A Welcome Note: On Filling the Gaps

Dear Friends and Family:

Although I haven't added any posts since the summer of 2007, this blog continues to be a warehouse of my thoughts and experiences from my time abroad.

Andrew

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Morocco: Day Seven, Part II

3.1.07 - Of course we declined, and after spending 10 minutes trying to shake him and the other scammers off, we found cabs for the Medina. When we arrived at the edge of the Medina, we came upon an incredibly intricate blue gate. The exterior was all done in blue and white and the inside was blue and green. We later learned that green was the color of Fez and was reserved for inside-the-wall colors. When we had to pay the cab driver, Holiday and I realized we only had a large bill, so the cab driver, to who we had just passed off a 200 Durham bill, ran off down the street supposedly the change the bill. For all we knew he had simply escaped with our money, but sure enough, a few minutes later, he returned with our change. Once our business with Mohammed number who-knows-what had been concluded, Holiday and I met up with Brent and Hannahl, who had shared the other three person “petite” cab and walked under the blue portal, entering what quickly blew our minds. Completely diverse from the other cities we had seen in Europe and Morocco, Fez was like a jungle. Buildings were crammed so close together that the sun didn’t reach the ground, wooden support beams spanned the distance between apartments keeping the walls from caving in; restaurants and shops lined the dirty streets with framed pictures of the king everywhere. Clearly in-tune with royal politics, I was amazed to notice that all the standard pictures of the king we had seen had been replaced in the past 24 hours by glossy new prints with the King and the newly born prince, only news as of the day before. Our first order of business was to find a room for the night and we started by checking out the hotel that Rachel, who had gone on to Fez a day or two earlier had supposedly been staying at and waiting for us. When we arrived however, the men lingering outside the hotel indicated that she had left that morning. Unfortunately, she had taken the book with her once again so we were at a loss for hotels. One of the hotel operators seemed slightly more slick than the others and spoke excellent English. He first offered for us to stay the night there. At that point we were pretty skeptical, but trusted Holiday to check it out for us. She came down minutes later shaking her head no. Flies, bugs, no shower, no western style toilet. So we were about to move on, when our new guide, Abdul (#2) recited the famous line “Oh, I see, so you want a clean hotel?” “Well yes,” we replied, “of course.”

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