Not tired of tapas and vino yet...

We are still in Spain, catching a train tomorrow to France. It'll be my first time there!!

So we spent two nights in Arcos de la Frontera: frontera means 'frontier' or 'border' in Spanish, and the several towns that end in 'de la frontera' are not on any border. It turns out that they were, however, on the edge of fighting lands with Moors, many centuries ago. Most of the castles that we saw were on hills, mountains or cliffs for military and strategic advantages. Arcos had a few very old churches and a castle, and we got to eat dinner in what used to be the dungeon!

We passed through Jerez (and walked around the bullring--a very common sight in Spain), ate prawns and walked on the beach in Cadiz, and toured Ronda. The new and old towns of Ronda are separated by a very deep gulch, connected by the centuries-old 'New Bridge'. The town was much more touristy than we anticipated, but they had good ice cream, spectacular views of both sides of the gulch, and a man playing an accordion. I am lamenting not bringing an audio tape recorder: remind me to pack one next time I travel.

Yesterday we drove north, ending up in the surprise town of Lerma. Surprise both because we didn't intend to stop there (though we really didn't have any destination intentions whatsoever...) and because it ended up being a really adorable, jam-packed-with-historic-buildings village.

We headed toward the tourist office. It was closed, but instead we found the most charming Nativity scene. It filled up a huge train-set table, and had all sorts of juicy scenes. The creator happened to be right there, so he took me for a proud tour of his incredible creation. Thank goodness for this because I would have missed the donkey falling down the hill, the people killing a pig to make chorizo, and both men doing all kinds of bathroom business in dark corners. We all had a good, bilingual chuckle about the man pooing behind his herd of sheep.

This morning, Dad and I walked through Lerma. We stumbled upon no fewer than 5 monasteries and convents, watched pigeons poop on a statue, made friends with a nun, and got weird looks when asking our unpleasant waitress for something other than toast for breakfast.

Then a scenic route through the Sierra de la Demanda mountains, lunch on a cliffside, and we have arrived somewhere near San Sebastian on the Western coast in the Basque region. The language looks like a wild mix of Spanish and German. I've only picked up one word and--surprise surprise!-- it's food related.

I will write more after we cross the border and get some fromage. I'm in withdrawal.

How are things stateside??

Ethtamos in Ethpaña! (and everyone has a lisp...)

So we arrived in Spain safely, though slightly queasy.
It feels great to hear and speak Spanish again, although the accents in Spain sound so different to my latinoamericana ears. In case you´re unfamiliar, almost every ´s´sound is pronounced like a ´th´. Tho thilly, those Thpaniards.
Anyway, we stayed a couple of nights in Arcos de la Frontera, a beautiful old Andalusian white hill town. There is an old section with a castle and churches, etc., and a new town, with more of a nightlife. During the day, the views are pretty sweet, I must say.
Here it seems to be Christmas already! I particularly liked this Nativity scene in a photograpy store where the three very wise men are bringing the new baby Jesus Finepix and Casios.

Bahahahahaha!

There are windmills everywhere here, which makes me really happy (as an environmentalist). There is certainly enough wind here, as is evident when our lightweight European rental car gets on the highway...

Today we ventured to Jerez (where we got lost, then saw a bull fighting ring), then to Cadiz (on the western coast---I walked on the beach in the middle of December!!), and finally to Ronda, another hilltown where we saw this very cool (and old) bridge called the New Bridge. This thing is MASSIVE.

B´Slama, Morocco! L´almarhadar and I love you.

During our day in Fes, we toured the tile district where they make things like this out of tile. Un-freakin-believable. This particular tile is actually in an old madrassa (Koranic school) and depicts a Koranic lesson in calligraphic Arabic. Nope, I can´t read it, either. The tile district (where I got to play in the clay!) involves different people throwing clay pieces, firing them at several hundred degrees Celsius, hand painting with imagined designs, hand-chiseling with very sharp tools into absolutely perfect little geometric shapes (or curves, as seen above), then pieced together upside-down in a mold and cemented together to make the most gorgeous mosaic fountains, backsplashes, countertops, sinks, etc. that you have ever seen. Ever.

