Salam Alikum

Well well. On good people's request I will write some news in English.
I have reached my final destination down south in Morocco after five incredible weeks in the country. My mission these days is making new friends who will bring me over the border to Mauritania. I am not shure if it was my look yesterday after the 20 hours bus ride who kept people away or if the army all around affects peoples mood but Western Sahara definitely has a different atmosphere than the rest of Morocco. People seem much more serious and do not try to get in any kind of contact with you which is definitely strange when you have got used to all the attention, good or bad. But the day today already seems brighter and even the Atlantic was calm this morning under the bright morning sun. Temperatures have also risen which is highly appreciated after som incredibly cold desert and mountain nights.
So what have I been up to the last five weeks? Roughly I met this french woman and an English guy (Sylvie and Dan) after only four days in the country and basically I haven't been travelling alone since. We rented a car for eight days and drove down south and visited the desert and the mountains. Morocco has some incredible nature but as cliché it might sound this country is definitely about the people.
After the eight day drive Sylvie went back to France but me and Dan kept on traveling together. After a practical stop in Rabat for getting my Mauritania visa we went to Essouira. A little town by the sea, known for its Gnawa music, rasta people and laid back atmosphere. We hadn't stayed for long when we met Hamid who invited us to stay in his house, a four etage riad (traditional arabic house) whith a roof terrace, he had restored himself. After two days in an hotel we moved to his house and ended up staying there for four days. We would get vegetables at the local market in the evening for a few dirham and make big Tajines "at home" (yes it is incredible how many kitchen I have made my own in Morocco and I am getting pretty expert in making tajine vegiterian). Later at night we would go listen to local live music which, to be honest, in some cases wasn't the restricted, traditional Moroccan idea, one might have before coming to Essouira. Anyhow, during these days we also met Cesar and Elea, a french couple travelling in a van, who also came and stayed with us in the house. More people such as Adil, a young guy who works for Hamid and a musician who has played with Sting at Essaouira music festival, Omar, a proud, young salesman with a big smile, who has a picture with Brad Pitt in his store and Youseff a ghembri player and a son of a respected Berber salesman, spent the evenings with us. They all had their proud story to tell but above all were amazing people to spend time with.
After endless tea drinking in Adels shop, a minimum of sightseeing at the old port and a lot of shisha smoking it was time to move on and me and Dan joyned Cesar and Elea in their van to Marrakech. We spent the first night in their van just outside the city on a ground of a french guy they had met earlyer on their travel, who was building a house there. He also had a riad inside the city we visited. We then spent two days in the city, which had much more relaxed atmosphere than expected, being one of Moroccos most visited places. But the tourist season hasn't started yet to our luck so the salesmen are at there lazyest and let you pass by almost without any hassel.
Though the city was nice we hadn't got enough of mountains yet and ended up renting a car again. This time it was just me and Dan, me being the only one with driving licens which made it an exciting mission. We drove around for four days, passed some incredible mountains and met nice people again and again. We picked Mohammed up in the middle of nowhere and gave him a ride for half an hour. He of course invited us to drink tea at his house after the ride and in the end for a cous cous and a night sleep. His wife and seven children weren't at home while we drank tea but when leaving we met his oldest doughter and his youngest three months old son, who, as many Moroccan babies has much more hair than I do and an incredible smile. We thanked for the offer but felt we had more driving to do for the day and left. We went to visit an important kasbah (mudbrick castle) and arrived late in the afternoon. At the top of the castle we met two italians and Ismahil a guy who turned out to be the cousin of the brothers we had spent five days with in the desert. We spent the night and the next day with him, called the brothers to say hi and at the end got another offer of free night sleep. Mountains called and we went driving again. We past some amazing small towns and visited some, gave old men and young boys a ride every now and then and used ouer basic arabic, which never seems to fail making people smile. We ended up in a city by the see called Agadir where we delivered the car and cought a bus the morning after. And 20 houers later we magically arrived to Dakhla in Werstern Sahara which brings me to where I started writing.
The music at the net café is getting louder and tells me it might be time to move on. Hope it gave a small idea of the first chapter of my travel. I might go and get the last tajine before I leave Morocco tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Alots of love.
Margret.

