sugar ‘n’ spice and everything nice
Djemaa el-Fna, Marrakech, Day 2
Curiosity got the better of me at what looked like a dessert stand, so I ordered up something random off the menu. I thought it had chocolate in it, but it turned out to be a very spicy cake with cinnamon and cloves and — ?? [...]

Marrakech
I’m amazed this photo turned out as well as it did, considering the light sources. View larger. It was the only portrait I paid for in Morocco (he stuck out his hand after I took the photo), which is a feat in of itself, so I’m happy that at least it worked out.

I’m still downloading photos off the 5 (2GB) cards, so I thought I’d upload a videoclip to YouTube in the meantime.
I shot these two clips (edited into one) in a terrace cafe overlooking Djemâa el-Fna, The Big Square, in Marrakech on November 12.
One of my favourite things about Morocco was hearing the call to prayer [...]

Made this morning’s flight back to Toronto, and was half-expecting a tree to have fallen on my house or my computer stolen, but mercifully I came home to a package of sweets and a birth announcement from my friends in Germany.
Since I missed an entire day of work, I’m off to replace my driver’s license [...]

I’ve been incommunicado for what is supposed to be the end of my trip because of a chain of bizarre events:
1) one professional pickpocket thief in Barcelona (I managed to thwart a team of bag-snatchers less than an hour later)
2) visits to two police stations in Barcelona, the second one required a translator so I [...]

I have even less time than last night to write this, so I’ll try to summarise…
TODAY WAS A BLUR! Literally!
I met Hassan as arranged at 10:00 just around the corner from my hotel, and his presence was invaluable to me for the entire day. In fact, he was with me until after 6:00pm, where we [...]

WHAT A DAY!!
I found one “cyber cafe” just before it shut, and they’re keeping it open for me for 20 minutes, so I’m going to make this quick… because they’re cleaning all around me.
Today I absorbed so much information about Moroccan history from an official guide before leaving Meknes that by the time I reached [...]

I arrived by train in Meknes this afternoon at 5:30, after leaving Rabat around 3:15 on the train that brought me to Rabat yesterday after 4 o’clock. When I looked at the train timetable, I realised that the train I took yesterday was actually an hour late, but thankfully today it was on time because [...]

I arrived in the capital of Morocco this afternoon and checked into a hotel practically spitting distance from the train station in order to minimise the number of harrowing taxi rides I will take in this country.
So far I have had two, both in petits taxis, the more notable trip the one from Marrakech [...]

I survived Day 2 in Morocco. Whew!
Soon after I arrived here yesterday, I made a firm goal to watch where I was standing, especially when I was taking a photo. Not getting run over by something is harder than it sounds! Between the donkeys, pushcarts, mopeds, horses, bicycles, wheelbarrows, vehicles, and people, it’s a wonder [...]