...And we're back

After spending near two weeks in a tiny coastal village without electrify and running water, but with plenty of gorgeous men, fresh fish and some other unmentionable goodies, we have finally returned to civilization. Let me tell you, civilization sucks.

So- because I haven't really posted sense we left India almost a month ago, here is a brief overview of our adventures in Morocco thus far-

After an insane five straight days of travel we arrived in Casablanca, took the train into the city, walked out of the train station, looked around, walked right back in and took the train to Marrakesh. According to other tourists we spoke to, we made the right choice.

First thing in Marrakesh, we got screwed by the taxi driver who drove us all over the city to arrive at the hostel that was more or less across the street from where he picked us up. We didn't realize this until after we forked over 80 Dirham for a 2 Dirham ride. Bastard.

Youth Hostels are awesome. After five days without a real bed- or even an Indian version of a real bed- sleeping on the hostel mattress was like sleeping on a cloud, a creaky cloud, but a white puff of heaven none the less. There, we met a Canadian named Carl who helped us with our French and a whole slew of Spanish students on their Easter break. Hopefully, if our funds make it past Morocco, we will have places to stay in oh-so-expensive Spain.

Marrakesh is tourist central. Honestly I think there were more white people in the city than Moroccans. It's a bit of culture shock from India, everything here is so modern and developed. Everyone is very European, and all of the locals dress better than us. Most of the time it feels as if we just walked into an office in sweat pants. The center of the city is the oldest part, where you can get the best fresh squeezed OJ of you life, buy herbal cures for anything, get any fruit you can think of dried and shop for leather, silver, pottery, and trinkets until you drop. If India was a mess of color, Morocco is a minimalist painting. No less color, but more solid. Brightly painted blue doors pop open from white buildings. The bathroom could be painted yellow, the bed room pink and the hallway tiled in yellows and greens.

After fulling exploring Marrakesh, drinking gallons on Oj and getting fondled/followed more than I'd like to admit- I miss the men at home, who find me neither interesting or attractive- we headed to Essourra, a picturesque coastal town where gulls swarm over the square, hoping for abandoned bits of fish left behind as whole crabs are plucked from the ocean, grilled and served in heaping piles. Leigh made friends with a cook as I made a friend I later unmade when he told me he thought our souls were a perfect match, but the cook friend made us a goat's head for dinner. I thought I had seen every graphic food in India until I saw the head, in its entirety, splayed in half on the plate in front of me, ears flopping to the side and eyes still looking alive. Yum... Leigh cowboyed up on that one more than I did, she ate the eye.

When we departed trying to get to Agadir, we got tired of fighting with bus drivers and cab drivers, who try to charge you way more than the price and pocket the extra, so we just headed out on the road hoping to hitch a ride. Sorry Mom. Thus, we accidentally ended up in Imsouane, half way between Essourra and Agadir, halfway between a tiny fishing town a Billibong add. We planned on staying one night, as it was getting late, and ended up there for two weeks. I tried to surf and sucked at it, we saw an older woman make Amaloo- a delicious kind of peanut butter that all the boys warned me to slow down on when they noticed my frequent trips to the toilet- listened to the locals play the dijembe and a Berber version of the symbols. We ate too much, so even though we are tanner, we're a bit fatter. Not that it stopped the boys we were hanging out with, sleeping with tourists is a sort of competitive sport for them, one they are very good at...

So, after a diet of fish, fresh bread, cous cous, and tagine- teahouse people beware, our version is WAY off- we have finally returned to the real world, where electricity and running water are the perks and busy streets, noise and skeezy men are the pit falls. We are in route at the moment for the Sahara, a camel trek and an eventual return to the coast.

Miss everyone at home- although the prospect of return to the states might be something I put off as long as possible.