Brennie Saves The Day

Today is Wednesday.

Monday I wrote (but did not post) a blog that I titled ‘Guilt and Self Loathing’.  It was about ....... guilt and self loathing.  Because I was riddled with ........ 

Why was I feeling that way?

It was a Monday.  

I was not at work.  

I was sitting on my *ss reading for pleasure.  

I had nothing planned to do that was remotely constructive.  

I was being lazy and self indulgent.  

I was feeling like a parasite.  

The most constructive thing I did was to actually use an ash tray when I smoked a cigar.

Here are a couple excerpts from the ‘Blog That Didn’t Happen’:

“I was raised a ____________ (insert religion that controls and manipulates using guilt ....... yeah, you know the one I’m talkin’ about).”

“I have an overdeveloped work ethic.”

I even identified sloth as one of the seven deadly sins ...... and rightfully so.  I expressed wonder that lust made the same list ......... after all, isn’t it just good clean fun?

I even had a suggestion for those of you out there still going to work every day.  Don’t stop. Don’t retire early. Keep working.  Preserve your self respect.  Ramp it up to 7 days a week.  Keep paying into Social Security till the day you die. (So that when I turn 62 there will be plenty for me.)

Anyway,  how does Brennie save the day?

Does she get on line looking for another trip for us to take?  Yes she does.  But that’s not the cure.

Does she suggest that I can recapture my dignity and self worth by returning to work?  She does.  But I gallantly point out that if I take a job, it would deprive a more deserving person of the opportunity.

Does she tell me to get over it?  That too.  Doesn’t work.

Does she ignore me?  Duh.

So, what does she do?  How does she save the day?

She slips.  

She falls.  

She fractures her little wrist.

My life has purpose again!

Make the coffee.  

Wash the dishes.  

Make the bed?  

Feed the dogs.

Take out the trash.

Make lunch.

Yippee!  
I am a parasite no more.  
There is work for me.  
Once again the Brennie has saved the day.

She looks awfully cute with that little cast on her wrist.

Sorry, gotta go. Laundry to put away

Life is sweet again,

Clarke

Home Again Culture Shock.

Okey Dokey, now.

When you have been gone from home for 6 weeks, there are some adjustments  upon return.

Personal Safety:  We spent roughly 3 weeks in Spain.  The Spaniards are DILIGENT about following all the traffic laws.  Possibly a lingering after effect of 40 years of Francisco Franco’s authoritarian dictatorship?  Gee, I’ll bet that was jolly.  Anyway ..... personal safety.  Spanish drivers stop for pedestrians.  Always. No exceptions.  Almost to the point of being ridiculous.  It is easy to lose one’s finely tuned Ecuadorian instinct for pedestrian self preservation.  (13 words in that sentence ...... and lots of syllables .... and awkward to boot).  The drivers in Spain lulled us into a false sense of safety. Anyway, must again get used to looking in ALL directions (twice) before crossing the street.  

“Hey honey, where is the ________ kept?”:  We moved into the house 8 weeks before we left for our trip.  During much of that 8 weeks, things were getting moved around until most stuff finally found it’s home base.  Then we left for 6 weeks.  Now I can’t find anything.  Forgotten where many things eventually ended up. This is frustrating and amusing. and a great way to kill time.

Eating:  ‘Eating’ once again means food prep.  Bad enough to eat almost all meals in restaurants in Spain and Morocco.  But to finish it up with two weeks of eating on the cruise!  We arrived home early Monday eve. Between no food in the house and having to prepared (and CLEAN UP), We didn’t eat here for about 24 hours. But that is okay because we were carrying around extra reserves from the cruise.

Our Comfy Bed:  Our bed here is gloriously comfy.  The same cannot be said for some of the beds we were in on the little trip.

Cleaning Up After Ourselves:  It is easy to get used to daily maid service ....... not making the bed ....... dropping towels on the bathroom floor ....... eating, getting up and walking away.  I left  a couple towels on the bathroom floor Monday evening and Brennie has yet to pick them up and replace with clean ones.  I wonder how long she will hold out.

Clean Clothes EVERY Day:  We travelled light through Spain and Morocco.  One piece of carry on luggage each.  So we got used to wearing the same thing for multiple days.  This was easy enough for me, as I tend to wear the same thing a lot.  (Some people think that I wear the same white shirt every day here in Cuenca.  Not true ...... I have 7 or 8 identical white shirts.  I like white shirts and it is such an easy decision.)  However Brennie is back onto the complicated dilemma  of choosing what to wear. Girls are different than guys.  Duh.

Cell Phones:  Gotta admit, it was pretty sweet not having a cell phone for 6 weeks.

