Ali Baba & His Madame Do Morocco

“Think of the world you carry within you” Rainer Maria Rilke

In India Mike was Maharaja, in Egypt & Jordan everyone thought he was a native and here in Morocco Mike is Ali Baba. How funny to be walking down the street and hear local after local call out “Ali Baba, come and visit my shop”, with a big smile and a thumbs up. Apparently Mike’s beard makes him look like Ali Baba, the Robin Hood of Morocco. What a great country to end our journey in. It’s a bit like India where you feel as though you’ve warped back in time. The spoken languages are Arabic and French and that’s pretty much it. Who would have thought that Morocco being so close to Spain would have such a big French influence?

Fes, not to be confused with Fez the Turkish hat, is what you imagine when you think of Morocco. A maze of narrow streets, we were told between nine and twelve thousand in the old city, key hole architecture, old Riads with beautiful courtyards, doors inside of doors, donkeys pulling carts, fresh meats including Camel hanging from hooks, chickens squawking, people praying and hand made goods being sold everywhere. Vegetarians beware; this is a meat eating country. Chicken or lamb Tajine, roasted chicken with frites, camel meat burgers, pigeon or fish Bastilla, and Moroccan tea so sweet it’s guaranteed to rot your teeth as you can’t help but notice from all the toothless smiles.

Marrakech is bigger and more modern. Each night Djemaa el-Fna , the big square in the Medina, becomes a fantastic fair with stalls serving traditional street food including Moroccan soup, lambs head, snails, all kinds of skewers and of course couscous. There are snake charmers with live Cobras, fortune tellers, healers and plenty of dancing & music. After a wide sampling we, of course, were interested in learning how to make all the delicious food we’d been eating so it was time for one more cooking class. First we did a trip to the market to choose the fruits, vegetables and chickens, still alive that is. There was no doubt they were free range and organic. Mike was fascinated by the whole “off with the head” thing while Carin diverted her eyes. Ten minutes later we had two freshly plucked, clean birds ready for the Tajine & Bastilla. It was back to the yellow and turquoise and courtyard in our own riad where we spent the next three hours slicing and dicing. Although the chef spoke very little English she managed to instruct us with ease. It was delicious!!!

No matter where we are the water and beach always call to us. The laid back and charming seaside port city of Essaouira was a beautiful end to this journey. The people of Morocco are incredibly warm and friendly and extremely proud of their country. This is displayed in their traditional crafts, including pottery, leather goods, carpets, wood carving and metal working passed on from father to son, generation to generation. They pride themselves on being tolerant and welcoming to all.

REFLECTIONS
It’s amazing how quickly ten months has passed since we hugged Hannah goodbye at DIA with a one way ticket to Bangkok and the rest yet to be determined. One thing we know for sure is how fragile life is and that there really is only today. Rachel’s love for travel and adventure was our inspiration and the ten months away was our time to heal. We know our lives will never go back to “normal”, but we are moving towards a new “normal” with peace, love, happiness and laughter. We felt Rachel’s presence everywhere, on the beaches in Bali, in the colors of India, with the animals of South Africa and mountains of Nepal. She painted the sky with the most beautiful sunrises & sunsets and was there by our side to guide us when we were lost. It will take time before we fully realize all that we have experienced but there are a few things we know to be true. Our world is amazing and there is beauty everywhere. It is in the mountains and at the beach. You can find loveliness in the sands of the desert, the clay of the outback and the scrub of the bush. Your eyes can see it in the rice terraces and rolling green hillsides. It doesn’t matter if it’s the colors of a giraffe, a flower in bloom or the night sky filled with stars. The mind quiets and the heart beats a little faster when you stand before the Taj Mahal, notice the faces carved into the temples of Angkor Wat, see the Buddhas glowing with sunlight at Borobudur and make the journey into the hidden valley of Petra. It is the people with their open hearts and big smiles that touched our souls, how they reached out to us, inviting us into their homes, offering a cup of tea or a place to spend the night. We feel blessed to have shared these experiences with some of our dear friends, An, Ed and Nicole, Sue, Dani and Kim, and with family, Lee, Marcia, Gerri and Mia. Our journey was made complete with Jess and Hannah’s presence. We hope that our stories and pictures elicited a smile, a laugh or even a tear. Thank you for taking the time to be part of our journey.

A final shoutout to our support team:
*Chuck and Chris for keeping the business in check and being so supportive
*The Teschners for taking excellent care of our cars and storing Hannah’s stuff
*Lee for all things technical including an I Pod, phone and portable speakers
* Marcia and Gerri for amazing travel expertise
* Sue for taking such good care of Hannah
*Hannah for getting yourself ready for semester abroad, no easy task, and taking such good care of us while we were with you in South Africa
And last, but certainly not least Jess for everything else and we mean everything, including Gus. You are amazing!

