Out of Africa.

Okay.  I don't like to be a party downer, but I am very glad to be leaving Morocco.  Not because it was not interesting, amazing, culturally diverse, confronting, vast and totally different, but mainly because you can't drink the water in Morocco!!!!  Last night in Tangiers, I thought I had a bottle of water in my bag and once back to the room at the end of the night, I went to find it and there was only 1cm of water in it!!!!!

Distress and a survival instinct made me drink it straight away, out of panic.  Then I realised I had to brush my teeth and then had a whole night ahead to consider!!!!!!

So..... I dry brushed my teeth.  Don't try it.  Overrated!!!!

Then I went to bed and all I could think about was water......water..... if only I had water......???

The dry brushing didn't help as I had this whole 'dthbh' thing happening each time I opened my mouth and tried to separate my tongue from my palate!  Needless to say I dreamed of walking in the desert and having socks in my mouth......  or just feeling really thirsty, which has no humour in it at all!!!!

 I went to bed, yet again so late that my body just went 'go to sleep already'!!!

Much the same as it is right now!!!!

So, if anyone says to me at the moment 'you have won an all expenses free trip to Africa' , I am going  to say 'yeah, nah......'

This is a Catch Up Kind of Post.....

Tangiers, looking North from our hotel toward Spain.

Tonight we are in the port city of Tangiers or Tangers as it is known here.  It is perched right on the Mediterranean Sea and is the place that we are to catch the ferry back to Southern Spain.  It has a kind of French flavour to it and is really rather beautiful.

I have loved Morocco.  It is such a place of contrasts and is a whole step back in time, when you look at things like the accommodation of the people, the markets, the animal welfare, the transport.  I think that Health and Safety compliance would be a nothing to them as even the doors of the buses don't actually meet in any sense of the word and we saw a door that was a chunk of welded metal that almost was the right shape for the door frame, bar a good 15cm right round.

The roads are a riot of cars, donkeys, bikes, horse drawn coaches, motorbikes (like a Honda 50 step through that Dad had when we were kids), tripod things with a ute back, pedestrians and buses.  The whole time we have been her, moving through this, we have only seen one accident and that was between two motorbikes.  I am amazed there are not more!!!!  The very skinny alleys of the market area have kids on motorbikes and bikes racing among the pedestrians and at times everyone has to get out of the way for some poor sod who is pulling a small trailer along, laden with stuff.  I even saw a trailer with wooden wheels coming up the incline in one of the alleys and everyone had to get back against the wall.  If the poor guy pulling it had had to stop for some lame arse who wouldn't get out of the way, it would have been pretty tough for him to get started again on the cobbled stones, unaided.

Yesterday we went to a traditional Berber village and into a home of one of the villagers.  Now, to be fair, I am not 100% sure it is their real house, but it was presented as such and you could go and walk around the place and have a look and then share bread and tea with the people.  It was good.... and I didn't like it, all at the same time.  The floors are earthen and the walls are adobe.  The rooms have big pillars of timber holding them up and the floor goes either with the slope of the land, or is flattened out more with a series of different depth steps.  The kitchen was well inside, with no light and the toilet was outside and was actually just a porcelain hole in the ground.

The part I found most difficult to deal with was the animals that lived under the house, in dark cellar rooms, along with all their poop and hay and animal stuff.  I could well smell them before I could find them.  In one area there were two goats and in another, a donkey that had seen MUCH better days and a cow.  I have photos, but I will have to add them later.  I could not actually work out how the animals got taken out of these rooms and out to fields or the road or whatever, but surely it is not through the house???

It would appear that dental hygiene is not high on the list of priorities, but then again, if you can't drink the water, it must be hard to do your teeth without bottled water and drinking the water is definitely out, so I guess it is a compromise.   That coupled with the chewing tobacco they eat doesn't really scream 'that Colgate smile' to me!

Okay, this sounds like a really negative post and believe me I have really loved seeing the things I have been able to see.  What Morocco has shown me is that it doesn't take the latest TV or the gadgets, or the huge house to find happiness and contentment.  Does this mean I am thinking of moving to a simpler, less comfortable life?  Hell no!!!!

I can't wait to get home and just find my normal again.  Give me my seat warming car and rugby and wine in front of the TV ANY TIME!!

I wouldn't swap our life for anything!!!!!!!!

Tick and Tick.

Right, so an update........

Casablanca- tick.

Rabat City- tick.

Feet in the Atlantic Ocean- no tick. :( The beach where we stopped is surrounded by rocks and swimming pools and the ocean was miles away with 6 000 000 people on it!!!!!

Lunch at 10.00am in Casablanca,  in the flashest McDonalds in the World  - tick.

Cold Chisel Live on the bus, loud as, through the earphones, to drown people out - tick.

Flashest room in Tangier, two storey, opening out onto the swimming pool, two bathrooms, sea views - tick.

In fact, coming back to this, I have seen smaller 'houses' for sale in that English show about buying property abroad!!!!!!


