Morocco in a flash, part I

As always I simply don't have time to sit down and write the blog post that I'd like to, or indeed that my trip to Morocco deserves. Every day was full of adventures and somehow we managed to pack a huge amount into very few days. I traveled for abour five days with four others from Santiago, and took off for a couple of days on my own, to get lost and meet other travelers and locals, something I find much easier to do as a lone traveler.

After an overnight train ride to Madrid with no sleep, we took the plane to Casablanca. The plan was then to go down the coast to Essaouira but a bus strike thwarted our plans and we ended up on a train to Marrakech, where we were met with the full force of the Medina's nightlife on arrival at about 10 in the evening. The sights, sounds and smells of the central square in Marrakech simply can't be described accurately, but the clamour of street sellers, the smoke of their barbecues and the smell of their tagines, together with people playing instruments and running around after tourists is simply an incredible sight. So much would be lost in a photo without the sound, so I'll try and track down a video of this place.

We spent a couple of days in Marrakech, including one night with a Couchsurfer, who introduced us to his friends and let us stay in one room of his family's home. Normally there are nine of them in a beautiful but relatively small home in the centre of the old quarter of the city. It was a real privelage to be able to stay with a local and his generosity towards us was incredible.

After our time in Marrakech we hired a car and headed South East towards the desert, crossing the high Atlas mountains and winding our way through dusty, but stunningly beautiful countryside. Our aim was to camp out in the desert in a Berber tent but it took us a couple of days to get to the site, on the way passing through villages, markets, mud-brick towns and sampling every tagine and couscous combination we could find.

As I said, time doesn't allow for the many details right now, with the final stages of a paper due next week and work this weekend, so I shall have to offer a rain cheque for when we are next sat, relaxed in pleasent surroundings to fill in the many blanks. I'll also try and write up the next stage of the trip some time this weekend. For now I'll leave you with a few photos from along the way.

My travel companions for the first leg of the journey:

Outside our hostel, a woman sat on the corner of the street in the medina, asking for money:

the tourists flock to the school of the Koran in the centre of the city:

On our way into the desert, from the hill fort overlooking the jagged landscape:

and the mighty vista of Ait-benhaddou taken just before the not so mighty river-crossing on a donkey:

Click through for larger sizes and more photos. More to follow

Returning to normality

Just a quickie as I'm exhausted, not only from today, but from the last week of amazing travels around Morocco. It's going to take a few blog posts spread out over the next week to fill you in on the details, but in brief, the last week has seen some 50+ hours spent in planes, trains, coaches and boats, on donkeys, camels and in taxis, while the rest of the time I was exploring the sights, sounds and smells of Casablanca, Marrakech, Igdz, M'hammed, Fes, Rabat, Tangier, Cadiz and Malaga, eating endless plates of couscous and tagine, drinking fresh orange and avocado juice, getting lost in souks, and being driven through the desert at high speed by drunk angry locals at 5 in the morning, getting lost in sandstorms and blown around on the top of Ait-Benhaddou, getting fogged in on mountain roads and meeting people from all walks of life, and of course much more besides.

Anyway, it's been great, but I'm tired and going to bed. Will fill things in when I have a few moments.