Cats and Arabic

Yesterday we spent the day in Fes. We wandered the medina which is 2nd oldest in Morocco. The streets wound around soukhs and houses. In some places they weren't even 2 people wide. And there were cats and kittens everywhere. But no rats to be seen....

All in all I felt it was clean for what it was. Sure there were flies on the meat which isn't clean but with all the donkeys in the street I was surprised there wasn't manure. And it didn't smell like a Manhattan alleyway. Add no rats and I've seen way worse.

I've learned about 2 Arabic phrases too. I understand more when the guide says them but I have crappy recall. Spanish recall should be fun.

Now onto the Sahara....

Purple poplars and Muslim men's restrooms

I'm on day 2 of our tour in Morocco. Amy and I explored Casablanca on our own for the first day. We saw the 3rd biggest mosque in the world, but didn't see Rick's Cafe. Sad for you Casablanca fans I know.  There wasn't much super special about Casablanca otherwise. Sure we noticed some cultural differences such as the lack of women in street cafés but a lot of it seemed familiar to well travelled eyes.

Now we're with our tour group. There are 15 people in the group from the US, Canada, Greece, Australia and the UK.  Our guide is a small Berber man with a fabulous accent -- telling us all about the purple trees.... Or poplar trees as we'd say. It took us a while.

We're on the bus to Meknes, with a stop after at an old roman fort then spending the night in Fes. Apparently I learned even in this place where men rule, women are sometimes allowed in the men's restroom. Yup, already trying to get in trouble.