We drove through the countryside from Fes to Chefchaouen--the whole drive reminded me of how I mentally picture Italy. Who would think this is North Africa?!?

Chefchaouen is the ´blue city´: all the walls of the city (and all the houses in it) were whitewashed years ago to keep out insects. Now, the same thing is done for aesthetic reasons, and most of the doors, windows, and details of houses are painted in brilliant, different shades of blue. The stairway in our hotel (Casa Perleta, in the medina) was positively ultraviolet when you walked up in mid-afternoon. Incredible.

This was one of our last views from Morocco: we caught a ferry from Tangier to Algeciras, Spain (the whole trip was actually more difficult, involving a cancelled ferry trip that we had tickets for, 10-15 foot high waves on the Strait of Gibraltar, seasickness on the ferry and a bus trip on which the windows were completely whited out with....something).
NEVERTHELESS, we are in Spain.

PS

Bono filmed the music video for "Magnificent" in the riad where we're staying in Fes. Watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi52HjJbwVQ

And Bill Clinton went to the herb shop where we shopped for argan oil....

OK, that's all :)

"You stay here one month, you speak Arabic perfect."

An herb man in the Seffarine square of Fes: he had mint, absinthe, lemon verbena...

Goat skins drying on the rooftops of the Fes Tannery District. They are yellow from soaking in a saffron dye for 6 days. After drying they'll be cut and sewn into super-soft shoes, purses, jackets, etc. Wow.

Fes leather shoes--- the man said (quite literally) "We have every size, every color. Go on, pick what you like."
The panoramic view of Fes. Hassan and Lahcen asked us "Where is your riad?" Hell if I know, boys.
Baby sheep!! Wee lambies!! Twins!! You can barely see, but these lambs are brand new: there are umbilical cords!!

One Week, Three Marriage Proposals

I'm riding a camel!! This was in Merzouga, a desert town: we were heading out into the dunes of Erg Chebbi (on the Algeria border) to spend the night in a tent under the Sheltering Sky (go read that book!!) I wanted to name my camel Princess, but the desert people only get male camels, so he became Maalek (king).

Crazy Lahcen got us stuck in a sand dune...

Ammonite fossils!!

The gorgeous Toudgha Gorge. (haha, GORGEous)

Camels crossing the road at the appropriate place. Also, notice the awesome hair on the camel on the sign.

Tonight we are in Fes again, tomorrow we drive to Chefchouen, the blue city, then on to the port of Tangiers Med on Friday to catch the ferry to Spain.

I am finally here!!

So, I'm in Morocco! Everything has been pretty perfect so far (except for me getting sick, but that's another story) and everything is just beautiful. Words don't do it justice, so just look:

Our first Moroccan experience, Djemma el Fna (downtown square) at night. There are snake charmers with cobras, pickpocket monkeys, street vendors with food and lots of people.

Mom getting kohl (Berber eyeliner) at qn herb shop. This guy was really enthusiastic!

Dad got dressed up in a djellaba by a shop owner.

Mom getting fitted for pointy toe shoes.

The Saadien Tombs are beautiful...

Trying to keep away from the edge! This was during our first day drive with our guide Lahcen.

Beautiful view from VERY high.

We had a cooking class with Raja (yes, like Princess Jasmines tiger!!)

Sitting in the window in the bedroom of T'hami el Glaoui's "preferred wife" (he had 3 wives and each had their own gorgeous room in his kasbah)

The view from our drive through mountains and valleys.

The preferred wife's room in Glaoui Kasbah.

Mountains in the background of our lunch in Glaoui Kasbah. People have beehives set up to gather honey in the countryside.

Marrakesh from the air (sorry these are out of order)

The High Atlas mountains sticking up above the clouds as we flew in.

We got on this flight minutes before it left the ground (due to sitting on the Dallas runway for 90 minutes) But the point is we didn't miss it!!

We spent last night in Ouarzazate and are deeper in the mountains tonight at a very cool hotel in the Dades Valley: every room is modeled after a different African country!

The next blog might be a while in coming, and Facebook won't let me log on, so email me please :)

-M.