Dispatch XXXIV

We walked out of the Rabat train station completely clueless. My Arabic consisted of phrases like Salaam, Inshallah and Yella in an Arabic speaking nation, and we had no more idea where we would be laying our heads this night than a blind man plopped in a Moroccan medina. Our cell service was non-existent, but I had preloaded a map of our route to the riad on my iPhone and it told us we were about 12 minutes away. All we had to do was get a taxi to the right hotel.

Outside the station a cluster of taxi drivers clambered up to us ready to take us anywhere we wanted to go. A small boned driver with a dark mustache elbowed his way to us. “Yella, yella!” He said. Let’s go.

“How much,” I asked, rubbing my thumb and forefinger in the universal signal of dinero.

He spoke in rapid Arabic but I thought I caught the word for eight, and I had also roughly calculated that the trip would cost about 80 dirham. So I figured this was our man.

That was my first mistake.

Dispatch XXX

Looking for a great trip to Morocco? The storied city of Fez is a must. Its ancient Medinas are among Morocco’s nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, brimming with stunning craftsmanship, architecture, some of the world’s finest food, most beautiful leather goods, and ceramics. It’s exotic locations and 1200 year history will make any Indiana Jones wannabe’s mouth water.