Everyones Smoking Moroc-cones

Hello Hello,

Again, its been a while and i seem to like typing more and more so im sure i am going to start loosing a few of you. but i like typing lots so the rest of you will have to deal with it

Ok, so we are back in Meknes. It was really good with my new lease on life of getting the local price and being more polite. it has been working well and Meknes was great. A very imperial city with lots of castle like walls everywhere! very cool. We slept on the roof on the ground which is great and cheap. the stars are amazing to look up on and fall asleep to. so we woke up and decided to hit some ruins out of town. We walked to the taxi stop and were offered a tour for 300dh to take us there and back. we decided to opt for the 10dh taxi to a town close to the ruins. it was 4.5 kms from this town but before we got there i spotted the turn off and it said 3kms to the ruins. we jumped out there saving ourselves 1.5kms walk.

Strippin off our shirts in the strong country sun every car tooted their horns at us as james and i sunscreened. it continued as we walked with people hanging out of cars and yelling things. all friendly though. some wolf whistles and stuff. I spose it would look funny. two white boys in the middle of nowhere walking in the hottest part of a hot day without shirts on and big smiles on their faces waving at cars. a car pulled over about half way and gave us a lift. he wouldnt take the payment i offered (money, i saw your sick minds going somewhere else) and we were there.

Volubilis. Awesome roman style ruins built in 200AD and some parts of it were earlier. so i probably dont need to mention it could use a bit of work. hehe, it was rubble but awesome. there were aquaducts and all mills with all sorts of other cool houses fountains and ruins. big arches were the grandest pieces and i would have really liked to see a model or image of what i had been like in its time.

Afterwards an Italian guy approached us and we shared a taxi back to Meknes. Chilled away a day and met up with some other Aussies. One from Frankston (James) and one from Ascot Vale (Gill) but the both live in London now. Weve been hanging with them ever since.

Another night on the terrace before hammering across on the train to Fes. Fes is huge and pretty damn amazing. the medina (marketplace) is the biggest in the world with 900 streets and 13 big gates (or something likfe that). it was nuts. we wandered all around it before climbing a big hill to a mausoleum on top. here we looked down on the town and took photos. We also found the Kasbah which was supposed to be big and awesome. it was a fair bit short of that. i tried to rock it but only succeeded slightly. I will try to rock the next one harder!

So after a big day we hit some bars for some brewskis! a wicked hotel with a pool admitted us in our dirty wifebeaters and thongs and we downed a few cold ones before headin toward Riad Fes. Apprently the classiest place for a drink in town. GOD it was all that and more. water features, themed rooms, complimentry olives (and pickles and nuts) that never ran out and great apple tobacco in sheesha pipes. easily the nicest place i have ever been for a drink and we had a great time.

Stumbling home i passed out on the roof again. we have been sleeping on the roof for over a week now. The next morning we hit the tanneries to see how they make all the leather. Its a dangerous job as they work with lots of lime and other things that burn the eyes and skin. i got some great photos but the place stank like mad! hard on a quesy stomach! Ive actually mixed it up and all that took two days with us hitting Riad Fes again in that time. so 2 nights on the fes rooftop terrace.

Then it was time to bust off to Chefchouen. the Marijuana capital of the world. apparently all the best weed and hash you find in Amsterdam comes from here and they also supply all of morocco and southern europe! its all still illegal but the beauty of africa is that it is africa and everyone can be bribed. The city is amazing though. so chilled out and entirely painted blue. heaps of cool stuff and lots of hippies. a great place to relax i think. Soon we are planning to do a tour of the weed fields and learn how to make our own hash. haha, vital world skills. it should be fun though and like the cocaine museum in bolivia, very interesting. So anyway we rolled into town last night and everyone we have seen has tried to sell us hash. it really is beautiful here and the rooftop we slept on last night the best yet. actual matresses (although thin) certainly do take the edge off the hard concrete. Although i must admit my back has been feeling pretty damn good this last week.

Especially since this morning i was waiting for a shower and it was taking to long. Me and Frankston James decided to hit the Hammam (public baths) for a shower and a massage. for 6 euro we were scrubbed and rubbed from top to bottom by a little man with a moustache. he was awesome! i am white again. turns out i didnt even have a tanm i was just dirty. a shave (dont worry, just my neck, that beard aint going anywhere) and an orange juice to finish and i was a new man. really awesome! he even washed my hair and beard.

So that is where you find me. clean and relaxed in a blue town waiting for the hash tour to start and killing time.

As per usual i would love to hear from you all and what you are up to. and i miss you all so much.

Lots of Love
Hutch