Travels With Maria

To the Bottom of Africa

We have been to the northernmost tip of Africa in Tunisia, the westernmost in Senegal, and now the southernmost (well, almost; a point 200km east is slightly farther south, but the European history of this place grants the Cape of Good Hope much greater significance). South Africa has extreme income inequality. After Khayelitsha yesterday, we got a bit queasy going through Camp's Bay this morning. Filthy rich, flashy cars, chichi coffee shops crowded with ugly white people drinking soy lattes along the beachfront promenade, blithely ignorant or worse, intentionally ignorant of the world most people live in. Pathetic. Only white people here. Oh, plus some service people... https://youtube.com/shorts/mjSpyvtDfHM How to…
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Khayelitsha!

At 1:30, we were picked up by Juma and his driver Ismael who took us to Khayelitsha, the second largest township in South Africa after Soweto. Established in 1984 during apartheid as a place for black people to live, it has grown to 3 million people. We expected slum conditions, abject poverty, probably the same thing you'd expect visiting a South African township. We were pleasantly surprised by what we saw. https://youtu.be/-HhTlSRJpMo?cc_load_policy=1 Juma is a serial entrepreneur. In addition to his tour company, he has two bicycle shops, a sandwich shop and several other small businesses in Khayelitsha. He starts the business, gets it going, hires local people to run…
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South Africa’s Wine

This morning at 8:45, we were waiting in the early morning sunshine on the street in front of the house. While we were waiting, a dog came trotting toward us for about half a block, very purposeful, like he was walking to work. He headed straight for Maria, who said, "don't you pee on me!" And sure enough, he started to lift his hind leg. She kneed him, and he resumed his businesslike walk past us and on down the street.  A few minutes later, a van picked us up, drove around town collecting the other five people, and off we went to the Stellenbosch wine region. One woman was…
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Arrival in Cape Town

We are staying in Bo Kaap, the Malay section of Cape Town. In the 1600s, the Dutch brought slaves from the Malay peninsula and Indonesia to Cape Town. Over the years the various racist regimes eventually classified the Malays as coloured. They did remain Muslim and after slavery was abolished in the 1830s, many ended up in this neighborhood. The little houses are all painted in bright colors, there are many mosques (one right across the street from us - first call to prayer is around 5am), and a unique culture. The woman who manages our Airbnb wears the hijab. After a good night's sleep, we got up, had breakfast…
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Marrakech at Ramadan

Here in Marrakech, reputed to be pretty wild, everyone was a bit subdued today because of Ramadan. We took a walk through the souks today, and the vendors were all working, but were not aggressive at all. By mid afternoon, it was quiet, with most laying down taking naps. We did see one seller lose his temper and complain loudly (likely a smoker suffering from nicotine withdrawal), and Zak commented that if you can't maintain a good attitude, it's better to smoke and eat. Walking past the drowsy sellers, I spotted a guy watching Ramadan porn on his phone: a video of meat sizzling on a grill. In the souks,…
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Zak’s Family

Zakaria, our trip leader, was born and grew up in Marrakech. Yesterday, we drove over the High Atlas mountains, hours on a winding mountain road in a huge bus on a narrow road, back into Morocco's green zone, finally arriving in Marrakech. We are staying in another Riad, an old home built around a courtyard. Tile, fountains, high ceilings. In the late afternoon, we walked to the Djemma el Fna, Marrakech's famous square full of hustlers, snake charmers, musicians, street food vendors and tourists. Crazy, chaotic place. Zak's mother invited the group to dinner. His brother, some sisters, a brother-in-law, some nieces and nephews all joined us. Zak is the…
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Ouarzarzate

Where Is Zat? Morocco changed its time Saturday night, falling back an hour. Normally, they follow the UK and Portugal on daylight savings time. But because Ramadan starts this week, they changed the clocks for the next 5 weeks. Since everyone fasts (no food or water) from sunrise to sunset, the time change means the sun sets an hour earlier, therefore they can eat an hour earlier. This morning we drove out to a small village where we met a family who was going to serve us lunch. The father is a mason, repairing the adobe that make up the village. In recent years, people are switching to cement, which…
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Sahara