Ready to get back to Spain - tick.

High fives someone.

In the face.

With a chair..... watch this space....

The Melting Pot.

Marrakesh is amazing and so vastly different from our tiny little world in NZ.  Everyone here seems to speak languages upon languages and if they are not fluent, they can certainly make themselves understood.  This goes from the most well dressed business man, down to the lady that mans the toilet (and yes, there are ladies for whom that is their job)  French and Arabic are the official languages and I have only had one non comprehende moment, when I repeatedly said to house keeping that my room didn't need making up and she eventually seemed to understand and said something to me in Arabic, to which I nodded, more out of manner than comprehension and her and her off sider, pushed the door open, bought the cart to the door and proceeded to clean the room.  Okay!

This video is a panorama of the square at Marrakesh at about 7.00pm last night.  This square is immediately prior to the labyrinth of alleys that make up the Souq (market), with everything from gold to weaving on sale.  I cannot describe the pulse of the place which hails from Abrabic and African descent and to be honest, just about everything in between!!!!

There are a whole group of people who are making their money out of tourist taking photos,  so if something is going on with the snake charmer, or the acrobats, or the monkey handler and you happen to take a photo, the come over and give you a really hard time, until you front with some money.

From the poor old donkeys, to the horses, to the snakes and monkeys, it is seriously not a good time for animals!  There are also quite a few kids and refugees and homeless people who don't look to be having too much of a riot either.

As we were leaving this afternoon, I saw one of the monkeys bite a guy on the finger.  He was bleeding and holding his finger and the monkey man (for want of a better word) was making a get away into the crowd.  One of the bit finger guys mates gave chase and took on the Monkey Man.  There were a few heated words that I assume went ' your rather disease ridden primate has caused an injury to my associate' although he was F-ing and blazing a bit more.

The Monkey Man was not the slightest bit interested and once he had had enough of the mate complaining, he just flicked his monkey on to the complainers shoulder, which kind of ended the whole conversation as the complainer just wanted the flea infested thing off his shoulder and his mates bite became a HUGE nothing in comparison.

So.... this afternoon, we purchased some Fez hats at the markets.  Mainly because they are 'the hat' of the region.  We negotiated the price, paid and then the lady went off to get ones that weren't faded by the sun.  So......... she left her stall and we ..... waited..... and waited..... and...... waited.  She was gone AGES and at one stage, someone came to her stall and wanted to buy at hat, to which we began to negotiate prices and just had a heap of fun pretending.  Out of the woodwork came a heap of Moroccan stall holders who thought we were just as likely to run off with her produce, so we stopped being silly and just waited and ....... eventually she came back and gave us the hats with a huge smile as clearly she had ripped us and was delighted!!!!

Cathy was convinced she was just some random lady who had negotiated a price and got the money and then had just vaporised.  We have not found it to be the case that people here want to rip us.  Yes, they are looking for a windfall, but the will come down and down and if you walk away, they really come down.  We are just not use to playing that game and as Kiwi's, we just want the price tag!!!!

Anyone seen the Bat Mobile?

I know the Fez is a very old city and that what they have there has been around for a long time or at least adapted from something very old, but I think Bob Kane might have reason to take this little gem of a Bat Car to task for at the very least, this must be some sort of copyright breach or theft of intellectual property?  It hardly looks like a crime fighting  piece of modern (ish) technology does it and I hope the guy driving doesn't think he is actually Bruce Wayne.

This is just nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, narrh  not right, Batman!

Also, I have been saying Australian and one of the first voted off the bus is actually Canadian.

So the correct score is-
1 Canadian
3 American
2 Australian

.... now, for number 7 off the bus........ oh dear..... its another Australian.   Don't worry, tomorrow is another day.

The Old Medina and Jobs I'd Never Do,

 The Old Medina was build around 800 when Fez was settled as the first capital city of Morocco.  It is situated in a valley and the Medina seems to sit right in the centre of the old city.  It is an absolute step back in time and we were there early in the morning, before all the life started.

I guess the first thing you notices is it is none too pleasant on the nose.  We passed two King Bins full of rubbish and the contractors had a donkey with two side baskets, to take the rubbish away.  That is the way it has been organised!!  Looks like it might be a 24/7 kind of job to get rid of all the rubbish.  There are 1.7 million people living in a very small, very old section of what we would consider to be broken down alleyways.

UNESCO have moved in and they are repairing areas and have put in scaffolding to hold up other buildings that are likely to collapse.

nThe areas that they have done up look very nice and clean, but not any wider than the ones that have not been worked on.  It is a series of meandering alleys, doors and tiny corridors and we had to stick close to our guide because I doubt you could ever find your way back to the beginning.

The water was being taken from a well type structure that seems to refill itself from God knows where and since you can't drink it, it doesn't really matter that this guy is standing knee deep in it!!


 It is totally like stepping back into past centuries, except for up the middle of it is a bunch of pampered Westerners, complaining about the uneven ground, the donkey poo and pointing out health and safety risks.

