took the ferry into tanger, stayed at the hotel continental. avoided the rows of hustling cabbies to get there on foot wheeling my huge assed bass drum to get there. ate fried fish from a place that was about as big as a closet. things are easier there if you speak a bit of french. took a train to marrakesh, went to the old medina, bought a pair of carcobas (sp?) which are the castanet like instruments of gnawa music. lots of mint tea & fresh squeezed o.j. , cous cous & tajine... delish. bussed down to essoirra, met some fellows who ran an instrument shop, jammed gnawa style. while playing in a park near the beach I met some a couple of berber musicians, a banjo & drum combo, they jammed with me & I figured out the tuning, a growth of style. lots of wizard robes & mysterious veiled women, pushers & peddlers, scruffy cats & crowded souks. the winding streets of the medina seem at times a labyrinth which I much prefer to the bustle of the ville nouvelle. these are some of the highlights, though it is a lot more stressful when toting a huge drum & 50lb pack with my banjo strapped on my back, sweating my way to a hectic schedule, not speaking the language, nearly being ripped off by crookey cabbies in rabat on the way to the airport in the wee hours & subequently camping out on the grounds till the place opened. all that in just less than a week.