Nearing the End

With a week left before I'm back in Montreal, Vinny and I are still waiting. We woke up bright and early this morning (7.30) and caught a bus from Taghazout back to the beach town of Agadir hoping to find a bus to Ouarzazate. Due to the fact that the CTM website (the something Transit of Morocco) does not post updated schedules, we missed the 9 o'clock bus to Ouarzazate by 15 minutes. With only one bus per day to the isolated location of Ourzazate, we eventually made it to our current location in Inezgane; the transit hub of the Anti-Atlas.
As my guide book accurately describes Inezgane, ''Inezgane is far more Moroccan than the touristy district of Agadir.'' Inezgane resembles Fes in the sense that it is very much more compact than anywhere else in Morocco that we've visited. Plus, the combination of ronchy smells and sights is wholey reminiscent of the Old City. With a three hour wait in front of us, and another five hour bus ride in front of that, we found the only internet ''cafe,'' and some time to do some blogging before we get home.


Day one of surfing-- longboards in hand

Next stop: Zagora. Using Dario's friendly advice, we plan to do one night in Zagora instead of two in order to both cut costs and allow for more time for surfing.

Also, two of my Chines-knock-off memory cards are corrupted, so there are very few pictures from my camera now, sorry folks (especially to the Hodders who no-doubt long for a picture of their son in sunny places...)


Sunset in Essaouira

Surfing the Coast

After a couple of minor setbacks, instead of heading straight to the desert, Vinny and I decided to pack our bags and head back to the coast on Thursday morning. Now in Essaouira (pronounced essa-weera), we're really just taking it easy. Despite the constant wave of hustlers and their salespitches of ''Cervesas, Coka, Fanta, Hashish, Opium'' (in a whisper), we find this town nice and easy going. But as we're not ones for the sedentary lifestyle tomorrow we're heading off to the regions surrounding Agadir in search for some killer waves-- well actually, just some small ones so that we can learn. Who knows, maybe we won't even make it to the water.
At this point in the trip we've come to expect the fact that everyone here will try and take advantage of you. At first we were truly disturbed by this, but now, we're simply tired of it-- almost to the point of giving up, but no worries, we've only got ten days left so we expect to find our second wind tonight when we grab ourselves some pizza!
Andrew and Vin

The 36th Most¨Prominent Peak Takes its Toll

Yesterday we succeeded in climbing the world's 36th most prominent peak. Jebel Toubkal, North Africa's highest peak, leaves those who climb to the top at 4167m above sea level. For half an hour, Vinny and I stood above everyone in Africa with the exception of those who might have been in Kenya climbing mount Kilimanjero. The excursion took three days to complete as experts reccommend two days to acclimatize to the altitude-- once at 1700m and once again at 3200m. Day one of the hike, after a day in Imlil acclimatizing to the mountain air, proved to be a challenge for both Vin and I. By the time we arrived at 3200m, neither of us could feel our legs, lungs, or head. Discouraged and intimidated by the day to come, we got six hours of semi-restful sleep at the ''Refuge'' and awoke the next morning at four-thirty to start the final ascent.
Each step that we took yesterday was a challenge. Think of the steepest slope that you've seen, and add ice-- that's exactly what we were climbing. Taking a zig-zagging path through the ice, the two Montrealers, still fresh from Montreal's harsh winters seemed to fare quite well. Both Vinny and I were really unphased by the ice-- in fact; we preferred it to the crumbly rock that Toubkal offered otherwise. After three hours of relentless slipping, stumbling and suffocating, we finally reached Toubkal's peak.

A view of a moderate slope at Toubkal
Through all of the panting we only managed to take a few photos, but those we took seem to have turned out great; however beautiful the pictures look, no photo, video or blog can do this experience any justice. The combination of the climb and views provided by the mountain is simply unreal. Here are a few photos from the hike:

A view from the summit

See if you can spot Vin on The Toubkal Massif
This morning was rough, very rough. We were able to sleep in for once, most days we're up by 8, but today we woke up at 11. Unable to walk properly, we didn't have much motivation to do much at all, but the fact that we hadn't done laundry since... Barcelona forced us out of the hotel and into the streets in search for ''European'' laudry -- aka a machine and not a washboard. After two loads, we were exhausted, and returned back to hotel Essaouira for a well deserved shower, shave and general clean-up.

And Now the Real Fun Begins

Taking in the view from the coast off Rabat
May 14, after a nice dinner at Rick's Cafe, Vin and I are ready to bounce from Casa after only one afternoon. Even the locals say that there isn't too much too see, so we're off to Marrakesh tomorrow morning.

