Marrakech, Morocco

We took a 1.5 hour bus drive this morning out into the desert to take a safari desert tour to explore Wadi Rum prior to going to the airport. We saw sights including T.E. Lawrence’s Spring and Khazali Canyon. This morning’s outing was definitely a unique adventure. We loaded into a caravan of battered and dust covered vehicles for the drive out across the dusty orange dessert terrain. We had “Butters” (that really was his name!) from South Park as our driver ripping over and through the sand dunes like we were on an out of control Disneyland ride. The kid wasn’t a conversationalist by any means which made things even more nerve wrecking (don’t think he spoke much English). I had visions of me as Tony Stark (ie Robert Downey, Jr.) from Iron Man getting blown up by an air missile and ending up in a cave with a mechanical heart in my chest! Not a comforting thought in this cold, windy desolate part of the world. At our final stopping point on the dusty driving tour, we entered a Bedouin tent set up out in the middle of the desert to enjoy tea (fabulous herbal blend of Cardamom and Sage) and biscuits before transferring back to the buses to go to Aqaba’s King Hussein Airport for our flight to Marrakesh. The Bedouin tent was located 25 miles from the Saudi Arabia border. BACK IN THE BIG BLUE: Tricky flight out of Jordan today. Our pilots have to use great caution to keep us out of unfriendly airspace. Top priority is avoiding Libyan airspace. So our flight path will take us over Alexandria toward Crete and along the Mediterranean Sea to arrive in Morrocco this evening just in time for dinner and bed. So happy to be back on Big Blue enjoying my Bailey’s on the rocks right now! Today’s on board lectures: Jay Dickman–Photographing People Rob Hernandez–Morocco: The Crossroads Empire Arrived at Marrakesh airport around 5pm. Reddish colored buildings dot the countryside alongside lush green fauna including Palm trees and Orange trees lining well paved streets. The Moroccan landscape is very desert like otherwise with the exception of the well watered mountain ranges in the North where the Atlas Mountains lie. Marrakech is called the Red City because of the reddish tinged color of the buildings and is built on flat ground. Still always alarming to see armed guards in camo walking along the streets with machine guns! Checked into our fabulous hotel, La Mamounia. We have a great view of the pool and the downtown in the near distance. We sat and relaxed on our balcony and listened as the “adhan” was shouted from the Mosque at evening prayer time. Enjoyed a wonderful meal in our room and relaxed. $1 = 8.91 Moroccan Dirhams (MAD) Hotel: La Mamounia NOTES ON LAWRENCE ‘S SPRING: Prince Feisal bin Al-Hussein and T.E. Lawrence chose Wadi Rum to be the headquarters during World War I, to fight for the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence became a legendary figure for his key role in the fight for the Arab cause. He made his home in this magical area. Lawrence’s Spring is entranced by Wadi Rum. There are amazing views from this point across the red sands to Jebel Rum, the sand dunes on the slopes of Jebel Umm Ulaydiyya and the Umm Fruth Rock Bridge where you see some bedouin tents made of knitted camelhair, with carpets on the floor and cushions to sit on.