Sidewalks:  Back to watching where you step.  Anybody that lives here understands this.

Looking Like Tourists:  Unfortunately, the only place I don’t look like a tourist is Kansas.

Life is sweet,

Clarke

Tenerife, Canary Islands

Can't find the d*mn canaries.

Been on board the ship for a few days ...... Where the Internet access is somewhere between $1 and $8 a MINUTE! But hey, the food is free! That's weird. Food which has to be loaded on board, cooked, served, cleaned up, etc. Is free. Internet which is impossible to hold in your hand, floats around on magical invisible waves, has zero mess etc ...... costs an arm and a leg

At Wifi hotspot in Tenerif now. Must leave soon or drink a 4th espresso. That's kind of weird too, isn't it? Renting Internet access by purchasing caffeine ..... which I believe is a drug.

Canaries or not ..... This place is beautiful.

Life is sweet,
Clarke

Marrakech to Palma de Mallorca

Ryan Air:
Ryan Air is interesting.  Cheap flights.  No Frills.  NO FRILLS.  All you get for the price of your ticket, is a seat and one carry-on of 10 kilos or less.  That is one carry-on. ONE ..... not a carry-on and a personal item.  EVERYTHING else costs extra. 
- A chekced bag - extra. 
- Bag of peanuts - extra.  
- A soda - extra.
- If you pay for your checked bag at the ticket counter - extra.  You must declare and pay for the checked bag when you check in online or - extra. That is, you pay for the checked bag and an additional 40 euros ($60) service charge if you do it at the ticket counter.
- If they print the boarding pass - extra. 
- Reserved seat - NOT extra.  Because NOT possible.  First people on, get the seat of their choice.  Last on ..... gets whatever is left. The line at the boarding gate was just short of a slug-fest.
- Licensed pilot - extra (kidding).
- We were going to take a pic of the plane - but we were afraid of an extra charge.
-  Use the toilet - I heard they were pay toilets.  But that may just be a rumor.  Didn't check it out.
- Board and exit the plane - walk across the tarmac.  They don't even rent a boarding ladder.  It is built into the plane.  I am surprised we didn't have to use the emergency exit and climb off the wing.
- Seats don't recline.
- Advertising posters on the inside of the cabin.
- In flight entertainment.  Gee, you think?

The real job of the flight attendant is to sell products during the flight.  They are constantly cruising the plane with carts of things to sell.  Even lottery tickets.  Ryan Air has their own lattery scam.  I saw a lot of people buy the Ryan Air lottery tickets ... but I saw no winners.

Gotta love this airline.

Palma de Mallorca:
On the Island of Mallorca.  East off the coast of Spain, In the Med. It is a beautiful city. Not really seeng the sights here, though  We catch the cruise tomorrow for the last stage of the trip.  2 weeks crossing the Atlantic and docking in Panama.  We have a few ports of call .... Canary Islands (no canaries there) and a few places in the Carribean.

It has bee a fabulous 4 weeks.  But,looking forward to a couple weeks of REST on the ship.

Teaser:
Upcoming blog ..... DO's and DONT's when visiting Morocco.

CLICK HERE

for the last of the pics.

Life is sweet,
Clarke 

Last Day in Marrakech

We are leaving Marrakech and Morocco tomorrow.  Memorable.  Different.  Exceeded my hopes / expectations at the same time as falling short.  Great experience.

Chuck, Brennie and Nancy all came down with some degree of not feeling so good.  I did everything I could to to join them, but so far am unphased.  I have always loved street food and have eaten my share of it here.  Brenda says that I will probably end up with a tapeworm or one of it's little buddies.  Maybe. The dates and figs!  Wow!

Made some little snake friends.
The snake owners tried to charge me about $50.
I laughed and gave them pocket change. 
I would have been a little more generous,
but was outraged by their demand of $50.
Still it was fun .... for me.

Cuenca has street dogs ... lots.
Morocco has cats.
Most of them are (look) amazingly healthy.
They are very friendly and will come rub up against you.
I really like them.
They don't charge to have their pics taken.

Olives.  Lots of olives.
I am going to miss the olives.
They are served with every meal and
are really good in all their varieties.

Spices.
Sometimes it seems like the whole country spells of spices.
Yummy.