Searching for a good shot
The view of the Atlantic from the Kasbah in Rabat was beautiful, but after spending almost a week in cities with the Moroccans, Vin and I are ready for some hiking. We will start our hike up Toubkal on the 16th of May if everything goes according to plan.


Fishing in Rabat
I'll only be writing next after our mountain trek, maybe even only after our desert trek, so until then,
Andrew and Vincent

Off to Bigger and Better Places

Before we head off to Rabat and Casablanca, Vin and I are posting a few photos from the past few days (there's not too much to do here in the evenings, and those lovely bed bugs aren't in any way inticing us to return to bed. Good thing we leave at 6 tomorrow morning).
Today we explored Moulay Idriss and hitched our way to the next town of Voloubilis and then back to Mekens. Vinny was feeling a tad homesick, so we stopped into a McDonalds to grab a McArabia (no joke) to cure our cravings for an unhealthier world.

Vinny relaxing amongst Roman ruins in Voloubolis

Apologize to Granny about the very brief phone call. It cost me 50 dirmah for those precious 45 seconds or so, tell her that I'll call from a bigger city soon!
Sincerly,
Andrew and Vinny

P.S.

This is a list of all of the things that we forgot to include in our past blogs:
1. Montreal owns Paris when it comes to smelling good-- in any sense
2. The Parisian Velib public bike system is incredible-- Montreal get ready
3. This keyboard is not nor,ql:
4. Rajah's Kebabs in Barcelona are the best in the world
5. We never succesfully made it out in Barce... no comment, please
6. Aussies are crazy.
7. The Irish are angry.
8. Missourri proves that Moroccan men never get tired (he has a new wife of 19 years)
9. Even students are rich in Morocco; those 5 cent cokes can be so refreshing
10. Its 40 degrees here
11. Being woken up at four in the morning by a prayer call isn't as fun as it sounds
12. We miss everyone back home
and finally 13. we're glad to have brought toilet paper on this trip, it seems to be a rare commodity.......

A City of Mazes

After another day of travelling, Vincent and I found ourselves at a fancy little hotel in Fes called Dar Al Ouali. We payed less than we would in Paris or Barcelona, but we still sought out a better deal today. Although our first night spoiled us with air conditioning, hot water and a private bathroom for under 15 euro, we decided to move locals and take a room at the Hotel Cascade. Hotel Cascade is a larger hotel with two amazing terasses and friendly international guests. We had the choice to sleep on the terasse for only 50 dirma (5 euro) but we decided to put a roof over our heads for the first night for 9 euro each per night (180 dirma, breakfast included).

A view from room 8 at Hotel Cascade
Regardless of a tiresome day of waiting in line at the airport, and regardless of the really sketchy un-authorized taxi driver that brought us into the city for 50 dirma instead of 120, we decided to walk the streets for a little bit. As expected, the husteling is absolutely incredible. Each salesmen will latch on as soon as you make eyecontact (thanks Campbell for the heads up etc, oh and your friend Charli from Notre Dame says bonjour) so after an hour or so we decided to hit the sack.
This morning, Sunday May 10, we started out the day with some deep-fried dough, and sought out an official guide. Missourri, a 66 year old Moroccan soon found us, and was more than willing to give us a three hour tour of Fes. This energetic, turban bearing, crazed Moroccan native took us all over the city of Fes. From Boujeloud to all of the mosques, to the tanneries and lunch at the best place in the city, the old character cracked jokes and laughed for the entirety of the five hour tour. That being said, the Moroccan gentleman stayed true to the initial agreement of 100 dirmas even though the tour last 2 more hours than agreed upon- he even treated us to tea; Vinny had special tea made for him to help cure his queasy stomach. The tanneries were gross but at the same beautiful and we both agreed that view and escape from the claustrophobic maze-like city was more than welcome.
In general, everything here is cheap. 2L bottle of water is $0.75 CAD, Softdrinks are $0.45, dinner is $4.50, and the excitement of a completely different society is no doubt priceless.

Cedar thatching provides cover from the scortching Moroccan sun
I'm calling Thalid's sister tonight to find out if there are any more must sees, and if not, tomorrow morning we'll leave for Moulay Idriss and Meknes.
Vinny and I hope to meet up with JP, Sean, Taylor and Caitlin from Kabul in Barcelona somewhere along the line in Morocco, so chances are, I'll be on the internet more frequently than before in hopes to organize some sort of rendez-vous.

