barletta (as in La Disfida di Barletta)/Lecce
ferry to:
Croatia - Dubrovnik & Split
back to:
Milan
for a flight to:
Morocco! (Sept 30, in time for Maddy's birthday on Oct 2)
Will update you on things from there,
love to everybody!!!
Ben
Sorry to hear about Les but glad hear (and see) that he's ok. Tell him that I understand what it feels like and not to worry :) Florence was nice but a little overwhelming for us with tourists and heat and next to no locals in sight as they've all gone on holidays. We escaped to Verona for a few nights and really enjoying it here, it's like a mini Florence and it's beautiful, although a little quiet as well as it's a uni town and it's holidays. Still next is Rome where there is guaranteed to be plenty to do and lots of fun to be had.
So the intinerary will be from here on:
Rome
south to:
Napoli/Ischia/Amalfi
east to:
Bari/Barletta (as in La Disfida di Barletta)/Lecce
ferry to:
Croatia - Dubrovnik & Split
back to:
Milan
for a flight to:
Morocco! (Sept 30, in time for Maddy's birthday on Oct 2)
Will update you on things from there,
love to everybody!!!
Ben
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Les has been in Hospital!! But he's allright.
Les was taken to Canterbury Hospital by ambulance last Saturday afternoon. He was kept in until Sunday after lunch with waht was diagnosed as an"episode" of asthma - not surprising given his genetic pool. Clare was a bit worried but the hospital was geat and he is fine now although he needs to have Ventolin this week but probably not permenently!!
This video was taken at home on Sunday so you can see that he is fine!!
It was great to get your email from Florence ...it seems strange to see Florence as hot!! I have been there twice in winter!! Glad CT was so good will have to tell Kathy and Peter.
Mum said to say that she wore your jumper to work today!! 3 days to go!!!
This video was taken at home on Sunday so you can see that he is fine!!
It was great to get your email from Florence ...it seems strange to see Florence as hot!! I have been there twice in winter!! Glad CT was so good will have to tell Kathy and Peter.
Mum said to say that she wore your jumper to work today!! 3 days to go!!!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Great to talk with U. God bless Technology!!
How good is Europe???
A couple of videos to keep You in touch
A couple of videos to keep You in touch
Friday, August 10, 2007
Just Catching Up
This is a video from about four weeks ago now I just hadn't managed to process it.
I'll write more later!!
I'll write more later!!
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