Friday, July 30, 2010

Morocco

three of seven waterfalls we saw in ourika.

look close..its a wild monkey! we saw tons of them..so fun to see them not in a zoo.

this morning i awoke to wonderful breeze and the smell of fresh cooked bread. it was the first cool..cool meaning not sweltering..night we have had in marrakech and i slept like a rock. When i felt tony blowing on my back and legs i figured he was being sweet keeping me cooled off like he does often. i opened my eyes to see that a chimney sweep had replaced my husband. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!





our view of the mosque from our roof where we pay a whopping total of 8 bucks a night. which is the reason we woke up black with soot. a nearby bread factory had been puffing its smoke stacks all night and it all dumped right onto us. and everything we own.



houssain, our new friend, took us home to mom and pops where we got to eat real home made moroccan food five times a day, see the chickens, donkeys, roosters, turkeys, sheep, goats and family cow. this was true hospitality, they didnt expect anything in return and were not at work getting paid for their services. this is the visceral moments for which we search and such a wonderful experience.


this henna process took four hours total. i had to use the restroom the entire time..but i couldnt move from this spot because it was on my hands and bottoms of my feet.



our friends we met who fed us free tagine.



my boyscout making our fire where we slept for a few nights.






mr. dung.



hiking around in Ourika.






Ourika waterfalls







the picture that cost me a bruising pinch on the arm..he wanted money for taking the picture. it wasnt even a good picture. did i pay him? heck no, not after he grabbed me. tony got inbetween us while i got away and told the mean man just where he would kick if he ever touched his wife again. we need to learn that phrase in arabic.





this one i snuck. without a pinch.




real alive snake charmers!

Pamplona

bummer.

the taunt after the run. if you run the entire way you end up in the arena and get to dance with the bulls. their horns are plugged at this point and they let them out one by one. some of the guys even line up in front of the gate, get on their knees and let the bull trample them as he enters the arena in a mad rampage.


gramma berries! but i just learned that her tree died so im glad we found these..a taste of kentucky.

laundry day in the park.

our first blessings after a dirty deed. we got our bags out of consignment for free..supposed to be 20euro.. and a 5euro donation, from patrick..a boy we didnt even know. the papers are the police reports for the stolen wallet.

tonys mad scientist getup that we found on the ground. you get talked about in the newspaper if you dont follow tradition and wear white or red.

my beautiful dangerous wife, right after our second run.

nervous/giddy/tired/nervous right before the first run. we had noooooo idea what to expect.


our spaniards with whom we went through a crazy mess trying to catch a plane after three late trains and a very expensive taxi ride. we made the plane just in time after jumping the check in line AND security line...only to find out that it had been delayed by two hours anyway.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Barcelona, Spain

i know we told you to follow us on the blog.. i really am trying to catch up, but germany is the only chance we get to be at a computer for an extended period of time. so here are a few pictures to look at, sans captions. they will come later when we have the time again. all of our loves! Goudy architecture.

No privacy at all.

Johnny Depp and i had a moment. He even tried to get me to kiss him. I told him i was married, though.

Prosciutto. These ran for about $100.

More street performers...doing flips over people.

The lady with whom we stayed in Barcelona was from the Congo. She made us amazing food like "fou-fou" and fried fish heads. For breakfast.

You dont even realize that there are mountains in the city because the buildings are so big. It was great to walk up to see this view of the whole city.

They look like ginger bread houses! i wanted to lick them.

Vickie and Madeline, who took a liking to tony, and loved that his hair was "Bonito". They spoke French, Spanish and Swahili.


Yet another Arc de Triumph. Three down, how many more to go?

Cartagena, Spain

We got ontop of someones roof to check out the view of what everyone else was paying for.

a beautiful P-Fowl we found bleeding from a fight. Saddest thing ever. hopefully the cops we called did something about it.

The bull ring.

From the ship. Last stop before they kick us off in Barcelona.

Malaga, Spain

topless beach. Other pictures not shown ;)

Walls are what block the cool stuff. They cant stop us.

see?

These are the kind of things you find. Alcazaba - the castle on top of a fortress.
From the old city walls.

a Muslim guard tower.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

On the Road Again

After 18 months of living and working in Austin, we finally get to get back out on the road again. We have very much enjoyed being around Tony's family with BBQs, birthdays, softball, weddings, lake trips, darling babies, etc...but it's sure nice to see "I Heart (fill in the blank with current country/city)" shirts instead of the ever getting old "Keep Austin Weird" shirts. Thanks to everyone who made our trip possible, especially Tim, who's generosity never ceases to amaze.

Tony in the lead, followed by me in the Kia, fighting the rain to get to Galviston, where the cruise ship would be leaving in 3 hours. We were just barely on time so we didn't get our head start in the buffet line, but don't worry; we did end up getting our moneys worth of food over the next 14 days.


Pulling up to the Bahamas at sunrise. I think we left the camera on the boat because we only have video, no pictures, of Nassau. But the island was beautiful as we rode on a scooter the entire way around. We also ate the meat and spinal cord of a giant Conch right out of the shell from some sweet man (who also handed me an odd shaped piece of the sea creature and informed me that it was his "Doggie"... "his what?" ... "his doggie.." and then smacked his hand on the table in a fit of laughter, splattering fish guts all over my face. oh.)


Tony giving high fives to the excited school kids of the Azores, an island off of Portugal made up of volcanoes with lakes in them. We thought we could get by using our spanish, but we found out otherwise after the first ten minutes off the boat. These kids had 90 minutes for their lunchbreak and spent it with us showing off their english, bad words and all.


"Birds of Paradise" a flower we were admiring when a local came up to us and told us to take the seed out to keep. When she got back on her cell phone she told her friend in Portugese "just talking to some tourists"


The cute little girl who shared her raw corn with us to feed the pigeons. Then grabbed one from the tail, picked it up and handed it to Tony. We were more entertaining to her than the birds.



They were setting up for a festival in that plaza that we were just missing by a few days. It was raining a bit, which just made the green hills that much more beautiful. A man gave us a ride in a car that didn't even fit Tony alone. We found out he was a contractor and was working for the mayor. "Actually im not supposed to have anyone in this car because it's his car, so you'll have to get out here. The cops are down the street."



The old fortress that we do not know loads about. We keep writing things down that we would like to look up and research, but as you can tell by our lack of updating, we don't get online much.


The cathedral on the hill where two ladies from our cruise asked me to take a picture of them. "sure, what do you want in the backround?" meaning do you want most of the church or the entire thing... "we want the ship in the back!" sure thing..whatever floats your boat.



Waving goodbye to the rolling hills of the Azores. They really were green, i promise. Next stop: Spain.

Followers