–For some of you that were wondering about culinary specialties in Morocco, let me assure you that Moroccans do not eat grubs, bugs, weevils nor other sorts of such delicacies. Only poor Peace Corps Volunteers do (see September 21, 2004 entry). In Ecuador they eat gerbils. In Malawi, jerked mouse is a treat. If you want to know the ‘what Westerners consider strange’ foods of Morocco, email me and I’ll send you some special pictures.–So I talked to my dear mother this evening. She never ceases to make me laugh with her matter-of-fact humor. She’s an inspiration and a comedian all in one. I’m trying to get her to write her life story, which would definitely be a best-seller… Here’s …

I decided to make myself a lovely pasta dinner last night, it had been a while since I had prepared the quick carbfest. I decided to treat myself and make a cheesy cumin tomato sauce with garlic and olives. Yum!I boiled the pasta, prepared the sauce and sat down to feast on my exciting meal. Before I took a bite I noticed something. A few, maybe twenty, weevil were stuck to the cooked pasta. The boiling water had killed them, but I was still at a crossroad: do I eat them, or throw everything out because the sauce had already mixed with the pasta?Well, a little extra protein never hurt and by the time the sauce was well-mixed with the …

This weekend was spent in the picturesque town of Tafraout, a real-life example of the Flinstone’s Bedrock. This area of the Anti-Atlas mountains is, like most of Morocco, breathtakingly beautiful. There are literally hundreds of villages neatly perched throughout the mountainsides and valleys. The only bad part is actually getting there: the path up the single-lane cliff hugging road is very scary, especially to people like me who have had defeating bouts with falling off of high places before. [Think of me, falling, Ecuador, a volcano and a mean horse and make up your own story.]While trying to figure out the silver industry and its woes here in Guelmim, I heard a lot about a silver mine in …

I’ve recently added a few new features to my site. If you scroll down all the way to the bottom of this page, you’ll see a Kerry/Bush electorial counter provided by electoral-vote.com. Secondly, I’ve added a page called ‘morocco news’ so that you can keep abreast on news articles from around the world related to Morocco.

Hi! New camel pics have just been updated to the fotos —> Guelmim page. Enjoy!

Yesterday was my one-year anniversary of being in Morocco, so I had a little party by myself last night. I froze apple-flavored milk and ate it like ice cream and watched “Something’s Gotta Give” with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I know, I know. It was the only movie I had that hadn’t been seen yet and it wasn’t all that bad. So after I had partied out, I went to sleep.I woke up at four in the morning not feeling so great with stomach pains. I took some pepto and went back to sleep. Upon awaking, I was definitely sick. I called the nice Medical staff in Rabat and they told me what to do. It just really sucks …

Walking on the beach this morning, a wave of emotions came over me. After wading for a while in the chilly Atlantic, I walked alone on the beach. It was eerily deserted and a thick, gray fog had blanketed everything. Peering 10 meters to the left, not a soul was to been seen. Behind and right were also empty of presence. Only ocean, to my right, torrent waves, crashing breaks and salty sprays were to be smelled, seen and felt. It was cool and tranquil. Being in this place at this time on this day was like being inside your mind, only it was outside your realm.This day, three years ago, I crouched before CNN en español for hours in …

From henceforth, September 4th shall ever be International Camel Day.A male camel in Arabic is jamil (a derivation of the arabic word for beautiful, jameel) and a female camel is a naqqa (or nagga as they say here.) Ibil is the generic name for the camel, as bovine for the cow.At least for me it will be camel day: camel souq, camel milk and camel tajine. In the morning I attended the camel souq on the outskirts of Guelmim. Although I had expected a camel-filled field as far as the eye could see, I was happy with the thirty or so camel that were present. I had an in-depth discussion with one of the came herders – is that what …

I had forgotten what it feels like to wear real, toe-hiding shoes until yesterday. Because of the heat of the summer, I’ve been relinquished to wear sandals while trodding through the melt asphalt and torrid dirt streets of Guelmim. Yesterday, however, was a beautiful, cool, 35C (95F) day, so I decided to lace up the real shoes. The only thing I learned from the whole awakening was that traction really lets you go faster!In other news, I have a new email address. I’ve had my Y! account for quite a while now, and, being an early adopter and having friends like NCL, I must switch to Gmail. The new address is:joshuahaynes @ gmail . com (without spaces, of course).August is …