Wa aleikum salaam, Madame!

So let's write about where we are right now... it's 10 pm and we're in a riad, Riad Arabesca, chez Gita Sellman. What a place... and what a hostess.

R: Gita's hair is as bright on fire as the lights of the motorcycles we see in the streets of the rose colored medina here in Marrakech.

SPW: We had a full day today beginning with breakfast here at Arabesca: two kinds of bread, three kinds of jam (including figue - j'adore) , hard boiled eggs, cheese (Gouda et La Vache Qui Rit), cucumber, a kind of ham/bologna. Ruby just said that in Botswana it's called Polony.

R: I feel very taken care of, here. The rooms are so beautiful. The one that looks like a honeymoon suite is so romantic.

SPW: and there are so many decorative aspects to our rooms: the fine pottery, lanterns, beautiful woven bed spreads like the textiles we saw being woven in Fes, copper topped coffee tables, the poofs for our feet (ottomans). One student bought one the other day... shhhhh it's a gift...

R: color coded robes, towels, plastic shower slippers, the blankets, the carved walls - on clothes it would be embroidery - and the showers are "real."

SPW: and all the rooms open up onto the courtyard. We are wrapped in lovely shawls and woolen wraps borrowed from the riad - we just learned that it snowed in the mountains where we're headed and none of us has mittens or parkas here!

R: and it has been pouring! My pants were soaked. Today we went on two tours: a museum tour which was interesting and I did learn a lot about the jewelry and instruments and clothes of Morocco's past.

SPW: this museum was Dar Si Said - a house that probably 20 sons and their families lived in. And the palace we saw afterward was the Stork Palace! Badia Palace.

R: We could see the Atlas Mountains from the terrace. And afterwards, we had a tasty lunch.

SPW: more incredible FOOD!

R: We tried lemon chicken which was awesome with the bread. And the kebabs were... ah! I don't know the word.

SPW: Ldid? (= delicious in moroccan arabic)

R: and the dessert: I felt like I was having cookie dough! Then we basically went shopping in the rain. After we all went to the herbalist.

SPW: and some of us had 20 dh shoulder massages as we learned about oils, flowers, saffron grown in Morocco.

R: I got saffron for my Mum which was so inexpensive here. And some mint tea for my family to try.

SPW: I got herbs and spices, too. Since last evening in the Place Djma el Fna I've had tea (spice tea, mint tea or ginger tea) five different times!

R: speaking of tea, the glasses are beautiful. And so are the teapots. In the souk (market) I saw a lot of beautiful cutlery, and not just that. The carpets, scarves, shoes (baboush), lamps,

SPW: aprictos, mint, spices,

R: oranges,

SPW: dates, nuts,

R: everything, really...

SPW: we're forgetting the friendly (??), eager vendors!

R: then we had the men singing for the dikhr.

SPW: this was back at Arabesca, between our two blocks of free time: an hour-long introduction to sufi chanting/singing/prayer. Candles lit, us around the salon on the low moroccan sofas, some of us meditating, some dozing, some studying the backs of our eyelids, some watching - here was just another aspect of this culture. OH! We totally forgot this morning's talk/lecture on the Berber culture! Wonderful Mohamed Soudani. Great to see and hear him again.

R: I didn't take any notes, but he was really engaging. It didn't feel like two hours! I was really happy to learn about the positive differences between the women of the Berber cultures and the Arabic city culture.

SPW: and that each of Morocco's kings has had a berber or common (or muggle!) wife. Right up to Mohammed VI whose wife is a Fessie (woman from Fes).

R: I don't know if it's because of where we've been, but more women are covered, here.

SPW: but also, they ride mopeds through the medina, even in their jellabas and veils.

R: I'm trying to end this blog entry: maybe just end with the Friday couscous that we had. Which we cleaned. It was really good: beef, not the usual chicken. And you can talk about the dessert -

SPW: fresh squeezed orange juice mixed with finely shredded carrots! Another delicious moroccan treat.

R: Eeyah, Ldid!

SPW: mizzyan bezzef!

