Marrakech

Five minutes into the old city I watched a chicken get its head chopped off. I ducked into an alleyway riad and watched the rain come down, just so excited to be in this old-world city. I left with great pottery.

I took the train up to Marrakech alone.

Terracotta pieces from a guy in the medina, plus a rug. Every mosque I saw was beautiful - the wood, the ceramic, the tiles.

I hired a guide to take me up to the blue pearl. Took pictures, met people, walked around. A beautiful blue city.

I carried the pottery and the rug through the desert on a camel, then felt too bad to ride it back, so a guy from the desert drove me in his pickup. The Bedouins took me in for lunch because I was the only one there. Later a kid named Osama took me around the dunes in a four-wheeler, middle of absolutely nowhere. Dinner in the desert, gorgeous.