After an early morning flight from Lisbon, I landed in Marrakech Sunday morning. Smooth sailing through the airport and car pick up and I was off to the races.

Since Scott wasn’t arriving until Tuesday, I decided to head for the mountains to do a little recon and spend time up high. The Atlas Mountains in Morocco are the highest in northern Africa. The biggest peak, Jbel Toubkal, stands at 13,671′ and is snow capped year round. The drive up from Marrakech, although only fifty or so miles, is very windy and slow going. Here was my introduction to the landscape, driving through small mountain towns along the way:

My bro Mohammed, a geologist who I met on the way up to Toubkal. Incredibly nice fellow, and he spoke very good English. He showed me the gorgeous geodes, fossilized stones and polished pieces he had excavated and sculpted himself, and we engaged in haggling (de rigueur in these parts) for an hour on and off. He was quite tenacious, but in a really charming way. He wanted me to buy everything he had on his motorbike and in his djellaba. Miraculously, I got away with buying only one super cool polished stone that contained a large fossilized anthropod (in my hand below). I will treasure it and remember him by it.

I stayed in the town of Imlil Sunday night, which is the gateway to Jbel Toubkal and the highest peaks in Morocco. Pretty amazing place, and finding my hotel took over an hour because I had to walk a half mile to it after parking my car, which confused the hell out of GPS. The crew there were incredible – warm, kind and very inquisitive about California and the States. We had a lot of fun together.

The next morning, yesterday (I’m still a bit jet lagged from the journey and time zone change), I set off for the coast, as I was picking up Scott this morning in Casablanca. Beautiul drive through lush countryside with many goat and olive farms along the way. Here are shots from El Jadida, a pretty beach and fishing town south of Casablanca. Outdoor tagine cooking up in mini pots:

The Portugese Cistern in El Jadida. It was built as an enormous fort in 1541 and lies beneath the Citadel. Very neat.

Chillin’ –

Bummer, dood…. I met the local constabulary en route to Casablanca. Came into a roundabout too hot and got busted for 68 (Km/hr) in a 60. That was the bad news. The good news was that the fine, payable on the spot, was only 150 Moroccan Dirham (~$15.00 US). Very nice guys, notwithstanding the circumstances. A not so quick getaway then ensued…

Heading north:

Casablanca is home to The Hassan II Mosque. Its minaret, at 689′, is the world’s second tallest. It’s just immense and a bit disorienting in size, and it definitely makes you feel small, which I love.

Inside:

After the Mosque, we had a great Moroccan fusion lunch. Here’s Scott on one hour of sleep after arriving early this morning.

Abdul, our host:

Yes, that Rick’s Cafe:

Scott goofing around at our AirBnB:

So, I’m three days into my month long stay and have a few preliminary observations about the country and people. Moroccans are incredibly warm, kind and helpful. It’s really a pleasure being here so far. They’re just generally super nice people. The countryside is beautiful. It’s a great time of year to be here – after the winter rains, with the snow melt greening things up, and it’s delightfully cool now. Casablanca is a big, boisterous city with all that connotes, but it has a great vibe and its fun being here. History is everywhere you look.

We’re off to Rabat, then Chefchaouen in the next several days. Should be really fun. Heading out to dinner. More to come soon.