“If travel truly is in the journey and not the destination, if travel really is an attitude of awareness and openness to new things, then any moment can be considered travel” Rolf Potts

With love,
Small Travelers

The Bush

We can't bring you the smells and sounds but here are a few of the sights of our Safari, intoducing the stars of Addo Elephant Park and Kruger National Park.

Lekker South Africa

Touching down in Cape Town on April 14th, also known as Hannah’s birthday, was the start of our journey through the country of South Africa. We arrived a bit wobbly from the 17 hour flight but ready to help our baby girl turn 21, knowing she needed her parentals around to keep her in check.. NOT, as she celebrated this milestone. Reality is we brought the ice cream and then headed back to our hotel for a little recovery time and Hannah and her friends partied on, dancing the night away. Then it was time for a little hard core sightseeing. With Hannah as our guide, an excellent guide we must say. We drove into the city for a walking tour starting at Charley’s Bakery and then the District Six Museum, our real introduction to the tragedy of Apartheid includining the history of the pass laws and the beginning of total segregation forcing black families to move out of their homes and into the townships. Then a trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 26 years in prison and finished the day checking out the shops at the Waterfront. To lighten things up a bit we spent the next few days exploring the many beautiful beaches along the cape. Camps Bay where you’ll find the rich & famous , Boulders beach home to the African Penguin colony, Kalk Bay for the best fish & chips ever and *Mzoli’s a place we won’t soon forget.
*Hannah, wanting us to experience a real taste of SA, said Mizoli’s on a Sunday is a must but left out a few minor details like; Mzoli’s is located in Gugulethu township, not the safest neighborhood in Cape Town, she wasn’t exactly sure how to get there and that this is an all day party packed to the gills with people from the townships, mostly under 30. Here’s how it works, first you wait on line for 45 minutes to pick out your meats (chicken, chops & sausage) don’t forget the special sauce and a side of pap, take your bowl of raw food, wait on another line to hand over to the grillers and then head out to the back yard where the party is raging. Two plus hours later, you make your way back inside to pick up your food, fight your way back to the table with a bowl of perfectly barbecued meats and enjoy the feast, every finger licking drop, eating with your hands and without napkins while listening to great music and drinking beer. We loved it. The food was fantastic and the people were great.
With Hannah now of legal drinking age we thought a weekend trip to the wine country was in order. The vineyards of Franschoek & Stellenbosch are home to some of South Africa’s finest wineries and only a 45 minute drive from Cape Town. The towns are charming and the countryside beautiful. We spent Saturday visiting a winery known for its sparkling wines where the proprietor was delighted to give us a cellar tour, sabrage (slice open a bottle of bubbly with a sabre, quite the trick) and then partake in six different tastings, eat a delicious lunch at a small vineyard just outside of town and then watch a chocolate making demonstration at a little chocolate shop. Hannah loved the wine tastings, Mike thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and Carin's fav wasof course the CHOCOLATE!
You can’t fully understand S. Africa without seeing a township. Unfortunately the majority of white South Africans have never visited one, but Hannah highly recommended doing so after spending a weekend in a township with a family. We met Siviwe our 27 year old guide who took us into the Langa Township. We spent two hours walking and talking, visited a high school, traditional healer, shebeen (home brew) and ended at the Guga S’Thebe Arts and cultural center. We were so touched we returned the next day with Hannah to watch the Happy Feet dance troupe perform traditional gum boots dancing. Siviwe volunteers his time teaching this lost art to children six to fourteen years old, giving local kids an alternative to wandering the streets. Definitely one of our highlights.
A few of the other things we managed to fit in worth mentioning were the scenic Garden tour up the coast, Addo Elephant park and a hike up Lions Head to prove to Hannah we really could do some serious hiking after all that bragging about Nepal. It turned out Mike managed to slip on the rocks and Carin turned Hannah’s 35 minute record into an hour and fifteen which Hannah found quite hilarious.
South Africa is a total contradiction. There is so much natural beauty, Cape Town’s Table Mountain, endless beaches, rugged coastlines, pine forests and the amazing bush. There’s such a strong sense of culture, art, dance and music. The food is delicious and the people are warm and kind. Yet, this beautiful landscape is still marred by Apartheid. The majority of the population, Blacks, Colored and Asians live in shacks with outhouses and no running water. This is a country that has the largest gap between rich and poor, twenty one percent unemployment resulting in a high crime rate and one of the highest HIV/Aids numbers in the world.

Like the rest of the world S. Africa has its challenges but we found it to be a fantastic country, buzzing with excitement about the up and coming World Cup. Sorry we won’t be around to enjoy it! Lastly we would like to say our visit to this country was even more special because we got to spend time with Hannah.

One Big shoutout to Jackie & Mark for an amazing dinner on the Waterfront and for thinking of Hannah while visiting Cape Town. We saw the Big Five but no Cheetah.