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83-Morocco--Stop Looking at My Moroccans! @ CherieSpotting     Sep 06 2002 - 19:59 PST cherie writes: Click on each picture to see it full size. read comments (0) | write comment| views: 10726    | rated: 0.0    printer-friendly version   A snake charmer (not very charming) in Marrakesh. Kristi wearing the latest in snake fashion. I don't know what scared me more, the snakes, or their masters. I've heard of snake-skin shoes, but a snake necklace? Only in Morocco! Kristi, Renee and Cherie...Charlie's Angels visit Morocco. The local chicken shop. If you didn't like the sight of the chicken shop, you can just get your bird "unplucked" and take it home. (Notice the Red Socks jacket.) Just some of the colorful spices the Moroccans use to season their food. They have to do something to make it palatable. I fit right in! Since I travel so often, I absorb the culture of the countries I visit. People often mistake me for a "local". Kristi and Renee blend in well. Here they are with our favorite Moroccan swindler. A "covered" women, a very common sight. The women even bath in pools completely clothed. How many Moroccans live. How many Moroccan tourists live. (This was a 5 star hotel, which costs about $75 US dollars a night.) We stayed in a cheap dirt-ball hotel, but ate breakfast at this nice one. Many women decorate their hands with Henna. It stains the hands for about two weeks. (This is the only part of a woman's body that anyone sees, so hey...why not decorate it?) Kristi with the local butcher. It's enough to make me (a huge carnivore by nature) want to become a vegetarian. Kristi and Renee in their long dresses. I bought my dress, and looked like a fool in an ugly green dress, while the entire time I thought I was "blending in." The Moroccans really know how to "use their heads!" Is there any way to "super-size" this bath tub? There's not quite enough leg room. Who needs a laundry mat, when there is a near-by stream? We decided to do a trek on camels into the Saharah Desert. This was our guide, hired to take 3 American Women into the middle of no where. You'd trust him, wouldn't you? Me and my camel. Its important to have plenty of camel bonding time. Renee, Kristi and Cherie on our camels. I think all the camels were named "Mohommed". Kristi took this cool shot of our camel's shadows. Camel rides are fun for about 15 minutes. Then they are best described as "a pain in the ass". After a long desert ride our guide made us dinner. Sometimes it is better not to ask for a lamp, and just eat your food in the dark. Is there anything more peaceful than a desert sunrise? Kristi and Renee slept in the "tent", while I slept on the warm sand of the Saharah. There's our tent. A sprauling metropolis of activity! Our three camels just waking up! My morning turbin wrap. Kristi lost her shoe in the middle of the desert on the "ride in", on the way out our guide found it. Renee thought he might be her "sole" mate. The famous sign...Timbuktu only 52 days away by camel! So close, yet so far away! Now that's roughing it! Renee, Kristi and Cherie with a local Moroccan band. Notice their "authentic" poo-bah hats. We went to a dinner theater, and they chose me to be the "Berber" bride. They dressed me up and carried me around before they presented me to my husband (who incidentally had two other wives!) Renee and Kristi, my bridesmaids. Welcome to the Kazbah. Moroccan leather is a huge industry, here are the tanneries where they hand-dye the leather. Onions!!! Which person does not look like an onion seller? Anyone? Dinner is served! Anyone up for a sheep head and a Fanta? I don't think the "goat skin on the ceiling" trend has caught on in American pharmacies. Do you recognize that? It's opium. Readily available at your local pharmacy. Cool park. Here I am a little "under dressed". It is acceptable to dress this "skimpy" at tourist destinations (since we Americans don't know any better), but I highly recommend wearing all the clothing you have when walking around town! You know the meat is bad when even the flies stay away! I wonder what she's thinking about? The enormous Hassan II mosque. The arcitecture is incredible. In Casablanca, another view of the Hassan II mosque. In some ways this mosque is a pure work of art. Everyone we met bought Moroccan carpets. Including Kristi and I (and I don't even have a place to live!) Here's a few of us who were talked into buying more than we bargained for. I spent hundreds of dollars on lamps, bowls, a rug and other items I didn't need. They told me they'd pack my items for me and ship it to the USA. Good thing I looked at the box before it left...here's how it was packed to be mailed across country! Kristi and I repacked our boxes and said good-bye! We were sure that we would never see them again! To my surprise my goods arrived to the US unscathed! Moroccan women. I can read arabic! That says "stop". A typical store, crammed with stuff that no one can identify, yet everyone buys. White washed houses with blue doors. I'm not sure which squiggle we should take!