Made it to Morocco! Thankfully the volcano ash didnt interrupt my flights, although it did cause quite a lot of confusion over the past few days, both in the states and here. Because of the multitudes of people stranded in Morocco, I wound up getting a driving tour of a pretty large portion of the country in my first 72 hours here. My initial thoughts were surprising...the diversity of scenery between dry Marrakech through the rolling hills of the greener port of Tangier to the lush foothills of the blue walls of Chefchaouen has disillusioned my expectations for the country. It certainly has been a whirlwind of travel. I will definitely be posting pictures as soon as I get organized a bit more.
There hasnt been much time yet to immerse in any one place, but I have been struck by both the beauty and the chaos of the market stalls, or souks. Despite a cultural taboo of women showing too much skin in public you can always tell where granny panties are for sale by the large crowd of women pawing their way through them. The souks specialize in anything you could possibly want, from sombreros to ace bandages to dollar store trinkets. It does leave me to wonder how one gets into the business of selling toothpicks, or zippos, exclusively. There is, however, an immense richness of local crafts, and I think it will be quite difficult to avoid decorating the apartment in the Moroccan style.
We are heading to the river tomorrow for my first rafting trip ever. I am letting it be known here that Jon has promised not to intentionally tip me into the water.
More soon.
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