CLICK HERE
to see the last of the Morocco pics

Life is sweet,

Clarke

Marrakech Trivia and Haircut (etc)

The Trivia:
- The mint tea is great. A simple recipe. Fresh mint and hot water.  Sugar optional.
- The call to prayer (5 times a day). I love hearing it. It is done from each mosque. So if you are surrounded by mosques .... It is super-bob cool.
- Two main languages spoken here. Arabic and French. The French is pleasing to my ear. The Arabic ... exotic. So .... here is the question? Why do I try to speak Spanish to everyone?
- Our riad has a balcony overlooking the big square at the center of the medina. We can hear all the flutes (?) and drums constantly ..... from the snake charmers. Also very cool.
- I bought a bunch of fresh dates and figs from one of the many stalls on the square. I am sure I overpaid. But they are GOOD.
- The Brennie and I are spending the day on the roof of the raid .... and loving every minute of it. We are feeling no need to go out into the throng.
- Local hustlers have been calling me Ali Babba because of my beard.

The Haircut, Shave and Beard Trim:
Stepped out to find a medina barber.  Walked down progressivly narrower streets.  Found my barber.  Watched the customer in front of me.  Interesting multi-step process with lots of head rubbing and the fastest scissors I have ever seen.  Went from one part of the head to the other and back again and again and again.  The straight razor came out more than once for edging and other stuff too.  Not really the same process I am used to.  But a great show. 

My turn.  Haircut communicaton is a challenge in any language.  But what the hell, I really don't care. Short and not a Mohawk.  Got the haircut complete with all the flourishes  It was so much fun, that I let him do the beard too.  Lost most of the hair above my neck today.  But hey.  My hair is short.  It will grow out quick, I have had worse and I have given myself worse.  I doubt that I will be called Ali Babba any more.

Chuck and Nancy got a couple bracelets that I covet.  I am really jealous.  I want one too.. Maybe Nancy will post a pic.  I won't.  I am bitter.

Flower and plant market. Duh. 

Hey Randy ..... this is the moto of choice here. 
100's of them.

They come in Yamaha, too.

These guys were friendly as little puppies.
Loved getting their pics taken.
They weren't quite as cheerful when I refused to pay them 150 Dh ($18) each.
They grabbed my arm to try to get it.
I settled on 20 Dh ($2.40) total when I pulled my arm away
and moved on despite their unhappiness

CLICK HERE

for all (7) of today's pics

Life is sweet,
Clarke

On the Train to Marrakech

Who was it that had that song so many years ago ..... The Marrakech Express? Was it Crosby. Stills, Nash and Young?


It's odd. When we were in southern Spain, it hadn't rained in over 120 days. Here in North Africa, it has rained .... hard rain, the last 3 nights. Not what I expected. Also cooler and more humid. It is the later part of October. Maybe that has something to do with it.  Then again, what you expect is often not what you get.

I bought a rubber watch from a street vendor in Madrid. $6. Chuck keeps eyeballing it. He won't admit it, but he covets it. It is like one of those snap bracelets. But covered with rubber and has a watch.  It is pretty bitchin'. The Brennie got one too.


Still on the train .......
I made a lovely new friend on the train today.  She got on the train about half way between Fes and Marrakech (in Rabat I think).  She had a seat in our compartment ..... reserved seating in 1st class.  But, I believe that she was the rudest most aggresive person I have ever met.  Truly ugly.  Unbelievable.  It really pissed me off.  So .... I out-ruded her.  I out-nasty-attituded her.  I out-aggressed her.  Kind of surprised myself.  I don't know if I am really proud or really ashamed.  Apparently not too ashamed as I am blogging about it.  Anyway ..... if anyone needs lessons in true rudeness with a sprinkiling of hostility ..... I am your guy.

Made it to Marrakech .........
Got at the riad (old home converted to hotel / guest house) right before dark.  Went out to dinner.  Will explore tomorrow.

Brennie took this great pic walking away from the train. 
 I LOVE IT.

Rooftop view after dinner.

The Central square right after we arrived.
From our rooftop.
We have a great location.
Once again, Chuck did good.

Weaving our way through the Medina to our Riad.

CLICK HERE
for pics of today.

Life is sweet,

Clarke

PS:  Did I mention that I didn't like that gal on the train today?



Fes - Day 2 and 3

WOW!

Parts of the Medina (old town) are over 1200 years old.  And we have been to those parts.  Impossible to describe.  9000+ small streets and allies.  Confusing as all get out.  Each one is more interesting than the last.  Fes is the oldest continually occupied city in ......... was it Morocco, Africa, the world?  I don't know.  Somewhere.

We hired a guide yesterday as a group.  Each couple returned at least a couple times today.  Took a taxi tour around the outside of the Medina.  We went down strets (that are 1200+ years old.  Really mind boggling.  What an ancient culture.  Ate a lot of authentic food ....... some great and yummy ...... some a little foreign to my palate (sp?)  Sat outside in sidewalk cafes drinking really good coffee.  Brenda was usually the only woman there except when Nancy was with us.  We could stay here a month and not even scratch the surface of the place.

