Posted 11:03 AM by MelanieandSteve
5/4/03: Its been a long time since we've updated this web log or sent out a newsletter [thanks to loads of adventures, and (no thanks) to extremely high cost of internet] and theres lots to tell. Places we've been since the last log, in terms of countries, are Morocco, Spain, France, Italy, and now Greece.

*Morocco in 8 days
-Last we blogged we were in Fez, after that . . .
-3 days in the Sahara on cammels. Just Melanie, Steve, Yoseff the guide, and the three cammels, Jimmy, Hassin, and Hammel, we camped the first night with a desert nomad family. Hurdling the language barrier with non verbal techniques like magic tricks and making shaddow figures on the wall worked well in communicating with the children Bassid, Hamid, and Suhila. Even Abdoul, the father, joined in. Then Narima, the mother, cooked a cous cous feast for us and proudly led us through their 5 room adobe-like home explaining through charades how she and Abdoul built it with their own hands. There was no electricity or running water, and the evening by lantern light was one of the most special nights of our travels. The next night we camped in a tent in the middle of thousand foot sand dunes under a dense skyscape of stars, joined by a newliwed couple from France celebrating their honeymoon.
-A visit to Tourdes Gorges in Tenedir. The steep valley rivaled Yosemite in its dramatic cuts and ridges, and some of our rock climbing friends would have dropped their jaws. A place we'd enjoy revisiting with climbing geer.
-A long hot bus ride to Marakesh. Hot, that is, until it cooled down and snowed unexpectedly during the ride in the Atlas Mountains giving us a spectacular snowy peaked back drop upon reaching Marakesh.
-One night in Marakesh in a motel in a narrow back city street where it was easy to get lost. Using waterbottles at the sink because the faucet didn't work, with a squatty poty for a bathroom without toilet paper, with a very lumpy bed, and with a warped door that we couldn't close or open without the help of the hotel manager on the other side, we pondered how its funny the things you'll accept when away from home that you'd never tolerate in America. During our one full day there in Marakesh, we lost ourselves happily in the labyrinth of streets called the medina checking out the various souks (markets) for dies, wool, spices, and interesting products like live chameleons and turtles, or ground up other animal parts for unique remedies such as for sexual frustration, etc... (didn't need any). We picniced in the middle of the Djarma al Fna square where we were surrounded by snake charmers, mystics, story tellers, acrobats, musicians, venders, monkey trainers and hennah painters. And at night, in the same square, we enjoyed a lively atmosphere as hundreds of brightly lit out door food stands popped up. One food stand vendor convinced Melanie (also on a dare from Steve) to try the specialty of fried snake. After building up her courage, Melanie tried it, and discovered it was only sweet cake, ... A donut. The vender had a good laugh.
-One morning in Tangiers. It's commonly known as a horrid over-touristed, high pressure sales place, but not for us. We arrived there at 6 am and found it to be peaceful and enjoyable. We sipped hot chocolate at Cafe du Paris, a famous coffee shop across the street from the French Embassy where World War II spies are known to have commonly met. The atmosphere was still there, and you could practically feel covert missions being planned even now. We walked through the town toward the Ferry back to Europe but took a wrong turn finding ourselves at an ancient Phoenecian graveyard carved in the stone of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Our trip has been full of blessed wrong turns and unplanned surprises. We'd heard about these tombs, but would have never found them on purpose. They are unmarked, and many locals are even unaware of them. They are just there, patient and unobtrusive, watching the centuries pass. From those cliffs, we could see where the port was, so, kindly, those Phoenecians helped us find our way back to where we came from, Spain.
-Most memorable of the Moroccan experience was the warmness of the people. We enjoyed trying new Arabic words (also Berber and Toarig words) we learned along the way, and they enjoyed teaching us. People seemed willing to stop and help us with directions, words, or simply to talk to us all along the way. Sometimes we'd notice young people giggling and pointing at us, we'd usually smile and wave and they would break into the biggest warmest smiles and giggle and wave back. Bolder folks would stop to talk.