So for travel-related health reasons that will go unnamed, I wasn't really participating in today's exciting adventure, but I did a lot of vicarious adventuring and took so much pleasure in soaking up the beautiful views and the laughter and shrieks of our kids and their El Araki hosts as they zipped across a most beautiful landscape at Terre d'Amanar in the mountains outside of Marrakech. (www.terresdamanar.com) Check it out!

The weather was spectacular and after four hours of high-rope bridge crossing, Hotchkiss student and El Araki student, Hotchkiss and so on, we enjoyed yet another amazing tagine with poulet citron.

The students are speaking so much French - even with their very competent English speaking hosts, the linguistic mix is very impressive. Our few days of Darija lessons back in Fes also still come in handy - our Moroccan hosts appreciate our few words and gestures. Their pride and delight in sharing their country and culture are absolutely heart-warming.

Our next and last stop of the day, before delivering the students back to their host families for the evening, was at at Enfance Espoir, an orphanage for babies and toddlers run by the Moroccan Ministry of Health. We left the fifteen minutes that turned into a half hour that turned into an hour, along with the lovely tea ritual. When we got back on the bus, we realized that we'd left Claire, Ruby and Mme Wilson in the newborn room, and I don't think they'd have noticed that we'd left until around midnight.

Tomorrow we head for Ouarzazate, and we will make a number of very varied stops along the way.

We hope you are still following us - we look forward to sharing all this with you in person, but time is going too fast now...

Layla Saida,

Wendy

As we prepare to leave the rose city of Marrakech and embark upon the final leg of our journey, I think back on all the things weve done, everything we have accomplished over the last week (has it only been a week?!). In particular, I'd like to share with you two poems written by Gita Sellman, our gracious host for part of our Marrakech stay. On our last night in her lovely riad, she read these poems to us as a fond bon voyage:

La Mélodie de ta Vie

Il faut chercher,

il faut trouver

la mélodie de ta vie

Il faut la chanter

il faut la danser,

si non, tu n'es qu'une poupée

And one more...

Printemps du Monde

La joie est toujours là,

calme et profonde.

Elle est pleine comme une rivière

au printemps du monde.

Et le temps ouvre ses ailes

pour voler aux cieux.

La distance n'est plus réelle.

elle prend ses adieux. 

 Thank you, Gita for these lovely poems and your generous hospitality at Riad Arabesca!

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...we drove through snowy mountains and desert and verdant valleys all in one day yesterday. It's because we see 14^th century casbahs within kilometers of cybercafes. It's because we're hearing (and trying to say) "Uhu" and "La" and "Non" and "No" in a single conversation... it's because the architecture changes with each city, and the petit taxis follow suit. It's because our senses are challenged and stimulated regularly. Moroccan air greets with a chill and sun and snow flurries and driving rain! There's contrast in the patterns of the rugs we've seen on looms, expertly handled by weathered and agile hands - these very patterns exist in reality in the hills we drove through today as a wide rainbow led us to Zagora. Choukran, El Maghrib!    -Sarinda

there are many different sides to this country. While we were in the city in Marrakech, I could've sworn that we were in the U.S; there were the same types of stores and boutiques, taxies going left and right, and of course there was a McDonalds. It was modern and beautiul at the same time. On the drive to Ouarzazate, Our surroundings transformed from the bustling city to snow capped mountains, to the vast, sandy desert. Approaching the occupied part of Ouarzazate, the scene was incredible. If you looked to the left, you saw mountains drenched in snow. To the right, sand dunes that reached toward the night sky. Looking forward, the bright lights of the city twinkled like a cluster of stars in the distance. It's incredible how you can find so many drastically different environments in the same place. -Claire

I have seen the veiled women walking silently on the male-domained, narrow streets of Medina and I have laughed with girls of my age so loudly on the wide roads with cars running by us. Seeing both sides of Morocco made the trip intense and interesting. My host sister and a bunch of her friends took me to a shopping center, where I found Zara and other brands. I have never expected to see those familiar brands in Morocco. When I walked into the shops, people from all over the world were doing shopping as in the states. It is hard to imagine that one day ago, I was in the market and bargaining for a leather bag from an unbelievable high price to an acceptable one. Moreover, when we walked into the private school, girls were all in heels, jeans, which was really contradictary from what we have heard or seen days ago. Even the food varied from places to places. In the host family in Fez, we had traditional bread, tajine, couscous., This time in Marrakech, I had the best pizza and cakes made by the host mother. The contrasts we experienced in these days made me think about China, the USA and other countries that I have been to. I want to be here with my parents, to see all the contrasts with them. That's one idea that the contrasts didn't change in my mind. -Nera

