Sheryl Update

On Thursday we took a train to Marrakech. The four hour trip was smooth quick

A really nice taxi driver showed us how to use Google translate for the Moroccan dialect of Arabic they use here.

Dinner was chichen pastilla. It’s like a sweet/savory meat pie. Phyllo dough on the outside, ground chicken, onion and almonds on the inside. The entire thing is sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. It sounds weird but was really good.

We went to small store where I found this cute little bucket of Tide. How cute is this with the little handle? It was a little weird pouring it into the washing machine. I was expecting powder not a thick liquid that was like wallpaper paste. But turned on the washing machine and searched for a drying rack. I found a nice clothes mine on our balcony.

I went back to the store to buy clothes pins and found then in a different section away from the buckets of Tide and with other brands of laundry detergent.

It was then that I learned that Tide makes floor cleaner in Morocco. And I learned that if you do wash your clothes in Tide floor cleaner your clothes will be clean but smell strongly like floor cleaner.

We started the day at the Rabat kasbah. This one we really did rock. Well if you consider walking uphill slowly, having Jeff act as a human handrail on every step and stopping to photograph every door rocking.

The kasbah overlooked the ocean.

We had lunch on the shore where I ate the healthiest meal I’ve had on this trip. Quinoa and finally some spinach which was in my juice.

Next up was Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of King Muhammad V.

It’s guarded by the royal guard. They look menacing but they were really nice. I asked if I could photographer them and they stopped smiling and posed.

The tower is part of a mosque that was under construction in the 1100’s. An earthquake toppled everything but the tower and these columns. We got lucky that few people were there when we were. Tour buses were just pulling up on our way out.

At the other end is the mausoleum which was built in the 1960’s.

We couldn’t go inside but it was incredible to see from the outside.

There were a few more things on our site seeing to do list but we skipped them and went back to our Airbnb for a nap.

Tuesday started in Tangiers with a beggar placing a curse on me. When I wouldn’t give him money, he waved his fingers at me, stared intently and said some menacing sounding words.

The curse took some time to kick in. The high speed train to the city of Rabat was great.

Although we did get on the wrong train car with all our luggage, have to get off and run to the correct car, with all our luggage.

Lunch was great. These were tagines (Morocco stew). I had the meatballs in tomatoe sauce. Under the pile of fries Jeff had chicken in preserved lemon.

The curse kicked in when we got to our Airbnb and the electric doorlock wouldn’t open. After some waiting the owner showed up with a key and a promise to come back and fix it. Once inside we realized there was no toilet paper.

Undaunted, we walked around the city.

The curse was still upon me when I picked a place for sunset drinks.

I didnt realize it was in an entirely different town until the cab went over a bridge. I didn’t realize it was a hoity toity hotel until the doorman ran a metal detector underneath the taxi.

After expensive drinks, on the way back to our Airbnb I bought toilet paper…

Which turned out to be paper towels. Our door now opened with the electric keypad. But it also set off an alarm.

Frustrated and annoyed we went to a nearby restaurant/karaoke bar. Turns out the best way to lift a Moroccan curse is with two gin and tonics and a bowl of olives.

This is the view from our Airbnb. The medina and kasbah are the old part of town, but there is also the modern part with large buildings and busy car-filled streets.

There is also a nice beach with a nice walk along it. The hills across the water is Spain. The plastic chairs are what you can rent. They seem so uncomfortable compared to the beach chairs we’re used to renting.

There are also horses you can rent.

The area along the water is really modern. Lots of apartment buildings and hotels.

There were also camels to rent. I joked that we could rent them and crop photos to make it look like we were in the desert. Jeff said we could do it on AI. The below is AI.

This is completely AI. We did not take camels into the desert. One way to know this is AI besides the fact that we are not camel riders is that I look like I’m 4 ft tall and Jeff looks maniacal.

After we did not ride camels we went to a really nice modern coffee shop. We tried Tanzanian and Rwandan coffee. Both were really good.

I’ve been really careful to be respectful and not photograph people. But sometimes they end up in my shots.

I had to say it at least once. Now I’ve gotten it out of the way. Besides being a great song from the 80’s, a kasbah means fortress and or old city. It’s also spelled casbah as in the song. The kasbah in Tangiers is built up on a hill overlooking the water. You can’t walk through it but you can walk around it.

And then you are back in the markets.

And more doors.