*Spain again- we took a calculated risk when we went to Morocco without making reservations for for our return night sleep since this week was Semana Santa or Holy week in Spain when the entire southern country fills with travellers, worshipers, and partiers. Of the three nights it took for us to find trains out of the country, two of them were homeless. On one of them we enjoyed a great unplanned beach camping trip in Almeria, but the other in Barcelona was a bit more strenuous. The hostel took our bags, even though they didn't have room for us, and we stayed the night on the town. The good news was, the country was so full of party, in honor of Semana Santa, that we were never alone out there. But after 4 am, the pick pockets and prostitutes abounded, as well as partiers staggering home. In exchange for a sleepless night, we got to see Semana Santa first hand. In every city, the week long celebration was the same. There were parades of people in Catholic costumes with cone-shaped head dresses covering the whole face, symbolic of penitence, but to an American it looked too much like a KKK outfit. This gave the parade an erie, macabre feeling to us. Those paraders preceded a decorated 'float' usually of Jesus or Mary and a lot of candles. The floats were carried by 30 or 40 men on foot, under and around the platform. Notable was the slowness of the parade. They'd walk maybe 10 feet every five minutes and take a break. We couldn't imagine an American crowd waiting the parade out. No wonder the party lasts all night.

*Nice, France. The Riviera. Nice to have a bed to sleep in after 2 nights on the road. We made new friends from California, toured Monaco with them, as well as a perfumeria and a medieval town called Eze. We enjoyed the ocean views and city scapes, and had nightly ice cream just before the shops closed at Midnight.

*Italy- Loved it. If we were excited to see old buildings in France and London from the 13th century, we had no idea what was in store for us in Rome and Pompei where ancient Roman ruins date to BC.
-In Rome, the Colliseum made our hearts skip a beat. The Forum inspired our imagination. The Pantheon impressed us with its sundial design, and 'how did they do that?'. And Vatican city was a pleasant surprise. We thought we'd seen too many big churches during our trip so far. But we were pleasantly surprised with the class and beauty of St. Peters Cathedral at the Vatican where deciple Peters is burried.
-Venice was fun, and the gondola ride was enchanting. We played in the labyrinth of streets and challenged ourselves to find a particular icecream shop across town, taking three hours to wind our way into the maze and back out. The ice cream was worth it, probably not unlike the cheese the mouse gets when it finally finds its way. While Venice was very unique, it was also a bit synthetic. The once genuine lifestyle has become all tourist oriented, much like a day at Disneyland - built for and supported by tourists. Enjoyable, but not particularly substantial. The population of venice has dropped by two thirds over the last decade because real people find it too difficult or too expensive to live there anymore.
-Florence, two nights at a rent-a-tent camp site overlooking the city. Saw the David and the Pieta by Michaelangelo as well as the Magdalena by Donatelli, and took a day trip to Pisa for that old leaning tower. We didn't expect that much from the David because we'd seen replicas all over Italy, sculptures as well as little souveniers and pictures, and figured we'd as good as seen it. But, Wrong. In person, it was amazingly powerful. This really was a masterpiece, and remarkably preserved. David was the David who slew Goliath. Standing in the museum You could read his emotion in as little as the veins of his hands, or the determination in his eyes. There really is value in seeing the real things. We found the same to be true for the Pieta and even Pisa's tower which leaned more than we expected.
-Cinque Terre (5 lands), the Italian Riviera. Surprise, the Italian Riviera is even better than the French one. We hiked a long hike between 5 small coastal towns that were once built as hideaways from pirates. The scenic cliff side hikes took us through steep vinyards and orchards and over old goat trails. It was gorgeous and good exercise.
-Pompei and Mount Vesuvius: Pompei was like ancient Rome, but better preserved. It was also huge; more than you can see in a single day. We were impressed with the ruts in the stone roads created by charriots. We saw an old brothel, the city forum, bath houses, and were surprised by lots of erotic old artwork in the frescoes on the walls. In the morning, a hike up Vesuvius revealed a steep craggy crater of this live vulcano. Its last eruption was 1944, next one is overdue. A traffic jam on the way down almost made us miss our train. While we were late, so was it, and we just made it on our way to the east coast to catch a Ferry to Greece.

*Greece (Hellena to the Hellenistic/Greek people): Here we are, and so far so good. The Ferry overnight was like a mini cruise liner. Always a welcome diversion in our travels. Today, we strolled through the land of the very first Olympics. The first stadium, and the only one for a thousand years was here in Olympia. We both ran our own sprints in the stadium, and found it was bigger and longer than it looked. We imagined the Olympics here in BC 776, and we took some time to learn a little Greek Mythology before walking into the temples of Zeus and Hera. Here, the Olympic flame starts its track to the city of the next Olympics every four years. Exciting to think the Olympics are coming to Athens in one year.

With the first leg of our travels (Europe section) half over, we're enjoying the warmer weather and still loving it every day. We miss all of you (we also miss peanut butter and ranch dressing). And we hope your travels wherever you are bring you happiness.

Happy Late Birthdays to
Mindy Ropp,
Sage Parker,
Dan Culling,
Nick Parker!

And Congratulations on your Engagement, Felice!

Congratulations on your baby to Lesley and Jim!