Feeling much more coomfortable today than yesterday.  We will see if that comfort will transfer to Marakesh tomorrow.

Look closely.
Can you figure out what kind of meat is sold here?

Ancient water clock.
Worked great until the French destroyed it in the 1950's.

1000 year old cedar door.
We saw a couple of the old doors that were open.  They ar about 4" thick.

Metal workers area.

Finished metal work.

Unbelievable carpets for sale.
All hand made and using natural dyes.

There is an old wall surrounding the Medina.
This is one of the gates into it.
The wall is either 45 or 60 kilometers long depending on who you talk to.

Moroccon Wal-Mart

No vehicles in the Medina.
They would never fit.
This is a Medina delivery truck.  Saw lots of these little guys.
The other type of deliveryy truck is a hand cart.
There is a free vet hospital for the donkies (mules?) .

Camel meat in some white goop.
Not refrigerated.
I believe the 'goop' is camel lard (from the hump) and olive oil.
We also saw it displayed in other ways that looke like a volcano.

Not sure.  But not new construction.

At the ceramics cooperative.

I guess if you have to be imprisoned ....
This is not a bad way to go.
Hi Nancy.

Wster seller?
We had to pay to take his picture.
So maybe he is selling photo ops?

The old and famous leather tanneries and dye works.
All the dyes are natural.
Examples:  mint is used for green dye.  poppies for red, pomegranate skins for yellow.
'Interesting' smell from this view. 
No restaurants (is that spelled right?) nearby.

I passed up the opportunity to eat a camel burger.  I hope that I can forgive myself.  I have had bufallo and elk burgers.  But not here. I have also eaten alligator and I think that I ate snake when I was younger, but doubt that I held it down for long.  So that probably doesn't count.  I do regret not eating the fried grasshopper in Mexico.  And of course ..... cuy in Ecuador.  And, oh yeah, I ate at McDonalds in Tangier.  They call the McDonalds 'The American Embassy'.

 

CLICK HERE

for the rest of the Fes pics.

Life is sweet,

Clarke

   

Train to Fez and .......Another City ..... Another Dump

Train to Fez:
On the train now from Tangier to Fes. Really looking forward to Fes. Just ate some cheese that we bought last night. Gouda with cumin seeds. Beyond words yummy. Will buy more of that if I can ...... every day.


Later but still on the train .... Busted out the peanut butter that I bought last night. Yummy. It's not JIF. But at least it tastes pretty close. So apparently it has at least some of the right stabilizers, additives and preservatives required to make a good peanut butter. Also had a pear/apple thing. Also will pronounce it good.

Not bad.

Interesting ....... ( still on the train ). We have had two men joining us in our compartment. Each one he's claimed to have a seat in the compartment. They stay in the compartment in 'their seat' long enough to hustle us with their services, then find an excuse to leave.  We were told this would happen.


Another city ..... Another Dump:
That darn Chuck Watson arranged this horrid place for us to stay here in the Medina (old town) in Fez.  I took a short walk in the Medina ....... really easy to get lost.  Came home before I could get totally lost.  9000 twisty turny little streets and alleies  Mind boggling.  Will take a tour tomorrow with someone to hold our hands.


Anyway ..... back to the dump we are in tonight and for the next 2 miserable nights .... that darn Chuck.

See what I mean?
A dump.

Pretty yucky.

Worae yet.  Like Casa Ordonez in Cuenca, this is an old (OLD) family home that has been restored .

The Brennie checking out the rooftop view.



CLICK HERE

for other train and dump pics.

Life is sweet,

Clarke

Tangier

NOTE:  Re typos and misspellings:  I am working on a cheesy old Netbook.   The screen is small ..... to small for me to see any typos or misspelled words.  It was one of the first to be produced.  It is SLOW ..... painfully so.  This makes re-enterring the blog editor very tedious.  So, for these blogs ....... there is no re-write or editing.  It is just too gruesome.  The spell checker tags every word as none of them are in Arabic.  Okey-dokey.  Moving on.......


Tangier Overview:
Tangier is an ancient city.  For many years it was an international city ruled by the French, British and Spanish (I think).  As a result, once it belonged solely to Morocco, there was some 'attitude' towards it and it was much neglected by Morocco.  With the coming of the new king, several years ago, he decided that Morocco needed some long overdue attention.  What you see here is a city, trying to recover from long neglect.  There is much new building ..... but not too much completed.  In many ways, large parts of it are a construction zone.


