Yesterday we decided to drive south along the coast for about 1.5 hours to the town of El Jadida. It too has a world heritage site, the Portugese Cistern (see below), which the kids enjoyed seeing. After touring an interesting old Portugese fort, checking out an art exhibit, and grabbing a bite to eat, we changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach.

This is our first time going swimming in Morocco.  While the water is not nearly as warm as El Salvador, the temperature was okay after a few minutes of adjusting.  Joseph didn’t stay in the ocean for very long - he started shivering pretty quickly.  However, Erik enjoyed running in the waves and swimming with his dad for as long as possible. We of course made a sand castle, which a big wave promptly knocked over. We only stayed at the beach for about an hour and a half, but the kids were pretty tired after seeing the fort before.

Overall, this was a great day trip, and the architecture, history, and welcoming water would make this a great visit to do again.

The underground cistern. The bottom image is actually a reflection in the water.

Erik sitting on top of one of the fort’s high points

Ready, set, aim, fire!!

Erik running in the waves

Building sand castles

This morning we went to the Chellah in Rabat, which is an interesting combination of Roman and 14th century Merinid ruins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah).  It is basically a large enclosed area that has a couple different sights like an old mosque, madrassa, gardens, and most interestingly over 450 storks and other birds living all over the place.  Of course Erik and Joseph had a great time climbing through the ruins and chasing butterflies.

While somewhat hard to see in this photo, all the white dots in the background are actually birds.

Kids playing around

A sample of some of the roman ruins

A fun view of the old mosque (notice the stork’s nest on the minnaret)

On the second day of our trip, we thought it made sense to visit the imperial city of Fes, which was unlike any other city that we have seen so far in Morocco.  The city is split into several parts, but our favorite section would have to be the old medina, which is basically a minature labyrinth of shops, riads/hotels, houses, and anything else you can imagine. According to our guide, over 400,000 people call the medina home, and we can certainly understand why so many tourists get lost once inside.

Panoramic view of the medina (click image to enlarge)

These are the tanning pots, which are used to dye all kinds of animal skins various colors.

Just a really cool door from the King’s palace

One of the many beautiful aspects of Morocco is the detailed handicrafts.  The amazing mosaics created in Fes are some of Morocco’s finest. Below are a series of images that show how clay and water transforms into works of art.

Raw clay from the nearby mountains

Mixed with water

Spun by hand (well, and foot too) into various items

Baked using olive pits twice - first to set the shape, and secondly once the color and glaze has been applied

These are some sample tiles that will then be broken into mosaic tiles. The nearest stack has not had the color yet applied.

Artisans break the tiles into smaller, uniform shapes

Using molds, or outlines on the floor the bits are assembled upside down in basically a giant jigsaw puzzle

Some cement is applied, which then is left to harden

Once dried, the finished product is polished and ready for use 

After seeing the ruins at Volubilis, we headed towards Meknes, one of Morocco’s four imperial cities.

My favorite photo from our trip, which shows Chris and Joseph outside one of the gates leading into Meknes.

The famous Bab Mansour, the largest gate in Morocco, which is opened on special occasions.

An inside view of Moulay Idriss’ underground prison.

Breakfast in the riad where we stayed - for $80 it was not only a great deal, but also the ambiance couldn’t be beat.

For the long weekend we thought it made sense to get out of town.  Not having been to Fes, which everyone raves about, we decided to head out towards Volubilis, an ancient Roman ruin site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volubilis), spend some time in Meknes, and then head onward to our final destination.  As you can seen by the photos below, the kids had a great time climbing all over the ruins, with Joseph and Erik running between the old houses and columns.  We had no idea of the size of the area, and it’s easy to understand why the guidebooks say to plan several hours to tour around.

A panoramic view of the city (click image for a larger view)

Erik striking a pose. Notice the stork in the background

Erik and Joseph exploring around

I went with Norma to her last doctor’s appointment, and he confirmed that we will be having another boy.  While we were kind of hoping for a little girl, we are very happy that both baby and mom are doing well. We’re over the half-way mark, so in another four months or so we look forward to welcoming the newest addition to our family.

New baby Bergaust

So, I figured that it was a good idea to water our lawn, and because the weather is starting to warm up that the kids would enjoy playing around a little bit. Little did I know that two little boys would soon be teaming up against me.

The Director General of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Harry Thomas, came to Casablanca about two weeks ago.  He is in charge of the Bureau of Human Resources, and is also my A-100 class mentor.  I thought that this was a pretty good photo of all the people that I work with.

U.S. Consulate General Casablanca Staff

Erik has been going to a local French preschool, which he enjoys most days.  A few weeks ago they took a fieldtrip to a local equestrian club, and below is one of the photos of him.  He was really excited to visit and was even more excited to tell us all about his trip.  Erik rode on some large coaster buses and got to hand out with his friends and see lots of fun animals including goats, sheep, and of course, horses.