Travelling with Americans and commonly heard phrase is 'oh my Gaard'  worse, travelling with Australians we have not noticed anything other than the facials, which don't say 'I love it'.

We found the very first Islamic University ever founded and this is in the heart of the Medina.  They opened the gate for us and we went from scum city Arizona, to a well tended, beautiful inside of the walls.  Then they shut the gates and we were back to the 1400's!

The most interesting and appalling part of the whole trip was the tannery.

We were taken into a leather shop and up a very, very narrow and low set of uneven stairs to a rooftop verandah that overlooked the tannery. The smell is something I cannot begin to explain, but imagine fermented dead things....

Each colour for the final leather is created in the earthenware vats, and each colour is made and fixed using natural ingredients with saffron for yellow, poppy for the red, coal for the black, lapis for blue etc

Down in the vats, in the fermenting dead things smell are actual people. IN the vats and handling the pelts, pulling them in and out, beating them, jumping on them, with no apparent problem with the overwhelming stench.

The tannery remains unchanged for the last 600 years, so........

I don't know what else to say. What a job!??? You must surely go home stinking like a .... fermented dead thing???? Ick.

Storks that Bring Babies

 So on top of posts, power poles, trees and transformers in this area of the world, the Storks build these enormous nests and they breed in them (obviously enough), but what amazes me is firstly the tenacity it must take to build a stick nest on top of a tiny power pole cross member and how each breeding season they build on.

I am not sure if they remain in the same nest, but some of the nests are HUGE and they drawf the power poles!!!  I keep trying to find the Grand daddy nest, but they tend to be in places that are less populated, so I am only seeing them in a drive by situation.        

 I know I am weird and I do have a thing about nests, but these are pretty cool.  How can a bird, with no hands, just claws and a beak, construct something so complicated, over 10 metres off the ground, that they would be willing to put their babies in???

They are the actual baby delivering storks, according to legend, as well!  They are huge and look like giant seagulls, only a bit more moggy and perhaps a bit thin, considering their wingspan.

They might struggle to deliver some of our less than tiny Kiwi babies.  Perhaps we might be best to stick to the more traditional delivery pattern???

The Entitlement of People!!

 The gardens of Alhambra were absolutely spectacular.  Some areas were hundreds of years old and the precision in clipping and sculpting was incredible.  I would have love to see it when the roses were fully out as there were acres of different sorts with underplanting.  To be frank, it was something to rival the Botanic Gardens, in another 1000 years!

Things are particularly well kept, clean and crisp.  The hedge plants are cut into really cool shapes and all the planting is clearly planned out as we are currently coming into spring here.


I would love to see it in its full glory, so perhaps another trip, Ian?

They don't have big signs up about staying on the footpaths, or keep out of the gardens as it is kind of a given when you have such incredible gardens that are more a work of art, than a bit of stuff that grows.

People were taking heaps of photos and lots of praise and appreciation is going on.

 Imagine my surprise to find a selfie stick wielding lady actually standing IN the garden to get a perfect shot of herself!!  Imagine my surprise when being in the garden was not enough and she had to .......

snuggle into the wall to get the flowers to spread out around her for an even better selfie.  She is STANDING ON THE IRISES!!!!!  Worse!  No one was egging her on, she was doing this for the perfect, post middle age, glamour shot!!!!

Then she moved down a couple of gardens and had another crack at it with a thornless yellow rose as her back drop!!!

Another bunch were taking selfies in the gardens, then pushed a barrier out of the way to go up some stairs to the garden above!!  I wonder if the barrier was a special part of their tour, like the secret platform 9 3/4 in Harry Potter.  Or could it be they were just ignorant??  My money is on ignorant!!!


Another example presented itself with this particularly water loving woman, who wanted a photo inside the hedge, inside the metal barrier and on the EDGE of the water feature.  I couldn't help myself starring at her, but she was oblivious to my mental messages.

Unbelievable.  We think that our parents at school are so entitled that they don't have to obey the road rules, or common courtesy, but this is next level!!!!

I really should have pushed her in!

Fez

So, I am sitting on my little deck, outside my lovely room in Fez, which is well inland in Morocco.  It is lightly raining, but the temp is pretty good.  Colder than is usual, but okay.

It has been a really long day and the longest part of it was the lead in to getting on the ferry from Spain to Morocco.  What a process and once on the ferry you have to spend your entire ride of close to an hour, lining up to get your passport stamped through a totally antiquated system of one man checks paperwork, one lady looks on, passes it back and you take it to another man, who then puts a numbered stamp in your passport.  I suspect there are refugee boats out in the Mediterranean and they don't want all the tourist to see them, so they keep us tied up inside the boat, in a line that zig zags across the whole vessel, to the 3 checkers and stampers.

Makes you appreciate how our own system is really so efficient.

Call to prayer has just sounded out across Fez.  I really like the sound of it, makes you realise you are not in NZ now, Dr. Ropata.

