Heading to site

Donkeys are better than dogs. Safi.

Ahh.. my equivalent of finals is over and I just have a couple days before going to site. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but not much as happened outside of the normal routine. It’s too rigid in fact and I can’t wait to get to site where I’ll have the ability to dictate my own day. Also, I’ve been living out of my backpacks for the last 3 months and it will be nice to be more sedentary. And the spanish beaches on the Mediterranean (just 3 hours away) are calling.

I leave for site on Tues morning by bus, will probably stay in Marrekesh that night, then will travel by train and stay in Fez the following night before heading to site. I’m not a fan of Marrekesh; its all touristed-out with flying monkeys and snake charmers and it becomes an old routine fast. Also, like Ouarazate, it reaches temperatures of 140 F deg in the summer. My largest cities that I’ll spend considerable time in over the next two years are Fez and Oujda, which is something I’m pleased with. From what I’ve seen, Oujda is rather utilitarian; has all the amenities you need without being fancy and minus the tourists. This is nice. Population is 1/2 million and its known for being a major blackmarket capital for technology, etc from Algeria, Spain, and elsewhere. Fez is Morocco’s major college town, although its also a UNESCO site and is popular with tourist. It also has great leather products, and has an old casbah thats world famous.

My next post will probably be from my site, enshalla (”God willing”).