Each city has its own characteristic and feel; Casablanca is green, Marrakech is red, Ouarzazate is orange, and Fes is a multitude of colors. When you get off the plane at Mohammed V airport in Casablanca, there are palm trees and lush, green farms that line the highway. Right now I'm on a bus in Ouarzazate, and the highway is an orange gravel path that cuts through endless desert mountains. There are no trees, grass, or even signs of life anywhere. Marrakech and Fes are two of Morocco's largest cities, both with a medina (the old, fortified city) and a modern city. Fes has high rise buildings, similar to Boston or New York City, but Marrakech city laws mandate that all buildings be red and don't exceed two stories. It's crazy to think that four cities of such wild contrast could belong to the same country. -Mackenzie

As we drove through the snowy mountains yesterday. It was freezing outside, but my face and arms felt like they were on fire from a sunburn, recived just the day before. Some days I walk around in a t-shirt and others I fall asleep under a foot of blankets. Climate varies by the hour here, but the trip has been amazing! -Geordie 

We have gone from Casablanca, which was next to the sea to the top of the Atlas mountains, at just under 14,000 feet, in very little distance. In the US you don't reach such high mountains until Colorado, whereas in Morocco it takes about 5 hours in the car. Also, once we passed through the mountains we could see flat, sandy deserts with snow-capped mountains behind it and in the middle of the desert were fields colored as green as any golfcourse. Though it is very small, the country of Morocco sees very different types of land in not much space. -Nick

Morocco is full of all kinds of landscapes, there are snowy mountains, deserts, small city's , medinas. Then there are also all kinds of people, we have our traditional Morocans, our modern Moroccans and our in between Moroccans. My expectations have been completely shattered, and I have to say that I love it. I found myself completely shocked when I discovered that my home stay girl had a boyfriend who she texted with and skyped and facebooked and that her home was pretty similar to my own. Morrocco is full of contrast and everyone in the group has discovered that in only a couple of days. -Itzel

Morocco is a place of contrasts for many reasons, but the most prominent one is the contrast between the old and the new. The old way of living, old houses, and older languages that contrast with a more modern way of living, more European influence, and the introduction of more modern and international languages such as French and English. A prime example of this is seen in the medinas, compared to the centre villes, of cities such as Fes and Marrakech. The medinas obviously show an older way of living: the houses are not as luxurious, Turkish toilets are easier to find than regular ones, wifi is virtually nonexistent, and more people speak Arabic than French. However, in the more modern and higher class areas of the cities, even though Arabic is spoken at home, the whole family knows French, and sometimes even English. They have televisions with American channels, laptops with wifi, and the showers and toilets are just like the ones at home. Having done homestays in both of these areas, I have felt that its almost like living in two different worlds: that, in my opinion, is the biggest contrast that would define Morocco. - Jessica

All I think about is how much being in Morocco has shown me: the different people, different from the southern African countries I have lived in and visited, the differences between Fes, Marrakech and Ouzarzate, and the differences in the landscapes within Morocco - looking at the snow covered tops of the Atlas mountains having just been in green and fertile land, on our way to the desert sums it all up for me. I guess the word I am looking for instead of "contrast" is "difference." - Ruby

I am most struck by the co-existence of absolute conservatism and absolute warmth. I have never known such a conservative people, and at the same time I have never exchanged (with the exception of the one other time I was in Morocco) such warm, welcoming, radiant smiles. The public and private contrast is also remarkable and somewhat difficult to reconcile. On the streets, men are harassing and the women are either indifferent or moderately friendly, sort of like at home. But in the privacy of their homes, Moroccans, and perhaps particularly the Amazigh people, welcome us as both as a group and individually with a warmth, respect and generosity of spirit that match their incredible cooking and hospitality. I am also struck by their willingness to answer our questions and to receive our curiosity as compliments, at the same time as they are very discreet about the questions they pose to us. On a totally different note, the variety of modes of transportation here are amazing. Motorcycles, bicycles, donkeys, mopeds, foot, old mercedes, new hyundae (?) and tomorrow...camel!