Morocco is an incredibly varied place from what I can see.  We have been through the towns and then on into the suburbs where life is pretty much what you would expect with high rises, heaps of aircon units and satellite dishes.  Further out, things take a different turn and the living conditions are much more like Egypt.  The stock fences are made of this huge cactus and just about everything is used for a building material, from old pallets, to wood or bamboo to make lean to huts.  The livestock looks pretty moggy and there are camels roaming the grass areas.  Not heaps, but they were there.

Much of the land seems to be in crop and the guide
 talked about how the current King has spent the last 20 years working on bringing the people Morocco wealth through trade and partnerships.  A heap of big companies such as Mercedes Benz and Hyundai have factories here, but the condition of them using the labour is that they cannot sell within the country.  Good business for Morocco if the workers come from here.

It is raining steadily now and I have to be up by 6 tomorrow and breakfasted and on the bus by 7.30, so I might go to sleep.  I am hoping tomorrow will be a really interesting day and that we get some time to just look around at our leisure. Some people on the bus need to take a chill pill.

Dinner on the Med....

 So after a tour of the very cool mountain 'village' of Mijas, just out of Costa Del Sol, we went to a seafood eatery, right on the Mediterranean to have dinner.

There were about 7 courses and most of it was fish, including the tiniest cockles I have ever seen.  In fact, you would be stopped by fisheries and fined to the eyeballs if that was what you were taking from NZ waters.  We also had some very tiny fish, kind of like a large sprat, cooked minus heads, but including tails.  Squid rings, then bits of fish, then....... two types of salad, then...... other fish...

 So toward the end we had kind of had enough, so we crossed the road and put our feet in the ocean.  Well, I put my feet in, Cathy watched and Christine plowed into the tide, only to find that the wave surge was quite strong and she should have stood back just a little more...

The wind was quite strong and as you can see from this well balance Selfie, it has blown almost all of my sad excuse for hair off my head!!!!  I look like it is shaved, which I assure you, it is not.  Cathy looks happy and relaxed and Christine,  looks like her pants are kind of wet and she is coming to terms with how that is going to work for the next hour, until we get back to the hotel and drier clothes :)

This rather cool photos below was a sand artist who had made this on the beach and had put out his busking hat and was collecting money.  I appreciate the work involved and the artist ability, so I gave him the four 20c Euro coins that I had!  Go Me!!  Getting into tipping, one tiny token at a time!

And finally, a taste of the evenings entertainment.......

If you look closely, you will notice he has no teeth.

Also, if you look closely, the lady in pink is a Trump supporter from Ohio.  She likes him, but doesn't like 'the language he uses'

Alhambra

Outside the Senate rooms.  Shades of the Taj Mahal
In the way it is balance and reflected??

So, I have totally never heard of this place and it is awesome!!!!  It is another World Heritage listed place and I can see why!  It was the last Muslim kingdom built in this part of Spain around 1200 BC and stayed in their control for 2 1/2 centuries, before being taken over by the Christians.

It has three very distinct building styles all in one and it very well preserved considering its age.  It is a bit like Machu Picchu, where there are limited numbers of people that are allowed to go through and you can only go in one directions, which a poor unfortunate German couple found out when they tried to go back past our guide.  He said to them they couldn't go back and when they argued, he said 'think about this place, don't think about yourself' which kind of put it all in a nutshell really.

Doors inside the Senate
with a distinct Middle Eastern
flavour.  Originally each gap
had coloured glass.

The Muslim part of the building has three distinct building materials, wood, tile and stucco.  They have words written the entire outline of the building, mostly God is great, there is only one God, Mohammad is the prophet etc.  They have three parts to the building, the Senate, the court house and the living quarters, which was basically a harem.

Three types of building, hundreds of years
apart.  The bit at the top is 16th century and
was to show the Royals of Spain were superior
and larger, of course!

The gardens are absolutely spectacular and cover such a large area.  There is an old wall around the whole city which was obviously used for defence, but the city is built in such a defendable place, that I think it would have been hard to have taken.

There are only 8000 people let in every year and much of it is roped off, so random people can't wander everywhere.  It is very well done and I actually bought a book, so I could read more about it and be all knowledgeable and stuff.

Holy Toledo

Today we have travelled from Madrid, through Toledo to Granada.  It has taken much of the day, but very worth it.  The really interesting part was Toledo,  another World Heritage listed place, built high on a hill top, next to a river and from at protection point of view, pretty awesome!

Some where between 59 BC and 17 AD, the small fortified village came into being.  It continued to develop and despite its great positioning, seems to have been taken over by every invading force.  Good old religion seemed to play a big part in the development of the city as well.  There are heaps of examples of Christian, Jewish, Gothic and Muslim buildings and churches have been built for each distinct group over the centuries.  In one part of the old city, there is a series of arches made, that represent three very different building styles associated with different cultures.

Apparently there are a heap of churches within a very short space in Toledo, I would like to remember the figure, but I can't.  The only thing I remember is being really surprised there were so many!  Hence Holy Toledo????

