Leaving Europe... for the weekend.

This morning I woke up at 5:15 and I'm not sure why. When I woke up, though, I heard a bunch of men singing in Arabic in the distance. In Muslim countries, men are called to the mosque to pray five times a day by a raspy horn that sounds throughout the respective city or town. I guess 5:00 AM must be one of these times, as these religious songs went on for another half hour before quickly dying out. It was very different being in a place so devoted to religion. But different is what I wanted-and expected-when I decided to visit Africa for the weekend.

Marrakesh, Morocco is a lively city in northern Africa. It's made of narrow pathways surrounded by buildings made of clay with stalls selling traditional clothing and hats and jewelry and hookah qalyans and all sorts of other interesting trinkets. One man even carved me and my friend a good luck charm out of wood with his feet and then wrote our names on it in Arabic.

Stop sign in Arabic.

At the center of Marrakesh is Djemaa el Fna, the main square. The square is always filled with activity. During the day, snake charmers control their cobras and acrobats perform stunts. At night, the food stalls open, sending smoke toward the clear, star-filled night sky as the cooks serve up chicken and beef on skewers peppered with Morocco's famous spices.

Me standing at Djemaa el Fna.

Yesterday we rode camels around a park at the edge of town. The camel was tall and the ride was bumpy, but it was a unique experience. In the park there was a pond filled with these giant fish that liked eating the bread that the locals fed them. There were also a lot of really small, cute kittens that looked hungry, so we fed them. I didn't expect cats to be part of the wildlife in Morocco!

Cat in front of a market stall at Djemaa el Fna.

One of my favorite sites on the internet, darkroastedblend.com, features a photo series called "Lords of Logistics," which shows odd, excessively elaborate solutions to seemingly simple problems such as moving large loads from one end of a less-than-developed town to another. Sometimes, in less developed areas of the world, these homemade feats of engineering are the only ways to move people and goods around. In Marrakesh, it was not uncommon for three or more people to be seen riding on one dirty, old motorcycle. Donkeys pulled carts on the exhaust-filled streets alongside the old taxis and cars. To tourists, these seem like relics leftover from an earlier time before trucks and mass transit. The people of Marrakesh, however, see these as regular means of transport.

Two people carrying a large load on a motorcycle.

I miss Marrakesh's weather. It was 75 and sunny yesterday, in sharp contrast to London's consistent 35 and overcast.

This evening I rode a bike for the first time in a month. The 'Barclay's cycle hire,' the city's bike sharing program, opened to non-UK residents on Friday. I rode under the Oxford Street Christmas lights. It was nice to feel the rush of the city from the seat of a bicycle for a change, even though it's chilly now.