We look forward to our adventure in the desert...

Wendy

Safe journey back to the US tomorrow and "until next time in Maroc".... 

At this point, as you know, your globetrotting teenagers are on a plane flying back over the Atlantic Ocean. Stories and pictures are still to come, especially from our desert excursion, but for the meantime, I leave you with this.

Geordie "Does this Come in Peach?" Henderson One of Geordie's goals on this trip was to find gifts for all the important women in his life. He always had his eyeballs peeled for the silken scarf in that perfect shade of peach - his girlfriend's favorite color. Finally, one day he returned to our house in Marrakech with a glowing smile stamped on his face, shouting at us, "Guys! I found the scarf!" Pulling out a brown plastic bag with exuberant enthusiasm, he showed us a gorgeous silken scarf in the lightest, pastel-like shade of peach. From then on, we all teased him whenever we saw something peach: and every time, his eyes always lit up.

Mackenzie "Johnny" Moore Sitting around the fire in the desert, after what seemed like hours of drumming and singing, the group broke into the necessary scary story telling session. We had just visited the movie set of the B-horror movie, "The Hills Have Eyes" and so Geordie was inspired to share his own scary story about Johnny, a one-legged axe murderer-- "hack-hack-hack"... he freaked Mackenzie out so much that she flinched and squealed when an Amazigh dressed in glow sticks came close to approaching her. But that was only the beginning of her paranoia. Later when she was en route to the bathroom to brush her teeth, another Saharan nomad followed her and screamed out in Arabic. Mackenzie swears that he said "Johnny," so she screeched, sprinted to the bathroom, dropped her things on the ground and feared that Johnny was going to cut her legs off and she would be stuck in the Sahara forever. Geordie and Nick had a great laugh when they walked in the bathroom to find her on the brink of hyperventilation in the middle of the floor.

Claire "21 Postcards" Miles Claire dutifully purchased at least twenty one postcards in Fes` stunning medina, impressing us to no end and putting to shame those of us who set the goal of writing two or three home to loved ones. Well. Who knows when and if she'll get them in the mail because we got a lot of mixed messages from various sources as to postage... "b'sh'hal?" we asked in the hanut. Wahed (one) 8dh40 stamp. That's about a dollar. Sounded right. Elsewhere we were told 14dh. To verify, "Combien?" we asked in a Poste Maroc. "Deux timbres" we were told. Uh oh, that's over $2! So it's our fault if Claire didn't get her 21 cards written and sent from Morocco. We gave her permission to send them from the US!

Nera "Long-Arm-High-Heels" Zhang On our drive from Fes to Moulay Idriss, Alia was sitting in the front seat of the minivan when she heard an omnous clunk. Her cell phone had fallen through the crack in the seat and was virtually unretreivable due to the way the minivan's front seat was configured. After pulling the van over and alling the cell phone a number of times to locate it (hearing its frog croak ring) several of us tried to jam arms through the crack to grab it. Realizing the futility, we realized we needed the magic of the most delicate arm. Within seconds Nera was recruited for the task. Her arm fit through and got close, just millimeters away. We might have lost the phone forever but Nera had an idea-- she turned to us and discretely asked, "is this appropriate if I take it off?" as she removed her math team sweatshirt revealing a pretty cap-sleeved dress and bare arm beneath. H'SHUMA! - but not! Within seconds her long bare arm had reached the phone, humdoulillah. In other news, a few nights later Nera was in Marrakech and a night on the town saw her buying oh-so-appropriate 3-inch heels at Zara. Talk about a country of contrasts.

Ruby "Love of My Life" Fako On the top of Cafe Clock, at night, watching the beautiful panorama of Fez ... in the exotic garden of the Zagora restaurant, listening to the nostalgic chants of traditional musicians - "Aisha, Aisha ecoute-moi, regarde-moi" or smelling the pungent jasmin, Ruby was talking about how romantic everything was and how she wanted to be there or dance with the love of her life ... adding a lot to the charm of our excursion.