When you walk about the place, you are actually walking on Medieval paths and steps and sitting in courtyards or avenues that date back over 1000 years.  We just don't have this in NZ and I am fascinated by the ingenuity of design that can span bridges and build massive structures and arches and wells, but we don't have a solution for traffic congestion???

In Toledo, there is also the first site for steel forging.  From this site, Spanish steel was developed, forged and spread throughout the world.  We were taken to the site of a very old forge and could see how steel was heated and moulded using hammers etc.  All their knives are made from one piece of steel and are sought out across the world.

So, along with the first makers of wine and the first makers of Olive Oil, we can now add first makers of steel to the list.  Actually, I can kind of get this as they are slap bang in the way between the Middle East and Africa, so everyone had to come through their country to get somewhere else and in early times, I can imagine there was a huge amount of trade in produce and also in ideas.  There was no sea involved until you get to Gibraltar, so it must have been a massive melting pot of ideas.

The roads, however, were not designed for modern day cars and modern day cranky drivers.  So you can be wandering up a medieval street, channelling your inner peasant walking the uneven cobble stone, laid by generations of ......... folk.... and next thing, round the corner comes some Audi bastard driving way to fast and thinking he might be able to miss all the toes!!!  The roads are not car worthy and you find your self oooozzzzing back into a space between the masonry, just to have the illusion of safe!!!  There are no footpaths as the road was the footpath when it all came to be, but times change.  One thing I can say is, I would hate to be a resident and have to put up with all the comings and goings of thousands of selfie and picture taking tourists!!!!!  I saw one lady in our group taking a photo of washing hanging from a line.  Is nothing sacred????????

Very cool though!!!!  Totally different to young New Zealand and I wonder..... why can't we just get on with it?  Is our history so different when we look at all the invasions and take overs and wars and battles that occurred throughout Europe.  These people look at the different occupying forces as art forms left in infrastructure, not so us.

Okay, this post is getting into territory that is unsolvable ...... enough for tonight.

What I Really Meant to Say......

 The mocking of overseas signs has to start sooner or later!

I love this one. It is in the bus, on the door of the loo.  It is very emphatic!  The point is that there should be no smoking on the bus (obviously) but what it actually says is 'no smokers'.  That is pretty exact and I am not sure if it is against the human rights of smokers considering there are so many of them in the country!!!  Everywhere!!!  In fact today, I swear I saw a kid of about 13, walking on his way to school, fagging up quite openly!!!????  I guess he was walking because he is not allowed on the bus?

This one is on the back of the door of my motel room tonight.  Incidentally, it smells like a room that has had smokers in for years, so they could have done with the sign above!!!!!

I have a few concerns.  Firstly it was in 4 languages and I can only read one AND the Poms are not loved in Europe and this explanation kind of says 'stay inside the building and good luck'. The escape 'rout' is ___ (?) metres away on the left or the right?????  Take your pick.  Seriously??????

You identify with that flag so...........!  Enjoy.

Worse!  Just stay in your room if the building is on fire and stuff the cracks with wet clothing.  We are only on the second floor.  Surely getting out and down some stairs could be an option??  Left or right??  I have looked out the window and although it doesn't open, I could give the downpipes to the left of my window a go if I got stuck???

A Picture Tells 1000 Words......

This little beauty is a sculpture that is in one of the main roads, lying on the footpath.   I think it is in a Parnell kind of place from the look of it, although, in fairness I do not know Madrid well.

I think this should be the new art piece for beside our pool.  Not a self portrait piece of art, or anything...(if that was what you were thinking!!!!!)

You know I do like big butts and I cannot lie, so this is the one for me!  Just as an aside, is that a glass of wine in her hand......?

Weird, Weird Parade.

So we were in the centre of Madrid, as per previous post and it was around 7.30 at night and we started to notice a build up of people on the side of the roads, with cops closing off the streets, moving cones etc.  We stopped, in case something awesome was about to happen and joined the throngs of people to wait and watch...

So..... we waited and watched....... and waited....... and watched.  Somewhere on another road we could hear a band and periodically there was clapping and cheering....... then something came round the top of the street and ...... stopped.  So, just for a change..... we waited...... and watched, while the parade stopped and chatted (?????) Go figure!!!  Surely a parade is about keeping the crowd???

The parade the ensued was, I concluded, something religious and it is very likely God will smite me for my mockery, well, that is if he ever finds his blog, but I have some theories about what this parade was actually about....

1.  A local fashion house is trying to say the Black is the new Black?

2.  It is a reunion of Miss Spain contestants for the last 50 years?

3.  Proof that wearing dark colours is more slimming, regardless of age?

4.  Spanish Muslim woman protest about other possible modest dress options?

5.  The last unmarried girls get to strut there stuff in last gasp hopes?

 6.  Some Policeman's Mum said "Damn boy!  I will have a parade for my book club!!!!"

7.  In Spain, they celebrate when you have paid enough taxes to actually 'own' the road. ?

8. It is annual 'wear that weird head dress and a scarf' day?

8..........?????

