About 90 people gather in Marrakech, Morocco at the Sofitel Hotel for J-R’s birthday. Gradually over a couple of days the group forms as people arrive from all over the world. An orientation dinner starts things off at 6:30 pm on September 18 around the pool at the Sofitel. Native music, warm breeze, relaxation, people meeting old friends, and all the Spirit you can eat. J-R and John are here, so is Fadel Gad who guided us on the PAT IV’s in Egypt. He’s our main guide in Morocco, along with other local guides including Mounia Dagdague. Everybody brings FM radios so we can hear the guides and J-R and John, we call in the Light, enjoy a huge Moroccan buffet and some orientation info; t-shirts, nametags and luggage tags are handed out, and the journey begins.

Day 2 in Morocco. Touring the old city of Marrakech. A walking tour of ancient sites, narrow winding streets with small shops, madrassas, spectacular architecture. Lunch outdoors in a beautiful Moroccan courtyard, then more touring in the afternoon.

Evening is a traditional Moroccan feast with dancers, musicians, horseback riders shooting guns, a fire-eater, and more dancers. J-R and John are with us all the way and Jsu keeps us laughing on the bus. Check out the Marrakech street life including all the stray cats that seem to be everywhere in the old city.

Day 3 in Morocco. A five-hour bus ride over the Atlas Mountains takes us to the most famous “casbah” (fortified city) in Morocco. A Moroccan lunch overlooking the casbah then back on the buses for another 5 hours back to Marrakech. A long day, lots of sleep and se’s, lovely day with our out-of-body crew sailing the ethers in the bus with just small section of rubber tire touching the ground, and the rest flying. Endless winding mountain roads, cliffs and valleys, dramatic views. We re-enter the body for occasional bathroom and snack/tea/cookie breaks, then back to the inner journey. The destination is breathtaking but time-wise is a minor part of the trip, the food is weird (some kind of scrambled egg thing that Jsu describes as “a five-hour bus drive to get some quiche”), most of these MSIA travel-veterans already know that the destination is the journey, so we, for the most part, are happy and content—maybe appearing a little crazy to the rest of the world, but we’re having a good time. Photos include highway scenes from the bus, the casbah and lunch, more countryside scenery on the way back.

Day 4 in Morocco. Another bus day riding the inner realms. We start the day leaving Marrakech for Fez, where we will hold the Founders’ Dinner Q&A for two days. On the way one of the buses breaks down–luckily at a gas station rest stop complete with small restaurant, tables and chairs. So the crew waits the two hours for the new bus to arrive. Since there’s no real destination it’s no real problem and we have a great time at the rest stop eating, schmoozing, or doing se’s on the bus. We eat a belated dinner on the way and arrive in Fez at night, either rested or exhausted depending on each person’s attitude towards the trip.

Day 5 in Fez, Morocco: We sleep late to recover from our day of sleeping on the bus. Touring in Fez starts with lunch in a spectacular, ornate restaurant. Then we hit the streets of the Medina again, a confusing maze of narrow winding roads that can only be navigated by natives. Shops, butchers, live chickens, fabrics, clothes, produce–almost anything you can buy set in crowded dirty streets, bumping up against people, making way for donkeys, motorcycles and wheelbarrows. We also tour a palace and Medursa (Koranic school) where John Morton calls in the light. The day ends with a tour of a traditional pottery manufacturer. Then we’re on our own for dinner.

A full day of touring the old city of Fez starts with more walks through the labyrinthine Medina. A visit to a leather tannery that still uses centuries-old methods is a glimpse into the past. (See the tanners in the rooftop vats of tanning fluids with a backdrop of the city behind them. We’re given mint leaves to hold to our noses to ward off the stench of the tanning.) We tour a Medursa and then eat lunch in a spectacularly beautiful courtyard restaurant that looks like something out of a story book. Moroccan musicians play and soon everyone starts dancing, and we become storybook characters ourselves in this magical space. Some late afternoon shopping takes a group of us to a rug merchant set in a palatial courtyard that used to be the home of royalty.

Day 7 – 8 in Fez is the marathon Q&A for J-R’s birthday. Set in a luxurious Moroccan-style dining area with views of the city, and punctuated by meals, entertainment by participants, and a birthday cake for J-R, this is the traditional “Founders’ Dinner” that has taken place for many years in California. This marks the end of our stay in Morocco, and from here it’s on to destinations in Europe. More photos to come from England in October.