Welcome to the world!

My super amazing co-worker had a baby last week. We are all so excited to have this new little bundle of joy in this world! I selfishly hate having her mother gone from across the hall, but I will sacrifice.

Since I got this cool, new to me, real camera I wanted to play with it some and take some photos of the new baby. I decided that I needed to practice before I went to shoot the baby so I asked another co-worker and amateur photographer friend if I could come shoot her baby. I knew she would understand and support my need to practice my photography. Besides, her baby LOVES me. Her baby also happens to be a dog. :)

I'm really not very good with portrait photography. My dad is a portrait photographer and he is awesome!!! I totally struggle with where to put people. I was a photojournalist. I always said that I was much better at capturing the moment than creating one.

So here are some pics from both. I don't have lighting or anything so these were just shot in their apartments. I was able to have some window light with the baby baby, but there wasn't any outside light for the puppy baby shots.

Marrakech- Morocco part 7

Our final destination in Morocco was Marrakech. We got there in the afternoon, checked in, ate lunch, and then met with our local guide Mufasa. He was funny. Well, I don't know if I'd really say he was funny.... he was certainly interesting. He was very smart and had a lot of information, but sometimes he would just start laughing at himself and then we couldn't understand him, and then people would start laughing just because he was laughing so much. It was a trip.

He was a hefty guy and it was rather surprising just how fast he could move. He could weave in and out of the crowd and MOVE. We were all running just to keep up. It was very clear that he knows his way around the medina of Marrakech and all the little shop owners know him. In fact, when April and I went back to the souq the following day, a guy was trying to sell us something as we walked by and then he said, "You were with Mufasa."

I can't even remember where he took us. Some cemetery, a former palace, and then the spice shop. At one point we stopped to get cash and my wallet was missing. Talk about scary! I remembered having it at lunch so it could have only been at the hotel/hotel cafe or on the bus. The bus had left us for good at this point, but luckily our awesome tour guide called the driver, found out that it was on the bus, and then he went to get it for me. Whew!

After running through the medina and souq we had our last meal together as a group. We had such a great group! Then we took horse drawn carriages back to the hotel. The next day April and I did some shopping but it wasn't much fun. The shops just hound you so much it really becomes an unpleasant experience. :( We then just repacked and chilled.

Our flight to Kuwait was interesting. On the Casablanca to Cairo leg we had a group of tourists that had clearly never been on a plane before. There was probably about 70 or so of them, all old enough to be our grandparents, and all in white, cream, or light yellow. They all rushed the gate when it was time to board and not all of them had their own boarding pass. Then they just started sitting where ever they wanted on the plane and the flight attendants had to keep getting them to move, trying to explain where they had to sit.

At first it was annoying. Then it was so bad it was comical. I mean, April and I had to help with seat belts and headphones, but I don't think the flight attendants ever found the humor in it. Then I noticed a lady looking at a pamphlet with Mecca on it. I asked the lady next to me and confirmed they were all on their Hajj- the pilgrimage to Mecca. I used the two words I knew she'd understand- Hajj and Mecca- because she didn't speak English. (btw- here's a link to a really good National Geographic documentary on the Hadj, about 45mins: http://vimeo.com/55277431) That just made it all super sweet. I'm excited for them. They made my long journey more enjoyable.

graves of slaves- the more special ones have a little marble on top...
or something like that

I don't remember... graves of the wives... ? 

streets in the medina

former palace I think..

this was a place for the Jews to chill at the palace, thus the Star of David

the square by the souq

At the spice shop almost all of us got paint on our jackets going up the stairs.
The upside is I got this shot from the roof when I went to clean up. This is what it
looks like above the souq maze.  

Jars of spices and stuff. It was very interesting. 

The pop-up type restaurant we had our last tour group meal at.
It reminded me of Korea... I guess that's where I've been to places like this. 

The super yummy lentil soup had super cool wooden spoons. 

These guys were jerks. You have to pay to take pictures of them.
They will harass you if you don't and they want you to pay for each picture you take.
They made us cranky and we didn't want to go near them after this. 

Pretty Moroccan lanterns. I kept thinking I would get one, but I didn't.
I couldn't think what I would do with it. If I had a patio.... 

Carriage ride back to the hotel. 

The tour group going on their Hajj. 

Rock the Kasbah- Morocco part 6

btw- a kasbah is a type of fortress or palace. Basically an old part of town where the houses were all built close together, sharing walls, high walls that can be used for defense.

We spent the next couple of days traveling and making small stops to see things along the way. After the desert we headed to Todra Gorge, which happened to be our guide's home town. We went to a local co-op of Berber carpet weavers and learned how to make tea and how to make carpet. Did you know that if a carpet (rug) is hand made it will only have fringe on one side?

Our guide took us to his mother's house for tea, which was really cool. He asked us not to take pictures because his mom wouldn't like it, which is sad because I wish I had some pictures from it. She made us tea and offered us bread and yummy cake. I honestly got the impression that he really doesn't do that for every tour.

The next day we traveled along the “Route of 1000 Kasbahs” stopping in Ouarzazate for lunch and a quick (15 mins) run through a movie museum. This is the area where the film studios are and where they have done a lot of the filming they've done in Morocco. We went to Aït Ben Haddou, a 500 year old kasbah that has been used in several films, including The Gladiator.

At our hotel that night we learned how to cook tagine (both the name for the dish and the pot you cook it in) which is basically a slow cooked meal either meat or veggie cooked in a cool looking pot on the stove/fire.

The next day was lots of windy roads through the High Atlas Mountains on to Marrakech. (I'll blog about Marrakech tomorrow and then I'll be done with all the Morocco stuff)  It was beautiful and I am so glad I wasn't driving the bus!

These are all over- God, Country and King. 

The record of the speed our driver was going-- never over 100km on this day.
I'm still not clear if EVERYONE has to keep a record or just tour companies... 

Todra Gorge-- or the town near it actually 

Todra Gorge-- or the town near it actually, the view from our hotel

Berber carpet weaving, making the wool.

Our guide on the street he grew up on, learned to walk on, scraped his knee on. 

We crossed that "bridge" Yes, those two sticks.
It was actually fun climbing around like a kid. 

Todra Gorge-- we were supposed to stay in a hotel in this gorge but the hotel
was closed due to damage from the flooding/rain the month before. 

We passed a town known for roses and rose products

We also stopped at a VERY local market. This is the parking lot.
Again our guide asked us not to take pictures because the people there aren't used to tourists.
I think I could have snapped some shots and they would have been ok with it. 

Saw this a lot, but seriously? Can't you just stop when it's full?
I don't even know how that's staying on there... 

We had this at EVERY meal. 

props from movies at the film museum.. nothing that I really knew,
but cool looking nonetheless

Coming down into this valley you could see the dust/sand just blowing

Aït Ben Haddou

You can see the straw mixed with the mud and the roof covered in mud and rocks.

A few families actually still live there.
This is a woman that lives there and we got to see her house.

her kitchen

This is where the ring for The Gladiator was, at the base of that mound. 

the ring was in this flat area with Aït Ben Haddou in the background

tagine-- only these ones aren't as cool looking as the ones you get at the tourist shops

April got this shot by happy accident. I love that sign.
I've seen it in other countries. I call it the "drunk when wet" sign.
Look at how the tire lines cross... drunk, not slippery. 

Nomadic houses.. although, isn't that a contradiction in terms?

little shops along the road

We saw SEVERAL of these. They were with The Sahara Desert Challenge, a trans-Saharan adventure linking two continents: Europe and Africa... and crosses five countries: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal... Dakar is the ultimate destination! They started on Dec. 26 and should have finished today, Jan. 9th.