This is our guide Mark!
Last night our group was complete and we had the official kick off dinner in the hotel restaurant. This is definitely another country with big meals involving many courses, each one being almost enough for a meal in itself. I have a nice cold soup – zucchini – then lamb couscous – then a bite of Mira’s warm chocolate volcano cake. Not ordering dessert is the first step in learning to not eat every course. Our guide Mark is an ex-pat – grew up in Cleveland but came to Morocco 30 years ago with the Peace Corps teaching English as a second language to high school students. When his time was up he stayed, married, had a family, and met Judi Wineland (owner of Thomson Safaris and Family Adventures). As far as I can tell it was Judi who started him off on adventure travel and he has not looked back. Fluent in Arabic and French he has a fascinating local yet American view of Morocco. As he says, he’s lived here longer than anywhere else in his life. Then much as we talk about a swim, or a peek at the casino I think we all head straight to bed after dinner is over (meals take awhile…)
This morning we had another great breakfast in the garden. We check out of the hotel and climb into the van for the ride to the mountains. We stop first at Marjan, the French version of Walmart – a sprawling store with Everything. I need a flashlight for the camping night, Mira gets a fantastic Dora the Explorer soft lunch box to use as a camera case ($3 as opposed to the $30 they wanted for the real camera case, and much more cool) and Leo find a pair of funky $4 shoes. Then back on the road. Jose is our driver, the van is comfortable though just big enough for all of us. Good a/c until we begin the serious climb into the mountains, which requires we turn it off. The air is cooler in the mountains so it’s not too bad. I think most of us doze but the scenery is great – red rocks and dirt as well as buildings and villages. We arrive at our chalet style hotel – a kind of funky Moroccan spot, a haven for skiers in the winter. No internet, no a/c. We walk down the hill to JuJu’s, a restaurant / bar for an enormous lunch. We are beginning to practice our hand washing in earnest. After salads and tangines (sort of like a slow cooked stew) we start our walk to see the petroglyphs which a local expert, Ali, leads us to. The drawings are anywhere from 2000-5000 years old and are carved into the hill of sandstone. The somewhat steep climbs leave me gasping for air… Mark has said at 10,000 ft you are at 50% oxygen – we’re at 8,000 so maybe I can blame it on that. He also said the UV rays are twice as strong which explains why I am harping on the kids about sunblock and annoying Leo in particular. Anyway on our walk Mira found an interesting clump of long black hair still stuck to scalp, and Leo found a partial jaw with teeth, presumably from goats, both now resting in a baggie in Mira’s backpack. The views are great, the mountains look round and inviting, and tomorrow we’ll do a hike up one of them.
Sam says the best part of today was the rocks and Mallory agrees; Frank says it was the petroglyphs and thinks Gladys would say it has to do with having the scopolamine patch on during the winding drive up the mountain… I loved Marjan! Now we are ‘chilling’ in the hotel lobby talking and thinking about a nap before dinner. I walked back to JuJu’s – and the WiFi – to post this entry, but alas no more WiFi…something about a man taking off for Marrakech and not paying a bill… so now we are indeed isolated from the world, and you all will read this days later.
This morning we had another great breakfast in the garden. We check out of the hotel and climb into the van for the ride to the mountains. We stop first at Marjan, the French version of Walmart – a sprawling store with Everything. I need a flashlight for the camping night, Mira gets a fantastic Dora the Explorer soft lunch box to use as a camera case ($3 as opposed to the $30 they wanted for the real camera case, and much more cool) and Leo find a pair of funky $4 shoes. Then back on the road. Jose is our driver, the van is comfortable though just big enough for all of us. Good a/c until we begin the serious climb into the mountains, which requires we turn it off. The air is cooler in the mountains so it’s not too bad. I think most of us doze but the scenery is great – red rocks and dirt as well as buildings and villages. We arrive at our chalet style hotel – a kind of funky Moroccan spot, a haven for skiers in the winter. No internet, no a/c. We walk down the hill to JuJu’s, a restaurant / bar for an enormous lunch. We are beginning to practice our hand washing in earnest. After salads and tangines (sort of like a slow cooked stew) we start our walk to see the petroglyphs which a local expert, Ali, leads us to. The drawings are anywhere from 2000-5000 years old and are carved into the hill of sandstone. The somewhat steep climbs leave me gasping for air… Mark has said at 10,000 ft you are at 50% oxygen – we’re at 8,000 so maybe I can blame it on that. He also said the UV rays are twice as strong which explains why I am harping on the kids about sunblock and annoying Leo in particular. Anyway on our walk Mira found an interesting clump of long black hair still stuck to scalp, and Leo found a partial jaw with teeth, presumably from goats, both now resting in a baggie in Mira’s backpack. The views are great, the mountains look round and inviting, and tomorrow we’ll do a hike up one of them.
Sam says the best part of today was the rocks and Mallory agrees; Frank says it was the petroglyphs and thinks Gladys would say it has to do with having the scopolamine patch on during the winding drive up the mountain… I loved Marjan! Now we are ‘chilling’ in the hotel lobby talking and thinking about a nap before dinner. I walked back to JuJu’s – and the WiFi – to post this entry, but alas no more WiFi…something about a man taking off for Marrakech and not paying a bill… so now we are indeed isolated from the world, and you all will read this days later.
Our dinner is in the echo-y restaurant - We seem to be the only ones here maybe because this is mostly known as a ski resort and it is less popular in the summer. Afterwards the kids seek out the pool – indoors and ice cold so no one goes in. Early bed is very appealing…
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