Photo Album.

Since USB ports were nonexistent in the internet cafes I visited, I didn't have a chance to post pictures from my trip. Thankfully, my memory sticks made it back to the States without a hitch and safely onto my computer, so now I will assume the role of the recently returned and bore everyone to death with my pictures. I have restrained myself to limit the amount of picture I display in hopes that it gives a good feel of the trip without being excessive. Should you absolutely hate those people who feel the need to share their vacation photos, please don't read any further.

New favorite airline: Iberia. This picture is of in-flight screen showing the view of the plane from the tail camera. How cool is that? Sometimes people are just too, too clever. I have never seen such a thing. If you know of any other airlines who do the same, please share so I can book my future airline tickets accordingly.

I'm afraid there is nowhere left in the world to escape American homogenization. This picture was taken in Cordoba, Spain. McDonalds, more than Burger King, seemed to be the popular choice in Morocco.

I liked this strange juxtaposition of Moroccans loading their donkeys with deliveries of Coke. (Sorry for the grainy shot, I took it from a museum window.)

Selling rugs to tourists seems to be the national pastime of Morocco. Every large store has at least one floor devoted to rugs. They ply you with mint tea and very persistent salesmen (American car dealers have nothing on the rug dealers of Morocco) and I was shocked to see how many people actually purchased them to either ship or schlep back home. Here was just a small selection of the rugs for sell at one shop I visited. The colors and designs were beautiful, but if a laptop was too much for me to carry, there was no way in hell I was going to buy a rug.

Here are a couple shots from Fez. The picture on the left is of rugs hanging outside one shop along a small alley way of the Medina. I wish I had gotten some photos of the alleys, but I was concentrating too hard on not getting lost. Hidden inside the Media is the city's largest tannery, whose process involves pigeon dung. As you can see from the photo on the right, the working conditions are not ideal. After visiting a couple factories, I have a renewed appreciation for unions.

Here is the Fez skyline at night. You might be able to get a sense for why it was my favorite city. Fez is known for their ceramics with cobalt coloring. For the kiln's fire, they burn ground olive pit in addition to wood because the oil in the pits increase the heat of the fire. Consequently, the kilns produce a horrible black smoke cloud which looms over the city; you can see a bit of it along the horizon in the middle of the photo. When visiting the factory, the smoke and smell of burning pits is almost overwhelming. Unbelievably, none of the workers wear masks or any sort filter to protect their lungs.

Of course, this is QD, so I thought I would include a really cheesy Spanish/physics joke. And, no, I didn't buy the T-shirt.

This is my favorite shot. It is taken along one of the alley ways where they focus on food stuffs. Dates, nougats, fruits, vegetables and, of course, meat and poultry. Living in the States, everything is so sanitized for us -- often our fruit comes with a nice waxy sheen and our chicken is wrapped in plastic. It is nice, every once in a while, to be jarred; to leave my comfort zone and get exposure to a country and a lifestyle so different from my own. Lately, our culture has vilified "The Other" and our country is becoming more and more isolationist and inward-looking. In the end, I think we will pay a hefty price for such a myopic view of the world. Learning and experiencing extreme differences teaches us so much more about ourselves, for good and for bad, than the constant sterilized comparisons we make amongst ourselves. And, for me, nothing says "different" like five de-feathered chickens hanging upside down in a food stall somewhere in Morocco.

Comments

[Aaron]

Great pictures! ^_^

That in-flight tail shot is REALLY cool... is it just my imagination, or can you actually see the curvature of the earth? When I first saw it, I though the picture had to be a fake -- I've never been on an airplane that felt so high up! Did the view from the cabin look similar to the view from the tail camera?

I love the pictures of the tannery and the Coca-Cola donkeys -- beautiful angles and colors! The street signs have nice colors as well.

Those chickens look really good... thanks for reminding me it's time for dinner! :)

[svar]

nice photos really, and also your camera is fantastic i think.

[sam]

So are the Burger Kings in Cordoba any good?

[Gordon Stangler]

Cool pictures, and I am glad you made it back in one piece. It sounds like you had a lot of fun, and thats good. :p (We hope, right?)

Anywho, I love the tail camera from the plane. That is the coolest thing I have seen in the past four minutes. ^_^