Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “The Atlas Expedition Morocco”
CHAPTER 24 Our time in Morocco was quickly coming to an end. Our last day in Fez we dropped off Dusty at the car agency, packed up all of our trinkets and souvenirs from our trip thus far into a giant box, crossed our fingers, and gave it to DHL (only about half the stuff inside arrived to Colorado broken, …
CHAPTER 23 Fez was by far and away one of the cooler places I’ve ever seen. Of course it is steeped in history and exudes gritty intrigue around every corner of the winding alleys of the medina, but the most unique aspect of the ancient city was the Chouara Leather Tannery. The biggest and oldest in Fez, they’ve been tanning …
CHAPTER 22 The day following our foray into the Sahara, we said au revoir to the desert, and Rich, and headed north to Fez, one of Morocco’s four Imperial cities, a jewel in the crown of the kingdom. It’s been called the Athens of Africa. It’s been called the Mecca of the West. It should be called the tassel on …
CHAPTER 21 There comes a day in every man’s life when he fulfills his dream of riding a camel in the Sahara. And for me, it was this day. We jumped in our trusty Dusty, and hit off south from Rich, bound for the exotic sounding Merzouga, which sits on the very shore of the vast sea of sand that …
CHAPTER 20 When you join the Peace Corps, you don’t really have much say as to where you are deployed. As the volunteer, I am not sure if that is an exciting or a stressful prospect. But as the friend of the volunteer, I can say it was very exciting for me! I was waiting with bated breath to find …
CHAPTER 19 We all enjoyed our brief time in Marrakesh, and probably could have stayed there for a few more days drinking sweet tea and kissing snakes, but alas, our time was up. The desert beckoned. We were headed east, to the far side of the Atlas, to the small village of Rich, where the Peace Corps had decided to …
CHAPTER 18 Marrakech begins and ends with the Jemaa el-Fnaa. Early in the morning it is empty, and all you can hear is the sound of the muezzin’s call echoing off the paving stones as the dawn breaks over the thousand minarets of the city. By noon it is crawling with snakes and their charmers, blowing magical notes from their …
CHAPTER 17 Owing to its desolate location, and cheap labor I assume, the oasis of Ourzazate has been used as a desert proxy by Hollywood for decades. From Star Wars, to the Gladiator, to Cleopatra, to the Game of Thrones (which we saw being filmed off in the distance), to my personal favorite, the Jewel of the Nile (do you …
CHAPTER 16 We left Casablanca and headed south. Marrakech was directly in our way, but we bypassed it knowing we would return to meet Jake and Jackie there in a few days’ time. Instead, we felt our way further south into the ragged peaks and valleys of the Atlas. Our first stop was the Kasbah de Telouet, a jumble of …
CHAPTER 15 I knew of Casablanca from the Humphrey Bogart movie of course, and I also knew of an entertaining, but ultimately debunked, rumor that in WWII Roosevelt and Churchill held a secret conference there, which is true, and that the Nazi’s found out about it, but misunderstood the translated intercept and thought the world leaders were actually getting together …
CHAPTER 14 After leaving the Blue City of Chefchaouen behind, we headed south-west to Casablanca. Looking at the map, I noticed an archeological site that was somewhat on our route. If I was traveling on my own, you can be sure that I would be ping-ponging across the map, soaking these places up like a hearty piece of bread to …
CHAPTER 13 Turns out we weren’t very good at leaving Tangier. Our first attempt, by rail to Asilah, saw us back in Tangier within 48 hours. Our second attempt was even worse: we took the afternoon bus to Tetouan, a few hours east- only to find that the King of Morocco happened to be in town. Apparently, where the King …
CHAPTER 12 Our reason for coming to Morocco was simple: our buddy Taylor got it into his head that he wanted to save the world, and forthwith joined the Peace Corp. On the outset, he didn’t know he would be deployed to Morocco, indeed, I am not sure it was even one of his top picks, but Morocco picked him …
CHAPTER 11 Arriving by boat to a new country always amazes me, not just by how easy it is compared to flying in, with all the headaches of air travel, but also by the impression it leaves on my memory- if you are a sensible passenger, which we try to be, you go up on deck, or find a window …
