Out of Africa

We didn´t mention this in our last blog but we had been struggling to obtain an entry visa to Brazil. This had consumed a few days in Cairo as we had to jump through many hoops in order for the Brazilian consolate to accept our application. In the end, they rejected our application saying that the embassy employees were simply too busy and that they could only process requests for Egyptian residents. Seeing as how we had already purchased plane tickets to Brazil this was not news we wanted to hear. Our last chance was with the Brazilian embassy in Rabat, Morroco, where we resubmitted the application and after spending five days painfully waiting we were granted our visa (special thanks to our friend back in Vancouver for helping us out).

Now to the trip... Morrocans generally speak French fluently... we do not. A prime example of our pitiful attempts was when Alisa called a lady ´a towel´ (instead of requesting a towel), as well as refering to a man as ´my god´ (meaning to say monsieur instead of mon dieu´) - both in error. Another example is when Matt asked a man on the street ´where is the street?´ instead of ´what street is this´ also causing a bit of confusion. It has been really embarrasing considering we should really be able to speak our Nation´s second language. Zut! Luckily, we didn´t offend anyone and we got to spend a few days with Alisa´s new god and the towel lady who, along with their friends, took us in and made our time in Rabat memorable through conversational struggles and traditional Moroccan meals. C´est bonne!

Morrocans generally speak French fluently... we do not.

In Rabat we were able to visit many sights like the Chellah, the Kasbah, and the Medina on foot. As well, Alisa showed off her shrewed haggling skills by getting too excited during Matt and a sellers negotiations to the point where she interupted the discussion by screaming out a price that was HIGHER than what Matt and the storekeeper were currently at. Needless to say the storekeeper accepted Alisa´s surprising offer. Aghhhh!

A train ride to Fes was made more interesting by a professional con-man who apparently preys on tourists to go to certain hostels or to take tours for which he receives commission. He explained to us that he `worked in the Canadian embassy, lived 6 months of the year in Montreal, and that he worried for our safety´ regarding which hostel we were going to stay at. Once we caught a hunch that he wasn´t legit we started asking him very specific Canadian questions and he fell for them hook, line, and sinker. Very interesting experience though.

Due to our delay in Rabat, we only planned on spending 2 days in Fes, 1 to handwash our laundry and 1 to see the city. Again, luck was not on our side. Two days of cold rains thoroughly rinsed our nicely cleaned laundry as it was hanging to dry outside. Once again, slowing us up as we had to wait a few days for the clothes to dry once the weather cleared up.

While in Fes we took a great tour of the World´s largest Islamic Medina. We walked throughout the labrynth of narrrow streets, visiting the massive leather tanneries, the food markets that included shark heads, eels, live snails, etc... , clothing and carpet factories, various shops displaying Moroccan lamps, jewelry, and silverware. In the traditional clothing shops, Matt was able to try on the Moroccan Jallaba (The Jellaba likely inspired the Star Wars Jedi uniform). Tres formidable!

With few days left in Morocco we only had time for one more stop. So we bussed across the Atlas mountains to Marrakesh. As we walked into the main square it reminded us of scenes from Alladin with large crowds around musicians, belly dancers, snake charmers, acrobats, monkey trainers, dancers, hawkers selling everything we didn´t want to buy, and stall after stall of hot foods, fresh fruit and drinks. It was one of those places where Alisa wished she wasn´t backpacking and could buy everything as the impusle to shop was too much. Reprise!

It is now our time to say ´aurivouir´ to Africa and get ready for the next challenge - Spanish and Portuguese! Hola South America!... However, we have a sneaking suspicion that the wonderful people and the beautiful landscape of Africa haven´t seen the last of us.