we had a pretty good flight on Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Casablanca, although as is apparently TK's habit, they changed aircraft on us and instead of a nice spacious business class seat we got the more constrained seat, where really the only difference is that the middle seat is blocked off - but the service was again impeccable (this time it was an all-male crew of flight attendants) and we were both pretty jet-lagged plus exhausted from no sleep the night before worrying about our luggage, so for us it was OK
we landed at Casablanca airport and used one of the more disgusting bathrooms i've ever experienced (and this is saying something!) - please note that almost every toilet in Morocco was scrupulously clean, so this was an even more disturbing introduction to the country that really the airport should take care of
our wonderful fabulous unbelievably great (although we didn't know this yet) driver Lahsen met us with a hand-written sign and was extremely patient with our requests to first go to an ATM (at 1 end of the terminal) and then go to the Turkish Airlines counter (at the other end) to enquire about our luggage (this got us nowhere)
we stopped at the Moroccan equivalent of K-Mart to pick up another outfit (by now our clothes, still worn from starting out in Kentucky days before, were getting a bit 'interesting') plus sunscreen because as we noticed just crossing the airport parking lot, Morocco is HELLA HOT - this was only the first of many times that wonderful Lahsen showed that his timetable was our timetable, and he was willing to wait as long as we wanted to get (at this point) an extra outfit - we both wound up buying the same pair of elastic waist green baggy pants that proved to be lifesavers over the coming days
it takes about 3 hours to drive from Casablanca to Marrakech (not including the stop at Marjane) and Lahsen starting explaining (only when prompted) about the economy of Morocco (almost exclusively agricultural) and government efforts to improve rural life
when we got to Marrakech, we had to park outside the medina because there is no way that our big 4x4 vehicle could fit through the narrow streets - wonderful Jawad (whom we would come to love as a little brother whose only desire in life was to make his 'big sisters' happy) came to escort us to the fabulous Riad Snan 13 - a true refuge from the mostly frenetic street life of Marrakech - a lovely calming pool in the courtyard, many sofas with soft pillows, mint tea on demand (this is a bit of a given in Morocco and is really delicious and usually served very hot, perhaps in an effort to make you think that the outside temperature is relatively cool), and smiling staff
the owner's mother Beatrice actually apologized for standing in for her son Stephan while he was away on business - we came to love Beatrice as a true thoughtful friend who immediately offered to do a laundry for us when she heard our plight, and wound up also giving up her telephone and computer to us when we were trying to deal with the situation - she also took us on a short walking tour to show us the locations of nearby restaurants, plus the place where she gets shoes handmade for about 40 euros (but sadly they were closed by then, and when we went back later, there wasn't enough time to get them before our departure)
our room was filled with roses (again ubiquitous in Moroccan riads) and overlooked the courtyard from a small charming balcony/sitting area (we wound up using it mostly as a drying area for the things we wound up hand-washing) - the bathroom had roses strewn across the towels, facecloths, floor mat...and had a very deep tub with a European style hand spray marked F for froid and C for chaud - one thing we learned pretty quickly in Morocco is that it REALLY helps to have at least a little French - my vocabulary is about 300 words and grammar almost non-existent and it was OK for ordering e.g. eau gaseuse but was completely inadequate (as we learned later) for having meaningful conversation - most Moroccans speak excellent French and Moroccan Arabic (pretty unlike the Arabic i had tried so painfully to learn beforehand, so i never used it) and possibly Berber if they come from the desert and maybe Spanish (which is still an official language, left over from when the Spanish colonized part of the coast) and of course other languages as needed (e.g. English)
that first night we were served a Moroccan dinner at the riad in the courtyard (we could have had it on the rooftop terrace, but i think by then we were pretty tuckered out and couldn't face climbing any extra stairs) - started with 3 salads including a squash puree then a tagine (very Moroccan dish - meat and veg and sometimes raisins and/or olives steamed in a clay pot) that was extremely tasty and i can't remember the dessert but it was probably some yummy fruit
and then we went to sleep and crashed hard after a very long trip - seemed like years since we had left Lexington/Blue Grass Airport!
