from chaouen David and I parted, I wanted to try to get to Larache, a small town on the northwestern coast with a beach (still looking for sun) and had to change buses in tangier to do so. I encounter two very strange romanians and have dinner with them and a moroccan guy we meet. Larache, on first glance, looks very destroyed. Not destroyed like crumbling stone walls and antique-ish peeling paint...no, more like "aftermath of war". I have a hard time understanding why this town in on the map, much less in my lonely planet guidebook with a complete description. Maybe it's a different place in summer and spring. There are some places with the blue painted walls and charming fishing harbor atmosphere, but the other areas are just broken concrete, broken doors, dirt roads that are muddy and covered with litter (I could go on and on about waste management and globalization and development, nonreusable garbage as a pseudo-western concept, garbage practices (production of, composition of, and disposal of) but i wont.) One of the Romanians haggled down the price of my single hotel room from 50 Dh to 35 DH, about 4 USD, which is officially the cheapest I have paid for a hotel room in this country. (no comment on the standard of cleanliness or comfort--my own standards are pretty low, so you can use your imagination) I went for a run here on the outskirts of town are these huge half-constructed concrete and brick buildings that look like the skeletons of what could be a nice apartments but are really slum-like. they are in the middle of this large open area of brownness covered with litter, sheep, and dogs. there is a lot of this half-construction here. someone told me it is because the construction is illegal, not because they began a housing project that ran out of money. i'd be interested to see inside.



some friends in ithaca put me in contact with some people here in rabat, and i met up with them here. One, sanaa, took me all around the capital city of Rabat, to the different attraction sites--roman ruins, a mausoleum, an craft market area, etc. i stayed with her family for two nights, where her 7 yr old niece just fell in love with me. very cute.

I am still in the vicinity of Rabat, but I left Sanaa to meet up with some others. Abdelghani met with me for tea then brought me to his neighborhood of Karia, just outside Rabat. I am currently staying at the home of another friend, who lives just down the street of Abdelghani, named Mohammed. Hospitality in this place is just unbelievable. They are just so giving of their time, their home, their families, it's an incredibly warm atmosphere. Mohammed's parents and brothers and sister are so welcoming, and inviting. There's been a lot going on in the last few days...mostly eating. Everytime I try to put my hand down to stop eating, someone is there to tell me to "kulee, kulee" (eat, eat) I've never eaten so much in my life. They've introduced me to so many people here, I will be very sad to leave Karia when I do. Mostlyit's the atmosphereand conversations that I love, but we've done some really fun things too. Abdelghani, Mohamed, Mourad and I went to Souq al-Khamis, a weekly market where you can find anything under the sun. I learned about some different produce and about the marks of a good sheep (when selecting for slaughter). There was a gigantic section justfor animal slaughter and butchers (cow goat and sheep from what icould see) filled with knife-wielding men, bloodycountertops, red puddles covering the wet dirt and everywhere remnants of horns and heads. (to be continued)