12/20/09 – Day 4

Today was pretty uneventful…we finally met John and Caroline at a café near the Casablanca train station and exchanged traveling stories. John and Caroline found their luggage, but still no luggage for Alex. We rode a crowded train for about 3.5 hours from Casablanca to Fez. When we got to Fez all 5 of us crammed into a taxi and headed to the Medina (an old part of Fez that was built between 800 and 1200 AD and is surrounded by a wall...I feel like I’m in the Aladdin cartoon when we walk around the city :-).

Five interesting things I saw today:
1. While on the train ride from Casablanca to Fez we saw a lot of countryside scenery. We notices a lot of the vegetation was similar to what we have in San Diego: Eucalyptus, bougainvillea, palm trees, tamarisk along the water, etc. Something that did catch us off guard while gazing out the window was the guy dropping a duce (defecating, pooping, number 2) –he was wearing a bright red sweater so it wasn’t hard to miss him.

2. We showed up to Fez with no plans or ideas of where we wanted to stay. We read that everything is a negotiation and a lot of people will offer your their assistance for a dirham (1 dirham = about $7.78). When we arrived to the gates of the medina we were asked if we had reservations or needed somewhere to stay. We checked out a few places and decided on Pension Kawtar; a family run house/hotel. We all are staying in one large room with an attached bathroom which is also one room…shower is right next to the toilet and sink…no curtain. It’s like a slumber party every night! The room is costing us about $10 each a night.

3. I missed this one, but John said that he saw some guy walking past us talking on his cell phone while picking his nose with his pinky…all with the same hand.

4. So whoever “invented” the Snuggie should not take any credit for being original. A lot of the locals wear Snuggies or what we have renamed them to be “Jedi Robes.” Women wear bedazaled robes and the men wear brown, black and sometimes white robes.

5. We met a friend of Pete’s (Khaled)who he traveled with around Morocco prior to meeting us. Khaled has been in Fez for a few days and was able to share some tips and places to check out. He’s an ADHD Lebanese Australian who is really entertaining to listen to.