On Saturday we walked around the medina which means old city. I went photo crazy which also drove Jeff crazy.

These arches are the way into the medina. There are five of them, each one interesting and photo worthy.

Inside it was very narrow streets with lots of people and stores selling all kinds of things. The above is a type of soap you bring to the hammas which is like a traditional spa.

We were a bit overwhelmed so we stopped for a cup of mint tea at a famous Cafe where the Rolling Stones and writers and poets hung out.

So many doors…

After the tea we needed more of a break so went to a quieter part of the Medina.

We had lunch and then walked out of the medina to a park.

It was overwhelming but a good day.

We said goodbye to Rolf and Samuel and got boarded the ferry for Tangier Morocco. The ocean was really rough so I had to clutch anything I could to stay upright. I couldn’t look out the windows so did not see us pass by Gibraltar.

Thank God for sea bands. Without them I would have been really seasick. With them I was too ill to stand but not too sick for a selfie. It was only one hour. Crazy to think you can get from Europe to Africa in an hour.

We took a taxi to our airbnb. It’s in a big modern apartment building, but does have some interesting Moroccan touches like the curtains and sofa.

This chandelier is pretty amazing. There are also two tangines in the kitchen. Tangines are clay pots that they cook Moroccan stews in. We have one in our Seattle storage locker.

This one was high up on a shelf and too heavy for me to try to get down. Jeff had to do some last minute work. I felt that asking him to stop in order for me to take a better photo of the tagine was ill advised.

And there was this smaller one to photograph.

We were both worn out after a week of sightseeing so we took the day as a rest day. I mostly napped, read, and did laundry.

You can drink the water here, but they did leave us some bottled water. I assume it’s water. It tasted like water. Hard to tell though with the label.

Same thing with the kleenex. There is a lot of Fench here. Jeff has been learning French on Duo lingo which is good because after years of French in school and a summer spent in France in high school, I remember nothing.

The are two things we always do when we get to a new country. Number one -nap. Number two – figure out how to order food in.

This was chicken, cous cous and vegetables. It wasn’t as delicious as we hoped but it was easy, inexpensive and healthy.

On our way to Tarifa, we stopped at a town called Vejer de la Frontera. It’s one of the “White Villages”

It was beautiful but also super steep so the boys went exploring while I people watched in the square.

For lunch I was excited to order a mixed salad. I have had a lot of cheese, bread and olives on this trip. Not many vegetables.

This was good but not exactly a lot of greens.

After lunch we drove to Tarifa. Before getting to the city we stopped to see the dunes.

The ocean was full of kite boarders and wind surfers. It’s one of the top places to do both.

As you probably guessed, we did not do either of these.

We took a short ferry from Rolf and Samuel’s town to Cadiz. It was a small boat not the one behind us in this photo.

Cadiz of just as charming as the other cities we’ve visited on this trip.

There were so many doors I was in door heaven.

I took breaks for wine and tapas. Jeff refused to pose for the above photo. I think he’s learned his lesson.

Even the candy store was picturesque.

We started our day at the market which was the cleanest market I’ve ever been to.

Even the fish heads were stylish.

Next up was churros.

The churro maker was super psyched for me to take photos of the process. I could do an entire post on his process. Including the free sample.

It was good we were full of fried dough before the sherry tasting. The walk to the bodega helped us work off the calories.

This was going into the tasting.

Our tour was in Spanish although our guide was able to explain in English when I got lost.

There was a complicated explanation in how they move the sherry from the top to the middle to the bottom barrels.

And then we started the tasting and tapas.

We were a bit loopy after.

After a siesta we made dinner. In Panama this was our favorite thing to do together, cook. Also drink, dance, and sing.

Rolf and I prepared the first course.

Jeff and Samuel made the 2nd course.

And then we had a cheese tasting.

Samuel has been making a parmesan like cheese in Venezuela. He makes it with fresh milk from cows that eat on his farm in Mérida Venezuela and cave ages it for 6 months at his mountain home.

It is amazing. I could have eaten the entire block. His Instagram site is @qyagrumo

Here is Samuel’s explanation of his cheese.

For me, YAGRUMO: The soul of the Italian Alps born in the Venezuelan Andes. A guard cheese, matured at 2,400 meters high, where the cold of the mountain and the weather dictate its character. 100% Bio, without chemicals, only milk, height and patience. Much more than a parmesan: it is the ultimate expression of our soil.