Gallery: Intrepid Trip 4--3 Weeks With the Ladies

summermichelled — Wed, 31 May 2006 21:40:00 GMT

My first three week trip with visits to the North as well as a spectacular concert in Marrakech.

Gallery: Los Angeles Pre-Departure

summermichelled — Tue, 9 May 2006 03:18:00 GMT

Salsa dancing, Goodbyes and Miami

Gallery: Intrepid Trip 1

summermichelled — Tue, 9 May 2006 01:58:00 GMT

The few photos I could get after one battery recharge...

Gallery: Morocco Training Trip

summermichelled — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:30:00 GMT

15 days around Morocco learning how to lead!

Training Trip

summermichelled — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:15:00 GMT

The training trip was 15 days of train, mini bus and public bus with 12 funny, easy-going, mostly single Aussie, American and British clients, myself and my fellow L.A. trainer leader, Miles. The itinerary was the following:

Casablanca—half day in Rabat—Meknes—Fez—Midelt—Sahara—Todra Gorge—Ait Benhaddou—Imlil—Essaouira—Marrakech

Snow majorly blanket the Middle Atlas from Meknes to Midelt and we were left to wait and snowball fight for two hours on the highway as the overpass to Midelt was cleared. We met many local truck drivers and I scored a love note and number from one of them. Fez was freezing and rainy; Todra stunning (I rockclimbed for my first time, for which it was not necessary to have any instruction or practice before scaling half the gorge face); the 45-min muddy path up to from Imlil up to the hotel was thrilling in freezing rain then sloppy snow—the views in the morning of the highest mountain in Morocco thrilling; my big birthday dinner and night out dancing in Marrakech excellent closure for the trip.

I will be completing the same itinerary for the next two trips, then will hopefully have some time off and back again onto some other trips.

I’ll try to keep this journal up.

About to Embark

summermichelled — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:00:00 GMT

I am about to start my first trip as a full-fledged Intrepid leader!! My group of nine American men arrives tonight to Casablanca for a late dinner, early morning visit to the Hassan II Mosque, and departure for Rabat. I spent the last five days (my vacation) prepping for this trip, trying to go snowboarding, staying too long in a boring little town in the Middle Atlas, and using bus, train, grand and petit taxi far more than desirable on one's time off.

A fellow new leader, John, and I, decided we should take advantage of the end of Morocco's snowboarding to do some winter sport. We boarded a luxury bus at midnight from Marrakech on Tuesday to arrive in Ifrane (Morocco's Switzerland) at 7 am. Nothing open yet and the closest hotel's night reception unable to communicate in French or English, we breakfasted on one of two cafes in town. When French-speaking receptionists finally arrived at the hotel Chamonix (pronounced Sham-o-nicks by Moroccans, who actually speak French mind you...) they were no more helpful than the man who couldn't communicate, as it seemed they knew nothing other than how much a room cost at the hotel. We were told they were the place to rent ski and board gear but after long deliberation they concluded that only possible on Saturday and Sunday. We decided to head directly to the ski resort.

The resort had confirmed great conditions when I called them on Monday. They assured us the skiing was better than the resort an hour from Marrakech and that we should make hotel reservations soon. Winding through the snow-splotched rocky hills in a petit taxi, we doubted the success of our planned day of boarding. Arriving 15 km later to a lone hotel at the base of a hill, we stepped into the empty lobby to survey to situation.

While the snow was not bad, the two rope tows, two-and-a-half runs, six Moroccans trying to rent equipment and one pair of skis visible shouted for an end to the adventure. Still (oddly) undeterred, we asked for snowboards, upon which a 40-something man in a sweater, faded purple ski bib, socks and pointed loafers assured us he had what we needed in Ifrane, and he would just run into town and pick up the boards and boots. We agreed to wait, but not to actually rent the equipment until we had seen it.

Inside the hotel, the reception informed us that the rope tows would not be turned on unless 20 people arrived to use them. After some disbelief and discussion about this matter (it would require a three hour hike up the black diamond run for us to make a 10 second board down) he reconfirmed and added an extra 10 people onto the previous figure. The renters in the parking lot said only four people were necessary, no, six.

At least half an hour later the boards arrived, the men’s boots three sizes too big for John, the women’s boots two sizes too small for me. The man in purple had a solution, however, just a small plastic bag over John’s foot would do the trick (?!) and for me, another pair of boots, even smaller.

We should have just gone to the beach for our break, or changed itineraries when we knew there was no gear during the week, or perhaps when we found out there were only rope tows, or that they wouldn’t turn them on—any of those instances would have provided longer vacation and less stress, but we wanted to be absolutely certain there was no way would be able to snowboard, not even one run, before we surrendered and agreed to accompany the only other hotel guests (two Irish guys with no idea about what they were doing) back to Ifrane in a grand taxi.

We dropped our bags in the Shamonicks, ate lunch at the same cafe in Ifrane, and chatted with the American students sitting next to us about the most prestigious university in Morocco (Al Akhawayn, in Ifrane.) They agreed to take us on a tour and told us all about how much they hated studying in Ifrane. The tour of the tiny private high-school-esque Legoland university in an absolutely nothing-to-do small town far from any big city depressed us enough to decide to leave the Shamonicks as fast as we could and take a grand taxi to Meknes. A friend in Kenitra (the ex-surf champion of Morocco whom we met on our first train from Casa to Marrakech three weeks ago) agreed to meet us that night at the train station and invited us to stay at his house. We dined in Meknes and took the next train to Kenitra. Simo (our friend) sent his dad to meet us at the train station at 10:30 pm, from where we went to his house, chatted with the family until about 11 pm, changed into pjs for bed, came back downstairs and found the family just setting out a massive dinner. Simo wasn’t even home from work yet (he arrived at 3 am) and we were so full from dinner and tired from not sleeping in 24 hours. We forced some rice, salad and brochettes down before we were able to excuse ourselves to bed.

Thursday, Simo showed us all around Kenitra—its beautiful beaches, palace ruins, bird-populated lake and forest and a tranquil garden cafe overlooking the river. He reluctantly left us at the train station in the afternoon (he thought we were staying the weekend for some reason) and we foraged on to Casa. Grateful not to be backpackers, we paid the extra $3 for first class travel on all transport possible.

Now I am here, John is gone back to Marrakech, I am killing time until the group arrives. Today is finally sunny and I must be carrying 10 lbs of warm clothing so as to avoid the frigidity of the last trip. I even bought a bright pink calf-length Eskimo coat which is such a great way to blend in with the locals, especially with the furry hood and giant green backpack.

Gallery: Boston With the Bruces

summermichelled — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 05:45:00 GMT

A fun stay with the Bruce boys, etc.

Gallery: Training in Cairo

summermichelled — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 05:23:00 GMT

The few photos I got of the flight to Cairo and Cairo before my cam ran out of battery.

Gallery: Muscat

summermichelled — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 05:10:00 GMT

A quick visit to a friend's in Muscat.

Gallery: Dubai 2006

summermichelled — Mon, 6 Feb 2006 00:40:00 GMT

Luxurious Dubai

Summer Reflections 2006