Overview Part 2:
Tangier is a border town with lots of tourism and single day tourinsts that come over from Spain on the ferry.  As with other tourinsty border towns, it is possible to lose some of the "what you came to see or experience".  There is an amazing amount of 'hussle' here.  I refer to the meaning of huslte as in     getting hustled. Especially if you are an obvious visitor.  It can take some of the thrill off if you let it.  Example:  The ferry we took lands about 20 or 30 miles outside of town.  They do provide busses into town.  The second you get off the bus, you are surrounded by people 'offering their services'.


Moving on:
We arrived yesteday and after checking into the hotel, the Brennie and I took a walk for about 4 hours.  We walked along the beach and into old town ..... the Medina.  We made our firwst friend there.  A junky named Hassam.  He really wanted to be our guide and even after we told him (maybe 20 times) 'NO', he still followed us for blocks. Go into a store .... he is waiting for us.  Tell him 'no'.  Reverse directions to lose him ...... no such luck.  He finally gave up after I ceased to be even remotely polite.  It was interesting.  Not fun.  But, not horrible.  Interesting..


Anyway, we cruised the Medina for a while.  There are 900+ small streets and alleys and everyine is selling something.  For those of you in Cuenca, the closest I can come to describe it is Ferria Libre.  But real different.


Brennie and I returned to the Medina today,  and the Casbah, and the souks.  But we had a hsutler/guide with us.  One thing the hustler/guide did was keep the other hustlers away from us.  Beside, he was our hustler.


I have really enjoyed this city, but look forward to going to Fes tomorrow.  We are taking the train ..... about 4 hours

In the fish market.

O the ferry leaving Spain.

Directions are clearly marked
making it impossible to get lost.

Map of the Medina
is really handy.  NOT!



Gate to the Casah.
The Casbah is famous because of one corny line in a bad movie.
But you gotta go there.



Another gate to the Medina.
Looking from the inside to the (duh) outside.

Inside the Casbah.

Community oven in the Medina.
People bring their food in to be cooked.

Quiz #1
What is this?

CLICK HERE

for all the Tangier pics

Life is Sweet,
Clarke

PS:  We are having a ball!!!  It is great to be traveling with Chuck and Nancy.

Nerja, Larry & Liza, Gibraltar and This Dump of a Hotel

We left Granada behind yesterday and drove south to the Costa del Sol for our first glimpse of the Mediterranean. I can see now why so many people choose to retire to the Costa del Sol. Really …… I mean REALLY nice. Pretty hard to describe but I will try …….. The sun coast on the Med. How’s that? We stopped at Nerja.

We passed one of the white hill towns on the way to the coast.  The white helps keep the houses cool as it reflects the sone.  The whitewaah also has something in it to repel bugs.

Nerja: AKA the balcony of Europe. Brenda wants to come back here for a month. I agree. Look it up on the old Internet. You will understand. Again. Lots of retirees. Can’t blame them.

Nerja is called the Balcony of Europe.
It sits on a bluff overlooking the Med.
Fantastic!!

CLICK HERE

For pics of Nerja

The pic of the pebbles is of the beach. 

Some is sand,

Some is pebbles of all different sizes. 

Very cool.

Larry and Liza: We continued on from Nerja to see Larry and Liza in Coin. We had a lovely evening catching up with them. We were a little tired so tried to tuck in early because this AM we went to Gibraltar.

We enjoyed talking so much the camera rarely got taken out. 
Therefore a pretty pic in a grocery store.

Gibraltar: A bit of jolly old England in the shadow of a HUGE rock ….. called amazingly The Rock of Gibraltar. It is pretty hard to describe. It is a massive rock inhabited by ape/monkey things. At the base of the rock is a couple square miles of British territory. From the rock, you can see: the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Morocco and that little bit of England. The ‘rock’ has a long and interesting history which I won’t bother you with. Fascinating day.

The rock.  (bad pic)

Morocco in the distance.

Brennie showing where swhe wants to be kissed.

The rock is full of caves.  Some are natural and we only have two lousy pics of them.
There is also a whole military history of tunneling and cannon placements inside the rock. 
I loved it..

My new best friend.

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For pics of Gibraltar

Hotel Dumpo: We are a few miles outside down coast of Gibraltar tonight in Algeceras. This is our last night in Spain. We head over to Morocco tomorrow on the ferry. Gulp. Unfortunately, we had to stay in this dump.

What a wreck!

CLICK HERE

For pics of This Dump

It has been a very busy 2 days.  The Brennie is asleeep.  She had a choice .... dinner or sleep.  I'll wake her for breakfast.

 

Life is Sweet,

Clarke