Greetings from the Red City, where I'm attending the ICANN meetings.
No sense in boring you with meeting notes (you can get all that you can stand here). It's as compressed and intensive as it always is.
Still, there's been some time to get in some exploration. The square here is straight out of a film set -- snake charmers, storytellers, you name it. And if there's one souk selling spices, fruit and fresh orange juice, there are 500.
The food is stupendous, but I think that because I love Moroccan food. The people are friendly; a few speak English, but if you know some French you'll get by much easier.
Predictably, there are millions of vendors selling whatever you want, but espcially handicrafts. I learned, fortunately not the hard way, that it's better to stay away from the square when you're buying and go instead to the Center Artisimes, one of two co-ops set up by the Moroccan government as a quality control measure -- basically they're giving an approval stamp to the quality of the merchandise you find there. You can still haggle, and you should, else you get reamed, but (hopefully not stupidly) I feel better about what I paid for the rug I bought yesterday.
Back in the US in a couple of days, in time for the holiday weekend. Posting light meantime. Better to get out and smell the spices.
Very cool trip, indeed. Can't wait to see more pictures.
Posted by: Jeff Risley | June 26, 2006 at 12:28 PM
Thanks. I've taken a ton. With my free Sprint phone. No svc here of course so I can't upload but maybe can post some to flickr or something later. It's an amazing place.
Posted by: Mason Cole | June 28, 2006 at 03:31 AM