Laura "Oh GOD!" Avram Laura has a self-proclaimed obsessive personality. She commonly bursts out with remarks such as "Morocco is the most amazing place ever!" when we see a nice view, which is followed just minutes later by "This is the worst thing ever, I wish I was at home" when the bus bumps us around. However, she also commonly proclaims an excited "oh god!" before saying whatever thought has entered her mind. She also says "oh god" when some calls her Laura (LOR-uh) or Louder (two similar sounds to her name) when she says "oh god, my name is LOWRA". Everyone else on the trip has noticed how contagious Laura's phrase is too, as it quickly spreads to their own vocabularies.

Itzel "Habibi" Niño When we were at our Henna party, we had live Moroccan music. Our favorite song was one where we say "Habibi" repeatedly as the chorus. We couldn't remember any of the other words, but for the rest of the trip, Itzel would burst out singing "Habibi, Habibi, Habibi". For the longest time these were the only words she knew, but fortunately we soon learned the rest of the lyrics. For those of you who don't know already, 'habibi' means "my love" in Arabic; furthermore, if you were to say the same thing in Tachelheyt, one of the Amazigh languages, you would tell someone they were your 'tasanou' which literally means "you are my liver." How romantic!

Jessica "Fatima Squinty Eyes" Chen Throughout the whole trip there was not one day when a Morroccon guy didn't say "konichiwa" to Jessica, it was hilarious. On the day that we went to the Morroccon Hollywood our guide, who had participated in 11 Hollywood movies such as Gladiator, Prince of Persia, etc. decided that Jessica was Fatima with Squinty eyes. Everyone in Morrocco always had a way to describe a person that did not look like them.

Alia "Liar, Liar Pants on Fire" Kate One of Alia's favorite hobbies on this trip was taking advantage of everyone's gullibility, especially Jessica's and Itzel's. Some especially memorable lies were: "No, we're not riding camels into the desert, its actually turtles!", or "So I may have forgotten to tell you guys, but harira (a delicious tomato soup served here) is actually made with cat." or "So, choices for dinner tonight: chicken tagine, or spaghetti bolognese." or "Oh, how are we getting back to Marrakech? Ziplining, of course!". Of course, we tricked her a few times too.

Sarinda "Future Gita Saida" Wilson Sarinda stopped repeating her name fairly early on and began to introduce herself as "Saida" - "Happy", which she has been. Those of you who know her will be surprised to learn that she has been enthusiastic, energetic and ever-effervescent. What you might not know is that Sarinda aspires to vivid orange hair, inspired by Gita, our amazing guide and hostess in Marrakech - a dancer, poet, singer and multi-lingual wonder.

Wendy "T3xto" Levithan Wendy set the bar high for herself in choosing to use Alia's Moroccan cell, and then reached far beyond that point. After hanging up on Alia three times before she learned to actually accept a call, Wendy swiftly learned to reply to her first text message: with a confident "M.J.", she exuberantly agreed with Alia's suggestion that we meet in a half hour. (Practiced texters will quickly note that M and J share the same letters on an older cell phone as "O" and "K!") Now, two weeks later, we've often seen Wendy adopting the familiar head-down stance, proud smile across her face, thumbs dancing adeptly over the keys as she composed successful texts - even in darija!

Lahcen "The Coolest Guy Ever" from Afanour Lahcen is literally THE coolest guy ever. The term "bus driver" is a true understatement because he has been so much more than that. He is the reason we are in a beautiful hotel right now with wonderful hospitality and hot showers. (No, seriously, we have all learnt to really, really appreciate hot showers here in Morocco.) Monsieur Lahcen picked us up from Marrakech and has not left our side since. He has made us feel extra safe, not only on the road but where we stop to take pictures, go to the loo and grab something to eat. He has so many connections, it's amazing. It is as if we have our own personal non-violent version of the Godfather and we love it. And let us not forget about his smile. It so kind and genuine and lights up any day.

Alex "Big Brother" Safos Alex is the eyes and ears of the program; he's the man with the plan, the canal, and probably Panama too. Enough said, because if I were to write more, I'd probably have to kill you. Bottom line, we couldn't have done the trip without him.

