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| We started out our trip in Fez. There are an insane amount of satellite dishes there. |
View from the rooftop terrace of our riad (place we were staying). |
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| The inside courtyard of our riad. |
Breakfast in the riad courtyard. |
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| Walking down the insanely crazy streets of Fez. |
A freakishly large cat down an alleyway. |
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| Then we went to the tanneries. It's a cooperative of 250 families, and leather stores line the outside of the tannery itself. You can go into any leather store in the area and get a tour, from the rooftop, of the tanneries. |
It totally smells because of the raw hides drying out, so they give you a mint sprig. I was inhaling it like nobody's business. |
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| They also dye the leather here. You can see the vat of indigo, which is very popular in Morocco. |
Another view of the workers in the tannery. |
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| Heather, Lydia, and Molly outside our riad. |
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| Next we went to Marrakech. This guy helped us find our riad (they're always tucked away on some crazy, small, maze of an alley), and carried all our bags in his cart. |
Walking around the city. |
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| I should really know what this is. Palace? Minaret? Well, whatever it is, it's pretty and is now my desktop background on my laptop. |
Cactus graffiti. |
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| Heather and I having a coffee. |
Walking around and shopping in the spice market |
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| Spices. |
Dyes. |
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| More spices. |
And yet more spices. |
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| Old palace, not in use anymore. |
Me at the old palace. |
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| More palace. |
Me again at the old palace. |
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| The main square in Marrakech is great for eating out. They have food stalls with all sorts of different stuff, and you just sit down to eat at whichever one you want, grab a bite, then move on to the next one. This is the veggie stall we started at. |
Mmmmm. |
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| Then on to the sheep's brain soup stall, where the soup actually contains every part of the sheep's head except the eyes. I'm talking brains, skin, lips, ears - you name it. I'm really glad I learned that AFTER I ate it. |
Molly with the chefs. |
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| Me with the chefs. |
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| The Royal Theater. |
The train station. |
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| Me and Lydia's room at our cozy riad. |
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| The courtyard of the riad. |
More cozy riad, where I played one of the best Scrabble games of my life. |
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| Next we took a day trip to the Ourika Valley. Surprisingly green for a country I thought was mostly desert. Shows what I know! |
We stopped off at a shop, and the guy insisted on dressing us up and taking our picture. And now I know how to tie my own head scarf like that. |
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| Another shot of a place in the valley. |
We stopped at a traditional Berber home and got a tour. The doors are very small. |
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| We also went to a women's cooperative for argon oil. |
I went nuts in the gift shop and got argon oil for cooking (similar to olive oil), argon paste (similar to peanut butter), black soap, and soapy gifts for other people. I'm pretty sure I paid way more than I needed to, but it seems like it's going to a good cause, since the entire business is run by local women. |
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| Then we went hiking at some waterfalls. My broken toe was not happy about this, but I did my best to enjoy it. This is the rickety bridge we had to cross. |
Miraculously, we all made it there and back. |
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| Us at the falls. |
An ingenious beverage "refrigerator" along the way - it stays cool by using water from the falls. |
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| More falls. |
Me at the falls. |
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| Molly and I at the falls, though doesn't the whole thing kind of look fake, like studio props? |
Another rickety bridge to cross. |
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| Back in town after the hike. |
The restaurant we ate at, which was definitely the best we had in all of Morocco. |
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| Next we went to Essaouira, which is an insanely windy little beach town. |
This was the one night we had any alcohol - two bottles for four people. Not exactly a party, but about as good as it gets for 4 women in Morocco. |
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| The next day we went to ride camels on the beach. |
They're so cute when they're sitting! |
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| And they're even cuter when they're standing! Look at their faces! |
Crossing a river. |
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| I may not look cool in my scarf, but when your hair is as long as mine and it's as windy as it was, you gotta do something about it. |
Our riad/apartment in Essaouira. We had the whole floor to ourselves, but it was funny because you could look up or down in the open courtyard and see other people on their own floors, too. |
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| The courtyard. |
The sunset, which while pretty, this photo does not quite convey just how windy it was. Still an awesome town, though. |