World Heritage and Don Quixote.

Today we went to Segovia and I have so many photos to add, but very little internet to do it with!!!  Segovia is a World Heritage listed area and was established BC and seems to have been in everyones control at some stage over the ensuing 2000 years.  There are two parts that are immediately amazing, those being the castle and the viaduct.

The castle has so many different styles of building making it up.  My fav bits were the Gothic parts with the black slate roofs and the spires poking up.  It has been a castle, an armoury and for two centuries it was a prison.  Now it has been restored in the hope that tourism with revive the city that has dwindled since Madrid became capital of Spain and since industry moved there as well.

The second cool thing is a Aquaduct that originally went 15 miles and was made by the Romans at  some very early time.  The majority of it is under ground and made with slate rock that forms a shoot.  Once it reaches Segovia, it comes out of the ground and along the surface, until it requires significant support structures to keep the right degree to have the water flow evenly.  To this end, they have build a structure that is nearly 100m high in places and was made by slaves, very clever slaves if you ask me!  The water was then channelled into houses and the people of this area had running water so early in history, when in other areas of Spain, they were still filling from the town square in the 1950s!

There is a building created by the Knights Templar, that is a 12 sided construction and if you follow Dan Brown, this will immediately interest you!  Made completely of pre-cut stones that fit together in much the same way as the viaduct.  So very interesting!!  I have a video, but I suspect it won't load.  I will try again tomorrow at a different hotel.

...and for some reason, this photo loaded!!!!!
Don Quixote and his faithful servant Sancho Panza.

So this afternoon, we have been for a tour of Madrid, in the bus.  The best part for me was a park, close to the centre of Madrid, where there is a monument to Don Quixote, which is a book written by Miguel de Cervantes.  It was turned into a musical and the reason I even know it is that it may well be the first movie I ever went to see.  Dad took all of us and it was way to complex a story line for  little kids to understand, but it was the movies and it was Dad taking us somewhere without Mum, so both were pretty rare events, hence sticking in my head.  If you attended Dad's funeral, 'The Impossible Dream' was the music Doug aptly chose for Dad.  Cool and just goes to show how random stuff, in another country, can make you feel part of something much larger.  Thanks Dad.

We Kiwi's got off the bus in the middle of Madrid and wandered for about 3 hours.  We ate and couldn't believe how busy it was and how people really do come out at night, after sleeping all day!  One of our guides, as self confessed night owl, went to bed at 2 and met us at 7!  See Ian, I'm not so bad!!!

We finally getting back to the motel room about 8.30pm and we are off tomorrow morning.  These are long days, but very worth it!

What a Difference A Day Makes!

This morning we woke up in very cold Finland and tonight we are in very warm Spain!!!  In the middle was a 4 1/2 hour plane ride and yet the iWatch says 22893 steps and 17.24 Km walked!

I will add some photos later, but it is 11.28pm, with one hour lost between the times in the different countries and I was up at 5.30, so time for bed.

Alternative Reality Cash Flow Manipulation.

I have purchased this mirror and it is on it's way home.  I plan to put it somewhere where I can see it daily.  In this mirror, I am about 50kgs!

When in reality, I am probably, 58kgs...........(?????)

Interestingly enough, it was in the REALLY EXPENSIVE shop.

Do you think there might be some..... how do you say....alternative reality cash flow manipulation going on??

I LOVE skinny mirrors, but how far is too far?????

The National Pastime.

I am so glad that we come from a spontaneous, fun country such as New Zealand, where people don't take themselves too seriously and you can make a fool of yourself and it is not a hanging offence.  We are noisy, chatty and bustling.  We have no problems talking to random strangers or having a conversation with someone that by chance you may be standing next to, or waiting beside, or if you happen to find yourself sitting on public transport together.

As a country, we hug, touch and engage with each other in a natural way that makes our place friendly and warm.  (well not so much the hugging for me!!!????) 

That is not the case in Finland.  The people around Helsinki fail to facially engage with anyone they see.  Anyone that they don't know, I am assuming????  Although having said that, they don't seem to have a lot to say to each other as they walk down the street together either.

A street cafe,  with apparently only one outlook.
No random action here!!!!

As is the Kiwi custom, I have been greeting people with a cheery 'hello' and around 0.4%, if that, have actually replied or acknowledged it.  In the hallway of the hotel this morning, I opened the door for 2 ladies with suitcases and did the usual greeting and got........... absolutely nothing in response!  No eye contact, no half smile, nothing.  They just walked through the door I held open as if I was the paid help, who also had leprosy!

Rhoda says they might think that I want something from them.  At a random door, on the inside of a motel corridor...... are they thinking I want their spare change, or perhaps their travel socks?????

