In my continuing quest to actually do a blog, I greet you again from Morocco.  We rented a car in Marrakesh and are now in the village of Tamgroute, having spent the last few days driving south down the old ‘great oasis route,’ the pre-Sahara region where there is a kasbah (Berber castle) or a ksour (fortified village) every 10km or so.  The region is very dry, and all of the old buildings are made out of pise, a mixture of mud and hay.  They are decorated extensively with carvings, but they don’t survive very long without constant maintenance.   Some of the ruins that we saw were less than 100 years old!  But they almost all date from before Moroccan independence. Even the ones that seem completely abandoned from the outside are very often occupied.  We were able to stay in one that is currently under renovation, Kasbah Assilam, which has been occupied by the same family for seven generations. 

You’ve probably seen this region many times without actually realizing it.  About a million movies have been filmed here, though I don’t know how many of them are actually set here.  Babel, Gladiator, Kundun, Lawrence of Arabia, Sodom & Gomorrah, Jesus of Nazareth, to name a few.  I’ve not seen many of these movies, but I’m eager to do so now, even if they’re crap.    See how enlightened travel has made me?

We’ve been in Morocco now for just over a couple of weeks, and I feel like I’m just about getting my bearings.  The tourist dealings seem to get, if anything, even a bit pushier here than the other places we’ve been.  We’ve decided that the way to survive is to be aggressively self-interested, just as the folks we’re dealing with are.  Not rude, just EXTREMELY insistent about what you want.  If you don’t want something, you must decline and decline and decline and not cave when someone pulls a sad face, as though you’ve wounded them.  Do not cave even when normal human behavior might dictate compassion.  For instance, on the drive down here, we came upon a man standing on the side of the road, next to a car with its hood up.  A breakdown, yes?  How sad.  Perhaps we should stop?  See, yes he wants us to stop.  See how he’s waving at us?  See how he’s walking into the road in front of us, even though we are driving towards him at about 90k/hr (55mph)?  See how he refuses to move even though we are clearly not slowing down?  See how he moves further into the road and forces us to swerve off the road at high speed to avoid killing him!  Yes? Finally, see how, as soon as we pass, before we even get out of sight, he drops the hood of his car, turns on the ignition, and drives away? 

Unbelievable.

As a last note, I am covered with tiny bites that started in Uganda and unfortunately do not seem to be getting any better.  I am afraid I contracted some unsightly sub-Saharan parasite and will have to remain covered in rash cream for the duration of my sister’s wedding in July.  Yick.

Hope you’re all well.  More updates soon.