Travel

I got back a few days ago from a big trip across southern Morocco. I signed up for a four day trip but it got extended to a five day trip because a storm came in and dumped snow in the pass. The main thing I remember from the trip is how cold it was! The weather in Morocco is about like weather in California. It gets cold in the winter, cold enough that we all have heaters in our houses. This is the difference between rich pampered Americans and Moroccans. They know the cold only lasts through January and February so they just put on a coat and a blanket and get on with it. The problem is that there is literally nowhere that is heated, so you spend days and days never really getting warm. Like you come in out of the van with windows that don’t quite close and a heater that doesn’t really work, and you go into the restaurant which is really just a terrace and a kitchen, then after you check in to your room where the tile construction makes it feel just like a meat locker. The hotels do not have hot water, or certainly not enough to take a shower. When I put water into the sink to wash and warm my hands the sink itself cooled the water down to less than lukewarm as it was filling! ...

I have been in Marrakech two days now and I have been lost in the souk (marketplace) at least three times. Far from being a problem, that means I am doing things right. After traveling in Dakar, the touts, faux guides, and various other types of urchin are no problem for me. In fact, as they are incredibly effective at reading people, I get approched a lot less because they can see that they will have no power over me. Still, I get my share of them. I turned into an alley yesterday and immediately realized it was a mistake because this guy launched into a speech. I ignored him furiously, staring at my feet and pretending to be deaf. Out of desperation he started guessing nationalities: Vous etes francais? American? Spanish? Greek? England? Taiwanese? ...

I am still alive! Just a little post to keep something on the front page of my blog. I am in Rome right now staying with the lovely and hospitable Kristin. Tomorrow I fly to Paris and meet the lovely and resourceful Lisa, who has scored us a room with the lovely and hospitable Nancy. In Paris, I will take Lisa to the lovely and educational Musee de Orsay, then go to MSF France to beg for a DVD of training films. I am heading on to Morocco to meet the handsome and helpful Aly, who will send me into the Atlas mountains on the back of a slovenly and surly ass, no doubt. ...

I am back at Accra, at the same place I stayed in the first night. Not very adventurous, but it has Internet and hot water, and is in a nice neighborhood. Here is a quick list of things I did while I was here: bought some craft items, saw the fort at Cape Coast, walked on the catwalk at Kakama National Park, swam (pool and ocean), got a mild sunburn from being too relaxed to even notice, had a massage, listened to drums over a bonfire. I am leaving out the less-than-glamorous things that always happen in a week of traveling. It was a nice week, and I’m rested enough to go back to Nimba. ...

So I’ve made it to (and past) the halfway point. I am on my vacation in Ghana and I thought I would give you all an update of what it islike to go from a post-conflict context to one of the richest countries in West Africa in 24 hours. In a few words, culture shock! The culture shock started as we drove out of Nimba. I had been out as far as Phebe Hospital, where the two cars meet when we do a “kiss movement” which is where one car leaves from Monrovia and one from Nimba at the same time, then they both meet in the middle. I rode out to Phebe hospital with our normal driver, Elijah, and read my Lonely Planet for West Africa on the way. I played with a kid in the car (a patient with a broken leg, who I coincidently mett while riding in the car weeks ago), giving him my little Altoids container with a rock inside it to rattle, and also making a paper airplane for him. Then we tranferred into the car from Monrovia, and that’s when the culture shock started to set in. ...

World66 is a nifty website, kind of a cross between Wikipedia and Lonely Planet. But the coolest thing they have is a map generator showing which countries you’ve visited:

I got back home to Redwood City on Friday. The drive was uneventful. The puppy dog seemed a little sad to leave Roseburg, where Mom had made a comfortable home for Kat, and had spoiled her rotten. But after a bit, she got back in the swing of being a traveling dog, and settled down in her crate in the car. When we arrived at my house on Arch Street, I excitedly told Kat that we were home and showed her around. She seemed scared and uncomfortable… afterall, this was just another place I was dumping her and (in her eyes) threatening to leave her again. After I set up a comfortable little temporary pen for her in the garage, she settled down a bit. We took a nice walk around the neighborhood yesterday and she liked that a lot. Everyone who saw her stopped to say hi. Everyone loves a puppy! ...

I am on my way home across country. I’ve picked up a couple of traveling companions, Angela and Kat. Angela is a girl from Alaska with family in Oregon. Kat is a puppy. Yes, it’s a dog named Kat. (See below for more on Kat). We left Saturday, going to Mobile AL to drop off Angela’s car. We spent the night in Rayville, LA with Sharon Dearman (wife of Mac, my boss at Radio Response). The next morning we drove to Dallas, and saw Cliff McCarthy there for a late lunch. After that we tried hard to get out of Texas in a day, but predictably failed: no one escapes Texas in a day. (But I’m happy to report, the puppy did choose to poop on Teaxs, which delighted me.) ...

This just in from my friend and coworker in San Pedro la Laguna: Mis queridos amigos, queria mandarles algunas fotos acerca de la tragedia ocurrida con el huracan stan, fue muy duro mas para el pueblo de san pedro la laguna, pero tambien fue un reto para mucha gente de poder ayudar, barrio con todo un canton en santigo Atitlan, el canton panabaj,no me hubiera gustado ir pero la necesidad de ayudar y tomar evidencia de todo fue lo que me empujo a hacer todo eso. En san pedro gracias a Dios todo esta bien, excepto los 6 dias de luz, el telefono que no tuvimos y el agua potable que nos hizo falta, ahora que tenemos luz, todo poco a poco se esta volviendo a la normalidad, Saludos a todos y que Dios les bendiga y gracias por sus preocupaciones. ...

I am back home in California. I had a safe and comfortable trip from San Pedro to Guatemala City, then on to San Francisco by three American Airlines flights stopping in Dallas and Los Angeles. In Guatemala City, I got to go with Ben, his girlfriend and her brother to the World Cup qualifying game between Guatemala and USA. Ben and Maria had a Guatemala jersey for me to borrow, so that I wouldn’t stand out too much as a gringo and get us all killed. They also asked me several times pointedly who I was going to be rooting for. (I assured them Guatemala!) The reason for their concern is that they had bought preferred tickets for the Guatemala section. The stadium is laid out into several sections. The cheap seats are on each end. They go for Q50. Our section was on the sidelines on the far side from the sky boxes and the TV cameras. We paid Q150 ($20) for our seats. There was a tiny section devoted to the visiting team’s fans (in this case, about 35 ex-pat Americans, flags waving proudly). All of the sections had huge barbed-wire fences bordering them. The visiting team section also had a line of guards protecting it on each side. Also, there was a huge fence with several layers of barbed wire and concertina wire between the stands and the game. You actually watch the game through chain link fence. There were security guards with riot shields on the edge of the field. There were emergency exits out of the chain link cages we were in but they were chained closed. There was a fireman stationed at every exit who’s job was to stand holding the release device on the chain for the entire night. ...