Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Maison de Arabo-Andalouse

Well, just one more today... here's the street where we stayed in Marakech - Derb de Toureg. We are in the little guest house under the sign on the left - a beatifully restored old Marakshi house run by a Frenchman - Guy Barbaste - with the help of a small but wonderful staff. Mohammed and Zura took great care of us, and on our last evening there Zura served up a fantastic tagine of chicken with lemon and olives.
Click the pic to enlarge.

berber banjo

We spent one day driving around in the High Atlas north of Marakesh... in the little market area near Sidi Fatma we ran into this threesome playing traditional music on drums and a four-string banjo so of course I needed to jam with them a bit....

I've got a lot less time to find a Cyber and post than I'd expected... way too much to do and see... I think the real blogging of this trip will happen after I get back home.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Just about ready to leave

We're almost ready to go... just need to drop into the office for a few hours tomorrow so we get get a proposal out the door - then a frenzy of packing and last minute shopping, I'm sure... and we're off.

Yesterday our friend Djeneba dropped by the office with mail that had come for Fode and Rebecca while they've been in Mali, and we took a snap (on my new FujiFilm E900) to take to her Mom in Bamako.

Our month will start in Casablanca where we will meet up with our good friends Becky, Stu, and Nila. We'll hang with them in Casablanca and Marakesh for a week. Then we fly to Bamako. We'll visit our neice Rebecca, her husband Fode, and their daughter Julia Fante for several days, then leave on our up-country trip to Segou, Djenne, Mopti, Pays Dogon, and Timbuktu. And then a few more days to just visit in Bamako. Doria's sister Julie (Rebecca's mother) and her other daughter Sarah will be joining us for the Malian part of this adventure.

More soon.