Maria's birthday started this morning at 6:00am when we got up to see the sunrise. Several other intrepid travelers were also up to see a somewhat uneventful appearance of Sol which rose quickly over Algeria on the eastern horizon. It was cool in the early morning light. A couple of friendly dogs trotted past. After breakfast, the jeeps collected us and we drove to the edge of the dunes where there were 4 strings of 4 camels each. The camel drivers fixed us up with turbans, good protection from sun and wind. We got organized, mounted and we were off into the dunes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJOIC6npj1Q The camels took us high on…
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Sandstorm

This is the best OAT group we have been with. No one is obnoxious and any annoyances are very minor. Zak, our trip leader is quite impressive. He is only 25, speaks great English, is well organized and has a great sense of humor. He is giving us a lot of good insight into Moroccan culture, with a millennial's perspective. He is very open, talking about dating and young people in a changing culture. It used to be taboo for a young man to discuss these things with his mother, but Zak talked about it to his mom and she asked around the family and found a prospect. He is…
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Green Morocco

Wednesday, we had a day trip to Volubilis, the regional Roman capital from about 0 to 200AD. Interesting place, marvelous civil engineering using the gravity of the hillside for water management, beautiful mosaics. The local guide was excellent. Then on to Meknes, a former capital of Morocco. But what I found most interesting is green Morocco. Agriculture is the main industry in Morocco. The bus drove past vistas of fields to the horizon. Wheat, olives, poppies, peaches, mustard, mostly smallish plots for each crop, easy to rotate. Some of the olive groves have other crops planted between the rows of trees. Some irrigation, some relying only on rainwater. Rains evidently…
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Fes

Yesterday, the group rode our bus to the city of Fez, maybe 120 miles east of Rabat. A beautiful superhighway took us through the green region of Morocco. The world's second largest forest of cork trees (largest is in Portugal), wheat fields, olive groves on a gently rolling landscape. Eventually, the city of Fez came into view. We exited the highway and drove into the town. Fez has one of the world's largest vehicle-free zones, the medina, a warren of 9000+ tiny streets and alleys dating from the 9th century. Here is the oldest university in the world, operating since 859. In the late 15th century, Morocco had a big…
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Casablanca

We flew into Casablanca Wednesday, arriving mid-afternoon. We were met at the airport by Ali, who manages the Airbnb. It was a long drive into the city, through very congested traffic. The apartment is on the 14th floor, overlooking the harbor and the train station and lots of construction. This is the vacation home of Alexandre, who lives in Paris. Unlike most Airbnbs, which are furnished with the owner's cast-off stuff supplemented by thrift shop finds, Alexandre's furnishings have been carefully selected. A kitchy-chic melange of oddball antiques, like an old barber's chair, a lamp that is a life-size statue of an African princess, a walk/don't walk sign... Lots of…
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Alhambra and Hammam

After failing at seeing Holy Week processions for the previous 5 days, we bumped into a small one on the street Monday evening on our way out to dinner. A statue of risen Jesus followed by a Mary statue, with about 20 attendants with a couple of kids waving incense censers. Yesterday, we got picked up with a small group for the 2 hour drive to Grenada to see the Alhambra. It was pouring rain. The bus left us downtown, on our own for lunch, so we went over to the cathedral to see the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabel before stopping in to a tavern for coffee and a…
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Málaga

We took the train from Cordoba to Malaga yesterday morning. It was uneventful until we arrived. Malaga was the last stop. We waited until the rush of people subsided, then went to luggage storage at the end of the car, only to find out bags were gone! We took chase, running out of the car and into the station before we realized that we had boarded the train at the other end of the car. We went back, and sure enough, there were our suitcases. We know that no one will ever steal your suitcases from a pile of luggage: they might belong to the person right next to them.…
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Flamenco in Andalucía

Slept late Saturday, out of the apartment around 11. Walked the 3 blocks to the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos. The Alcazar was built by Christian kings in the 1200s or so on the ruins of the destroyed Moorish castle after the Christians reconquered Córdoba. Castle walls and towers to climb, and acres of orchards and gardens. The Moors planted many citrus trees, oranges and lemons, to counteract the stench of the mideval open sewers. The oranges are very aromatic smelling and sour, different from eating oranges. Their leaves are different. The gardens in the Alcazar were all in bloom, but were planted in a haphazard manner. I guess this…
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