DAY 218

Tuesday 14 February 2012

It was a strange thing to be taken out of sleep by the wailings of the call to prayer, then to drift back into dreamland. This would happen to us many times during our stay in Morocco. It took us out of whatever we were doing when the call started, and even for a non-Muslim, reminded us of where and  who we were, and the ideologies and devotion tied to religion. It was also mysterious, at times even eerie, because it was unintelligible, being in another language, and because of its tuneless, wailing nature. It reminded us that we were in another world, rich with culture we were unaccustomed to.

This was our morning alarm after a "peaceful, dream-filled" night, and after chatting with one of the friendly gas station employees (he even looked up his Facebook page for us), Charles bought a package of dirt-cheap cookies made fresh by a baker which we enjoyed on the road.

After a while of driving Nicole spied something along the road that couldn't possible be a donkey, and definitely wasn't a cow- cow's don't have humps-- our first camel! It would be one of many, but it was still exciting to see our first.

Looking for clues for the Valentine's day treasure hunt

We stopped in Essouira, a place famed for its traditional gnawa music, but upon asking around we ascertained that there wasn't much of a scene except in the summertime. Charles still wanted to explore the old town, and while doing so he bought a musician's CD (even getting it for less than half what was originally offered!).

A Valentine's Day treasure hunt

It was geting late, so we pulled into the closest campsite not far from town, which was 70dm (about $8.00) a night. Dian and Nicole led Charles on a campervan-confined treasure hunt leading to a package of chocolate-coffee cookies, in honor of Valentine's Day. Nicole had drawn a picture for Myles which she sent by e-mail.