I have decided there is a very good reason that the Finnish people hold their ages well.  That reason is that they don't have to deal with laugh lines or frown lines or, actually, any expression lines at all.  I think they have a national competition going on, to use as few muscles in their face as possible.  The winner probably gets............ well....botox?????

Once, about Tuesday, I decided I was going to bring joy to Finland one 'hello' at a time and I set to work.  I have to tell you that I think I bought no joy.  Only bewildered confusion and at times panic or mental escape plans to get away from the crazy lady!  I realise that in one week, I can't change a nation, but at least I tried.

I rather enjoy being a spontaneous, rather odd Kiwi!!!!

Not so spontaneous, except this guy, who was driving along and drumming to music.
Yes, it is a left hand drive car and yes, his steering wheel was rocking it!
I'm not really sure what happened when the lights changed, though.....????

When Small is Not Good.

Our hotel is right in the heart of Helsinki and is clearly well used by business people who are working in the city.  It is beside the public transport system and close to shops and eateries.  My room is 724, and there are 10 floors, so you can work out that it is huge.

To access the floors, there are 3 lifts.  These lifts are the size of an average NZ guest bedroom wardrobe.  I kid you not.  At a squeeze you can fit 4 people in.  Hopefully those 4 people know each other before getting in, because you have no room to move and it is so tight that I wouldn’t be surprised if you could be pregnant by the ground floor, such is the togetherness!!!  

To make the space look larger, they have taken a tip from every home show in the world and added mirrors on all the walls, so you can be both squished and reflected at the same time.  Fancy!

The floor area would be lucky to be 1.5 sqm and I am looking down at my feet, leaning on the wall in this pic.

This morning I waited to try and take a photo of the tiniest lifts in the world, but mostly because it is really awkward standing so close to someone and not speaking or making eye contact (them, not me!). I am the idiot that stepped into the lift and cheerily said ‘hello’ to which there is dead Finnish silence, no eye contact and a really difficult ride down or up.  I have learned.  Now I just wait.

Choosing not to get in the lift this morning, l out waited 4 different people, pretending to check my phone etc.  Then the door opened and 3 of our group, none of them tiny were squished into the lift.  When the door opened the man that was waiting to board, walked toward the lift with his head down, then almost staggered back in shock at the amount of human flesh within the tiny cube.

One of our group saw me and said ‘come on Susannah’ and moved into non existent space, so I raced over and ooozzzzed into the lift and down we went.  I don’t stand that close to people in my own family, but there you go!  I still believe that togetherness such as that is overrated and I am pretty sure I am not going to be pregnant BUT believe me, I would be taking the stairs if the doors to the stairwells were not locked!

You can tell by the pic that it is very lucky I am the size of a will-o-whisp, because clearly there is not much room in that lift for me too!!!!!!

So the bus ride...............

Firstly, there is a very good reason that I am not a public transport native.  I live miles and miles from any form of public transport and I would have to get in my car to go to the public transport and ......well..... once you're in your car, you might as well drive where you want to go!

Secondly, my car is kind of an archeological dig.  Everything I need (or have ever needed) is buried somewhere in the layers on stuff that drives around with me.  Need a warm top...?  On the back seat.  Need a cool top...?  On the back seat.  Need a half eaten sandwich....?  On the back seat.  Need a small Somalian refugee....? On the back seat.

You get my point.

So the bus station in Helsinki is right by the train station and clearly public transport is big in Finland.  The guy organising us, came over with tickets, handed them out and delivered myself and one other to two bus stops.  Mine was 614.  He told me to tell the driver I wanted to go to International School and the driver would tell me when to get off.  Cool.  Everyone disappeared following a guide and to be fair there was rather a lot of mocking and laughing that I was alone and adrift in Helsinki and they were all going together.

So... the bus comes and I go to get on.  I follow the guy in front of me and put my ticket card onto a glowing orb.  Nothing.

I turn it over and try the other side.  Nothing.

The driver, not so impressed with the hold up, waves at a lower glowing light and taps it with rather more energy than was required.  So I put my ticket there and the light dings and I am good to go.  So I say to the driver as instructed 'I need to go to the International School' and he looks at me, grunts and waves me away, with a less than helpful expression, saying something in a language that was clearly not English.  I am so totally out of my comfort zone that my comfort zone packed up and moved to the moon without me!!!

I still do not know the suburb and the name I have for the school is KV Kuolu, so that is not going to be much help.  The piece of paper he gave me had KV Kuolu written on it, my name and the Finnish Principals name and phone number.  At least that is something.

Not one to panic, I go to a seat (have a cry).  We are driving for about 10 minutes and the bus stops for this kid that would have only been about 6 years old.  Okay, if kids can do this alone, I can do this.  The bus carries on.  Another 10 or so minutes later a Down Syndrome little girl, of around 8 hops on alone.  Surely, I can do this!!!?????!!

