Cathy's Place: Morocco

Just completed a week's tour of Morocco and this is my fav pic - me riding a camel in the Sahara. I loved it. I forgot my camel's name, but she/he was the biggest camel they had. I felt like they thought I was the biggest person there. It is true that I was taller and heavier than the ladies from the Philippines who were on our tour but I think there was at least one man who was larger than I. Anyway- we rode out at sunset to the high sand dunes and watched the sun set in the west and the full moon rise in the East - it was amazing.

But I should start at the beginning. I had a great time with Mary Laurel and Robert before starting my tour. Robert's parents, sister, brother and brother's girl friend came to eat turkey, tatters, pancit, lumpia, and other yums. Earlier that day I went over to see the Guihers and Chamblees with Ned and Royal. ML and Robert did a great job hosting 11 for dinner. Many thanks to them and the Bileks for a super T-day. It was very special to be able to share the day with Ned and Royal.

Cathy Dippo and I left from BWI the day after Thanksgiving for our 8-day bus tour around Morocco. We flew in and out of Casablanca but took a large bus all around. Our luggage did not arrive with us. They were apparently still in NY after we arrived in Casablanca. We made several trips to various airports but only succeeded in getting Cathy's bag, mine was still in NY or Paris or someplace so I spent the tour without my clothes. I borrowed some stuff from Cathy and Rosa, so I only had to pay for laundry once. My bag stayed at the airport in Casablanca until I returned there a week later. So I checked it when I came home and amazingly it arrived in BWI with me.

Two Cathy's in the Meknes Medina

There were 34 on our tour with Hassan as our native tour guide. There were solo ladies that we hung out with: Rosa from So. Africa, Sharon from Canada, Marcella from England, and Jacqui from Australia. There were 3 other couples from the USA, one from Singapore, one from Australia, and the rest were a sub-group from the Philippines with their tour coordinator.

Fellow tourmates: Sharon, Rosa, Jacqui, and Marcella

Complete tour group

On the second day we drove to Rabat and Meknes and saw some temples and Medinas (old town). Then on to Fes where we spent 2 nights. We walked through the Medina and Kasbah which was fun. We crossed the middle Atlas mountains in the snow and had one night in Erfoud with the camel ride in the desert. We had one night is Ouarzazate (where they filmed "Lawrence of Arabia"), crossed over the high Atlas mountains then had 2 nights in Marrakesh which included walking around the square at night with snake charmers, belly dancers, and lots of people and food. The last night included dinner at Rick's Cafe as in the film "Casablanca". There were long bus rides from Fes to the dessert and from Fes to Ouarzazate. Below are some pictures to give you the idea. We saw lots of date palms and olive trees in the Oases (which were in the valleys). Several of us has an amazing hammam scrub with black soap and massage at the spa in Marrakesh (no pics of this, please).