Our Morocco trip is over and once again, I still have sand in my shoes from our magical night in the Erg Chicaga dunes. I'm having a hard time expressing myself but there are certain images of that desert excursion that I'll always carry with me. Here are a few to ruminate on:

...by the end of our trip we had gotten so good at our quick egress-photoshoot-remount into the van that it was no different when we pulled up to that dusty roadside scarf shop in Tagounite. It felt like a rite of passage to buy the blue-tinted scarves and have the shopboys symbolically wrap our heads to protect them from the sun and the wind. Like a force to be reckoned with, we came, we bought, and in no time we were back in the van, heads wrapped and full of anticipation...

...we passed the last gas station with 'cold/oolo beer for 200 miles' (except this was the fake gas station that was part of the movie set for 'The Hills Have Eyes') and then we really passed "the last gas station"...

...and then we drove right off the end of the paved road. How many times in your life will you experience the end of the road? And I'm not talking about that BoyzIIMen song, but the real End of the Road. It was symbolic, it was humbling, it was bigger than anything I can possibly vocalize but let me put it this way-- I've been to a lot of places around the world but I have never driven right off the end of a paved road into the sandy nothing beyond...

...by now you should all be well aware of my affinity to camels, so it should be no surprise that there was nothing better than marching into the sandy dunes atop the burping and farting, long-lashed camels within minutes of arriving at our desert campsite; with Algeria behind us, the setting sun in front of us and nothing but sand all around us, we breathed the desert air for the first time since arriving in Morocco...

...while the desert commands a sense of quietude, it wasn't until our post-dinner solitude sit that we got a chance to explore this further. Beneath the almost-full moon and the twinkling stars, we ventured into the dunes, close to the campground, and sat in solitude for 20 minutes. Some of us wrote letters to ourselves, some of us wrote in our journals, and others just sat in silence. The air was chilly and the sand felt cool to the touch but mere inches beneath the surface, the sand still radiated the heat of the hot daytime sun. My favorite recollection was seeing the students emerge from the sand at the end of the activity, one by one, mere shadowy forms floating across the horizon...

...as we returned from our desert sojourn we were greeted by the warmth of a blazing campfire and the drums and singing of Moroccan call-and-response. Seamlessly, we blended in, joining the chanting and singing. What seemed like hours later, our Moroccan hosts grew tired but the fire burned on and so did our own singing. Perhaps fueled by the Twix bars that magically appeared in the cool night, we went through the spectrum of songs, hitting all the classics like Journey, Neil Diamond, and Spice Girls. Special thanks go to Ruby for taking it back with old school Whitney Houston...

...and last but not least, all reflection was not lost on the night. At 6am, after negligible hours of sleep, we awoke at dawn so that we could hike to the top of the tallest dune and watch the sun rise. Maybe due to our own fatigue or maybe because of the pristine nature of the moment, we sat, lay, and crouched upon the edge of the dune in silence for what seemed like an eternity. As the sun warmed our faces and the day grew before our eyes, we too, came to life and began sliding down the dunes, frolicking in the sand, and cherishing our last moments in the Sahara desert, and coincidentally, our last day in Morocco...

So, yes, to make a long story short, I still have sand in my shoes and the desert in my dreams. It was magical and over before it began, but can't we just say that about the entire trip? Yallah, until the next time, inchallah, to the Sahara, to the people we met along the way, and most of all, to you Hotchkiss students that embraced Morocco with such open arms. You made my job easy- choukrane!

(thanks to jessica for the photos!)

To Wendy and Sarinda: While the students were passed out in the back of the van (really-- how DID they do that??) I have a feeling you were rocking out to some of my Moroccan music, like Hoba Hoba Spirit.

This is my favorite song by them and is sung in mostly French and Darija. The song, 'Fine ghadi biya khoya," literally means, 'Where are you going, Brother?' and is a modern day interpretation of a Nass el Ghiwane song from the 1970s with the same name.

To our partners at El Araki: thanks for all of your hard work in setting up the homestays and our adventurous day ziplining in the mountain. Also, thanks for turning me onto this Moroccan group, Jil Jilala-- I've already bought two of their CDs and have been listening to them nonstop as I continue my trip throughout Morocco.

And finally, to the students: Not quite our Saharaoui serenador from the last night in Ouarzazate, here is a classic rendition of the famous song, Aicha, by Algerian Cheb Khaled.

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