I apologise now for this blog being all over the place..... but i'll begin from where we left off.

After a marverlous Christmas at Lucinda's Rach and i embarked on our own little journey to Morocco (with easyjet i might add which is a feat in itself considering even though we arrived on time we were running to the plane with the 'this is the final boarding call' announcement).

Morocco was remarkable! Was full of totally wierd and wonderful sights, tastes and smells- awesome! We managed to fit a fair amount into those short 6 days including;
-our own style photo shoot in the middle of a dessert in a deserted for in the atlas mountains
-sampling all of the amazing dried fruit that Marrakesh had to offer
-The discovery of the fondly names 'scroggin' (think a mixture of nougat and coconut rough with tonnes of flavours)
-The equally awesome discovery of mint tea (1/8th tea 7/8's sugar). To those of you who get both of our blogs i'd like to point of the important fact (that she conveniently forgot to mention) that i one the tea tally 16 to a measly 7. (or there abouts)
-Exploring the ever going alleyways full of amazing archawys and hidden shops (we sussed this out well with me being the compass and Rach the translator ever if she abused the position once or twice)

The whole place was crazy- anywhere you looked you'd have the chance of seeing baby tortises in cages (which are NOT for consumption), iguanas accompaning them, snake charmers and the snakes just in the middle of a square, monkeys and their tamers (AKA rabies on a leash), crazy henna ladies chasing after you to rip you off and stain you at the same time (interesting experience). Everything was a surpise- especialy what you're about to get for your meal- note- there is no corrolation between what you ordered and what you'll get, ever.

At any one time no matter where you are you'll know you're out of london because its so noisy- but in an awesome way- from the prayer calls, to the buskers, to drums, to the duck motorbikes, to horses hooves clopping...an most importantly... the interesting remarks to white women get passing every shop including 'green green green', 'niiice', 'you're mother's gone to iceland' (and no, we don't understand what they mean either.)

So tips for Morocco; cover your hands with sleeves at night markets to avoid a henna stain
-keep to the right when you're working- or you're DOOMED
-say 'yes, i've already eaten', and 'yes, i will remember your stall 47, 62, 112, 58, 14, 42 (where rach was offered for 100 camels- rather impressive compared to my 3 donkeys in Nepal!)
-you do not speak english
-you do not speak french
-you do not speak spanish
-learn maori fluently so you can talk with no one understanding (next task)
-go into a spice shop for an aromatic overload
-take an awesome travel buddy so you can laugh off the (very) few crappy moments and enjoy the hilarious, stunning, aweomely friendly craziness of Marrakesh!

AFRICA

So right now i'm in 36 degree weather and have yet again mastered the sweat patch look (attractive huh??) in stone town, Zanzibar. Love it! Although the trip here was somewhat an, experience, to say the least.
Note- taking Ethiopian Airlines is like going back in time 50 years. The fact that there was no tv's i can deal with, but when there's no safety demonstration you've got to wonder... The first leg from London-Rome-Heathrow was fine, but the delay in Ethiopia, and the boarding and disembarking again due to mechanical failures WOULD have been ok had the waiting lounge not been right next to a field. Especially since the field had 6 broken down planes just sitting there (and i'm not talking lttle planes, i'm meaning the sme size i was supposed to be boarding). Now i'm not usually a nervous flyer but seeing those and knowing my plane was partially brkoen did nothing for the nerves!

But i'm all good and made it safely to Dar Es Salaam Tanzania with a huge applause by all passengers as the plane hit the tarmac. The next very crammed 20 days will (hopefully) include some Zanzibar beaches tommorow, arusha for a safari then hopefully (should everything go to plan) a ctach up with Alice in Bukoba near the Ugandan boarder on Lake Victoria a bit later on.

For now though i'm off to get lost in the stone alleyways and attempt to get 'Jambo, Jambo buana....' out of my head before another tout puts it in again!

Much love to everyone!