Marrakesh & Morocco & thanks

First of all thank you to the following people for emails and birthday wishes; Theresa M. and Chris Kelk (you were the first!), the Keaneys, the Wil(kin)sons, Jo (K), Liz, Dia, Mimi, Gail, Tamara, Pat, Shari, Audrey and John, Ann and Michael...I was so delighted and touched that you remembered. Few people have as many greetings and messages on their 39th birthday....thank you!



It is just after 8 pm and we have been warned again by the Captain Kingston (very British....thank goodness!) to secure everything, including ourselves, to round the breakwater leaving Casablanca harbour...so it is all done; George and I quickly got ready for bed and everything is stowed away. We saw huge waves as we drove along the coastal road from Safi today and the poor students are of course worried stiff as were we! Well here goes we are just being towed out to the breakwater....I shall hope to keep typing.



We left Casablanca in very dull weather on Tuesday morning to drive in a large comfortable bus to Marrakesh. We drove through this crowded, Cosmopolitan, palm treed city....polluted and noisy but attractive in its own Moorish way; mosques and beautiful ceramic tiles on walls of buildings, square white and grey green damp looking houses with square windows and everyone wearing the hooded jalabas against the cold, both men and women. The drive to marrakesh took four hours and our guide pointed out areas of interests on the way. behing us there was a boy and girl first time meeting and with his encouragement she talked non stop through everything without, i beliieve, looking out of the window to the Moroccan countryside once....infuriating! The female students....

That was the end of my blogging last night because at that moment we went through the breakwater. Picture this...
I was sitting in an arm chair typing this and George was on the couch. I was thrown out of my chair into the air, my chair followed and landed on top of me at the foot of the bed. The so-called bolted down TV got loose from it's bolts and flew over my head until it crashed into the cabin door, the bed swung towards the wall on my side, cupboards flew open, things spilled out, George's coffee spilt on my script and a borrowed book. George thought I had probably been knocked unconscious at the very least and was shouting my name but actually I was very aware and just worried that the TV would come back at me and break my feet/ankles. He staggered over to me and lifted the chair off me; I finally with his help managed to get myself on to the bed and we lay together holding on to one another for dear life. We heard crashes from other cabins and a 'code blue' call for the medical team. A neighbour had been in the bathroom and hit his head against the door handle very hard and cut his head open....he was stitched and treated. No one could have entered our cabin because the Tv was jamming the door!

The trouble was that the weather did not improve once we were out to sea with the stabilisers operating again...it was dreadful. We hardly slept at all and lay in bed hanging on when necessary and trying to read. i finally did fall asleep about 2 am but we both needed frequent bathroom visits....great fun! Then we realised our balcony door was open and we could hear the gale loudly; tried to lock it and the electric lock had fused as had the bathroom light, half of the cabin lights and the electric toilet flusher!!

I have sailed in liners and banana boats since I was two years old and I have NEVER been through an experience like that, ever. They were much older ships too; White Star Line, Union Castle, British India, Elder Dempster and more recently the little old Windjammer's Amazing Grace.....never heard a Captain warning the passengers that the "only way to survive this is to remain sitting".

We are still in rough seas but the sun is shining and it is daylight so everything is alot better psychologically....can't give any coordinates as the TV is still on the floor, but we are sailing close to the Canary Islands.

This morning we discovered that there were breaks and sprains, bruises and cuts throughout the passengers and we all have frightening stories to tell. I have to wonder why they would take such a risk.

My birthday in Marrakesh....wow! It was magical, everything a middle eastern city should be....Like Seville full of orange trees, but with suks and outdoor markets and mosques and towers all built of the wonderful ochre red clay of the region. There were monkeys on leashes in the huge open square (really soft and sweet), snake charmers who would suddenly appear a your side putting the snake up close to you, one rested his head on my shoulder! Everyone was wearing their winter Jalabas with hoods. Some of the the women's were in glorious gem coloured silks and satins, the men's in Berber cotton cloth or wool. The Berbers, known as blue men (both men and some women were often robed in blue) come from the city of Safi and the shutters on many of the buildings are painted in a distinctive indigo blue, a dye which originated and is much used in the region.

On the roads as we drove we saw loaded donkeys, a few cows, goats and sheep. The farmers' fields bewteen the cities of Essouria and Safi reach neatly and in an ordered way right down to the sea shore. They are in a million brilliant shades of green.

It's so hard to describe all the beauties of this small kingdom but it was very appealing to the three senses. And by the way the fish here is delicious!

We shall be stopping again to refuel in dakkar in senegal, but again we hall not be allowed ashore. very frustrating for me as I should have loved to revisit West Africa where we lived for nearly five years in Nigeria and Ghana.

But you can't have everythng....!

Speaking of winter the days were cool and the nights cold in Morocco. Because we had lost day in Gibraltar waiting to be refuelled our guide rushed us quite a bit. We walked for hours and yet never had time to really stop and bargain for things in the suks and markets. We spent one night in Marrakesh and one in Essouria and the last day in Safi before returning to Casablanca. Essouria and Safi are both on the coast and the drives on those two days let us see alot of the country. There is alot of variety; little villages, each with its white mosque tower above the clustered houses. Early in the morning, at noon and at about 3 o'clock there is a call to prayer from the mosque tower by the Muezim, so one hears this loudspeaker and the chant of the Muezim calling the faithful. They then kneel facing Mecca (East) and make their abeisance to Allah....either where they happen to be or in the mosques. Because they must wash first there are gorgeous pools of water incorporated into the design and architecture of cities and Mosques.