A view during our lunch

Oh, and my FCBarcelona jersey seems to be a hit here, sometimes even causing verbal disagreements between the Real Madrid fans and Barcelona fans that seem to populate the narrow city streets.

To Africa We Go

Next stop on the trip: Fes, Morocco! We´re leaving tomorrow morning bright and early, so today is our final day in Barcelona. We hope to do some last minute planning for Fes, go to the Picasso museum and maybe go back to the beach.
Yesterday Vin and two other backpackers did the Gaudí tour, hitting up a few of his works. We didn´t go into any of his buildings because you are charged 5-10euro each visit.
My minutes are up, so next time I post I´ll be in Morocco,
Andrew

Colours from Around the World

Paris: Where they treat people like dogs, and dogs like people.

A view from a hill in Montmartre

Barcelona

Late Nights, Earlier Mornings

8.47AM... I´m quite aware that it´s early in the morning, but there is just always so much to do at any other point of the day. Vin and I successfully made it to Barcelona a day and a half ago after having left Alex and Thomas behind. As a parting dinner we ate duck (and an amberger) alongside with some real french onion soup and 3 bottles of delicious French wine (the price of wine in France is too cheap 30euro for 3 bottles...). Vin and I were pretty pleased with what we got done in France, and are having a pretty awesome time in Barcelona too.
Dinner is quite late here in Barcelona, 8.30ish and the party really only gets started at 1 here. Neither Vin nor I even made it out to the ¨clubs¨the first night. Last night was one of chaos to say the least, as FCBarcelona won a nailbiter in the championship semi finals in the second minute of extra time. The Catalonyans showed us that they could pull a Habs game 7 celebration too...
Kabul hostel is outstanding! Everything here is just wonderful. The showers are better than at home, and the dorm of 20 people is just fine, seems like our dorm has been designated the ¨party dorm of 202¨--c´est nice.
Vinny is looking like a lobster. We hit the port, the boardwalk and the beach yesterday and took in a lot of much needed sun. This leg of the trip seems to be much more social. Cool people doing cool things seems to be pretty normal, and I´m kind of proud to say that us French Canadians (yes, I´m referring to myself as being French Canadian) occupy about 50% of the dorm OUAIS.
I´m still pretty much on budget; with still 100 euro to go before needing to go to a bank to pull out a few more euros. Hopefully this 100 euro will last me at least halfway through Morocco. Although this FCB jersey has been taunting me, so that might take a chunk out.
Today we´re doing the Gaudi tour, and maybe hit up the beach once again.
Pictures to come!
Andrew and Vin (he´s sleeping right now, who blames the kid)

Another Day, Another Line

At a protest (Photo by: Vincent-Charles Hodder)

I'd like to say that I had mixed emotions about leaving for Europe a couple of days ago, but the only emotion that I had on the way out was excitement. Apparently both my fear of flying and homesickness have all but vanished and after running into a pretentious, very impatient man carrying a Louis Vuitton bag, a mad dash to gate 58 and a six hour flight to Paris, Vincent and I made it to our first destination without much of a hitch (security was A1- I didn't even need to take off my shoes, Dad). From Charles de Gaulle, we were tested on Paris' extensive public transportation network; despite the murky signage, Vin and I successfully navigated ourselves to our hostel The Young and Happy on Rue. Mouffetard (it must be our innate navigational talent). After a 30 hour day, our day finally ended with a restful night in a dorm for eight. 

Our hostel is pretty decent aside from the occasional cieling clinging bug and the occasional creepy asian boy who watched us as we slept. We're now staying in a double room (barely room for two), for only a few extra euro per day. 

Yesterday we did some touristy things. We visited Le Louvre (attempting to sneak in at the Lion Gates, which didn't end up working out too well), met up with Vin's sister and hit up L'Arc de Triomphe only to finally hike up La Tour Eiffel. 

Above: Staircase at the Louvre (Photo by: Vincent-Charles Hodder)

Today we took a train to Le Château de Versailles (I got away with a free pass because Urban Planning/Architecture/Arts students get in free). We're currently at the Canada House at the University of Paris relaxing after another 8 hours on our feet. 

It's really obvious why everyone in Paris is so thin-- you can walk everywhere! Montreal can't even compare. 

A Saturday afternoon in Paris (Photo by: Andrew Funamoto)

That's all for now, and tomorrow we're off to Montmartre and to Cathédrale Notre Dame. Tomorrow night we're hopefully meeting up with Vincent's family friend, Thomas for dinner.

Peas,

Andrew and Vincent