Fuck it. Lets go!

One of my high school English teachers told me that everyone has seven exclamation points that they get to use in their life. Any more and their emphasis is watered down to the point of mere periods. I'm happy to use one of my seven in this title.

I went to Marrakesh this weekend. While the trip is a story in and of itself, the fact that I went to Marrakesh is also deserving of a story.

Nina

All week I had been getting invitations to go places with students from the school. I could have gone to Maknes or Marrakesh or Casablanca or just drive up the coast to a nice beach. Everything sounded fun but it also meant that I had to plan and put together my weekend on Wednesday, well before I was ready to think about such things. So Friday came around, I hadn't put together a plan and the beach was looking awful tempting (mainly because it took the least thinking). A couple of classmates were sitting around the school saying goodbye to Nina. She had been the reason a lot of us were hanging out together and it was really pretty sad to see her leave. The Austrian and German girls, who were going to Marrakesh, were all packed and ready to go buy their train tickets after they said goodbye. And then they made their mistake, offhandedly one of the offered that this was my last chance to go to Marrakesh with them. After carefully considering what I had packed in my daypack (1 binder, 1 wallet, 1 camera, 3 pens, 1 journal, and a Moroccan cell phone)  I told them I was in.

We went to the train station, bought the tickets and I was off to Marrakesh for three days (note that the bag didn't contain a change of clothes, I smell really bad right now).

Marrakesh was amazing (as are most things Moroccan). The Austrian girl I went with knew a Berber mountain guide who was going to meet us in Marrakesh and then take us hiking on Saturday, followed by going to the Souks on Sunday. The guide was one of the nicest guys I have met on the trip. He came out to pick us up at the train station at midnight on Friday and when we got back to his place there was a meal waiting for us. We ate and drank some Moroccan wine (oddly enough that not a euphemism for anything, it really was just Moroccan wine) and went to sleep at about 3 am. We woke up at 9ish on Saturday and had breakfast before leaving the house for the hike at 12. Now if you have been doing the math you might have noticed that I'm recounting roughly three hour meals, that about correct. Zakki, the guide, told us a Moroccan saying while we were with him, " The Europeans have the clocks but the Moroccans have the time."

Anyways, we went hiking in the High Atlas Mountains. We started in a tiny little city called Imlil and hiked for about three hours to a sacred place where the is a giant white rock that entombs important person. What I didn't understand (the entire weekend was basically in German) was certainly made up for with some astounding views. This trip made my last minute gamble on Marrakesh pay off in spades.

Today, we spent the morning in Marrakesh, around the giant souk and the girls had a blast shopping. Seeing as I have another two and a half months in North Africa I decided not to buy anything that I would have to haul around Tunisia and Egypt with me. I also got to see first hand why Morocco still has a state department advisory.

This used to be a cafe in the Souks of Marrakesh. A bomb went here last may killing several people.
Seems safe now though.

Have a lovely day wa ma'a salaama.

Ben