Hammam - Marokkanskt bad

Eg get sjalfsagt ekki kennt odrum um en sjalfri mer ad sogurnar safnast upp og eg veit ekki hvar eg a ad byrja. Her kemur saga ur fjollunum.
Eg var kold og med sand a milli tanna eftir 8 daga dvol i fjollunum og eydimorkinni tegar eg kom til baka til litla baejarins Moulay Idriss i nordri. Tad er nefninlega satt tad sem teir segja ad eydimerkur naetur eru kaldar og upp i Atlasfjollunum blasa sterkir vindar. Vid "'(eg, franska konan og enski strakurinn sem eg leygdi bil med) gistum aftur a heilili Hash tar sem vel var tekid a moti okkur. Tar var fullt hus af folki tvi ad heilsu Ibrahims litla turfti ju ad fagna og oll fjolskylda foreldranna voru buin ad vera i heimsokn i viku. Marokkanar eru felagslynd tjod.
Eg var sem sagt kold en felagi okkar Muhammed var med svar a reydum hondum. Eg og franska Sylvie skyldum i Hammam (marokkanskt bad). Solin var sesst tegar vid roltum yfir adaltorgid i baenum og reykur steig ut ur vetingastollunum medfram gotinni. Tad var verid ad hita kolin fyrir grill kvoldsins. Fra adaltorginu beygdum vid inn i litla gotu tar sem vid gengum medfram sulnagangi moskunnar tar til vid komum ad litilli dyr. Muhammed benti okkur a ad borga manninum fyrri utan og fara inn. Hann gat ekki fylgt okkur tvi tad var konutimi en sagdist koma til baka og gefa konunum svarta sapu og henna sem er naudsynlegt til ad vid yrdum vel hreinar. Vid gengum inn trongan gang en mattum bida augnablik tvi gomul kona sem kraup a teppinu sinu og bad, lokadi leidinni. Tegar inn var komid var dymmt og hlytt. Eg takkadi islenskri sundreynslu minni i gegnum arin tvi ad spehraedsla vaeri ekki aeskilegur fylgifiskur tegar tu hefur 7 arabiskar konur sem fylgjast spenntar med medan tu afklaedist. Marokkanar eru ekki serstaklega hledraegir. Teim fannst fyndid hvad vid vorum hvitar og hlogu tvi datt og bentu. Eftir skamma stund kom sver kona ut ur badinu og bennti mer a ad fylgja ser inn fyrir. Hun var med brjostin ber, i storri svartri brok og med sitt svart harid bundid i hnut. Hun fyllti fotur sinar af vatni i adalbrunninum, skoladi golfid og benti mer a ad setjast. Onnur kona sem var buin i badi kom med mottuna sina og lanadi mer. Su tridja stakk hofdinu inn i gat yfir brunninum og hropadi af ollum kroftum.. tja a meira vatn get eg imyndad mer. Hun settist tvi naest nidur med gleidar faetur og halladi ser ad brunninum og gerdi sig liklega til ad sludra. Tad var adeins klukkutimi eftir af konutima svo taer fimm sem eftir voru nutu tess ad hafa nog plass og rum til ad kjafta. Eg helt mer a mottunni og beid eftir ad rodin kaemi ad mer. Tegar vatnid i fotunum var tilbuid hofust kellingarnar handa vid ad smyrja okkur inn i graena drullu. Eg lokadi augunum og leyfdi konunni i storu brokinni ad skrubba mig hatt og lagt. Odru hverju bankadi hun i mig harkalegar en venjulega og tad tyddi ad eg atti ad snua mer vid eda retta ut fot eda handlegg. Hefdi eg ekki haft Sylvie mer vid hlid sem sagdi mer um hvad taer voru ad tala hefdi eg haldid ad taer vaeru ad rifast tvi ad toninn var ekki blidur. Kannski er tad takktur og harka skrubbsins sem smitast i rodd teirra eda ta er tetta bara teirra talsmati. Ad skrubbi loknu var tad eitt vist ad ef eydimerkursolin hafdi skilid eftir nokkur spor a nordlenskri hud minni var eg snuin aftur i upprunalegan lit. Sandurinn og kuldinn voru bak og burt og vid Sylvie tritludum heim a leid.
Um kvoldid vorum vid bodnar i skyrn tvi nagrannakonan Nasjia hafdi eignast barnabarn. En tad er onnur saga.
Nu er eg i Marrakech og skrifa aftur fljott.