After a while, I figure I can tell when I am getting close, because I should be able to hook up to the area wide free internet when I actually reach the area of Vaanta.  Once that was achieved, I figured I could follow children with school bags AND if they are going to the International School, chances are they will speak English as that is the language of their tuition........ and what do you know, it worked!  First I find the Wifi, then I ask a kid and then I spot my Principal standing at the bus stop.
It was like the angels sang, I can tell you!!!!!

That was the toughest 45 minute bus ride I have ever done.  So the moral of the story is.............  nope.  Got nothing,  but I am reminded of all those motivational sayings we have plastered all over the school about not giving up and trying some thing new and persevering.

When I get back to school, I am replacing them all with stay inside your comfort zone and you don't have to lose sleep over a bus ride to a place you don't know, in a language you don't speak!!!!

The Morning Ritualistic, Yoga, Contemplative Squish-fest.

I like to have a bath in the morning and imagine my surprise at finding a bath in my room here in Helsinki.  Obviously, I have not JUST found it, it has been there since I arrived on Sunday.

So each morning I get up and as is my preference, I have a bath instead of a shower.  At home it is a long contemplative affair, with the radio going in the background and I ponder the day and get ready for the rat race.

I have a similar approach to the morning bath here, albeit about 2 hours earlier than my NZ morning bath, usually starting just after 5am (I know this will blow Ian away, such is my love of sleeping in!).

There is one major difference, I am quite a lot of girl and there is quite a lacking in bath.  I can get my feet and butt in, or I can get my shoulders and butt in, but not all at the same time.  If I lie back, I can bend my knee in the extreme to turn the tap on with my foot.  Washing my hair is an exercise in extreme yoga, that even I am proud of.  So I have taken a photo to share with you, to give you some perspective as to the size of the bath.  That is my shoe, to use for scale and you also have to keep in mind that the slope of the back of the bath is included.

Will I continue my morning ritualistic, yoga, contemplative  squish-fest?  You bet ya!!!!!!

No time and public transport.

Today has been a huge day and we have finally stopped for the day (10pm).  It must be especially tough for those of the group who did not have a stop over and have arrived late Sunday off a 23 hour flight regime and went straight into Mondays programme.

I think there is some time to have a look around the city tomorrow afternoon, but today was another school visit, followed by a very informative meeting with some officials and this evening we had dinner with the group from the Vaanta Board area.  I have not stepped into a Finnish shop or mall to look at a bit of retail therapy as it has been full on since we arrived on Sunday!!!!

Tomorrow is 'shadowing' of Principals in their schools, which will be cool EXCEPT we have to use public transport to get there. (???).

All of us, in separate directions, to different schools!!!!   This seems to be a bit of a Survivor Finland kind of move, as I am not really a public transport kind of gal..... but I will prevail!!!  I will find my way out of Helsinki and travel about 40 minutes to a place that 'looks like an English village with row housing' and my principal will be waiting at the station.  This is assuming I recognise her amongst all the white, blonde, Scandinavian looking women who might hang out on the platform.......

What could go wrong???

How many lines and directions out of the station can there possibly be??

If I get lost, at least I can ask someone.............????  In Finish....?  Not knowing where I am actually going....???

I'm going outside, on a train.  I may be some time....................................

From the Inside

Firstly we went into an English class and on the wall was a map of the world and down the bottom of this map, was a really weird looking place tucked in neatly under a weird looking Australia.  This place barely resembled somewhere I know and had a similar name....

I suppose at least the Chathamsaaret will be happy they appear to be a bit closer to Uusi Seelanti.  Another really interesting thing was that Finland had built the whole map around themselves being centre of the world.  Now I have seen this before, with other countries centring themselves, but I have never actually seen us try to do that.  Why?

Next on the wall of the school, we spotted a series of black and white framed  photographs (except for the one photograph that actually looked a bit green??) and we thought them to be a series of shots of previous Principals, all looking down in judgement of the students of today.  Each one trying to out do the other with looks of distain and loathing and general superiority.  Most had that 'I can snap you with a look!' kind of face, so I was pretty convinced I had it right (and was quietly practicing my version of the stare to start our own wall)

Imagine my surprise when it turned out the framed pictures were the countries Prime Ministers for the last little while.  I say last little while because this is an old country and surely there must be more?  ....and what about the green guy immediately before the door?  

If the look they were going for was cranky, they nailed it!  Except maybe that last guy.......?

Doha to Helsinki.

We started out this morning at 4.... which actually means I woke up every half hour from around 12.30.  We had to settle our bills and be on the shuttle to the airport by 6, so an early start it was.

Things went pretty well until we stepped outside the hotel to join the group that were also leaving for the airport and the shuttle pulled up.  To me, it appeared that the number present exceeded the natural law of available seats on a wee bus.  I expected another bus to arrive..... I was disappointed.

The driver got off and all our luggage was piled up.  We got on the bus.  Others got on the bus.  More people and their bags, got on the bus.  It was full.  THEN each of the seats in the aisle were snapped out and provided additional seating.  The Bus for 18, suddenly became a bus for 25!  It was tight and hot and cramped.  Then... this very Irish accent pops up from the very back seat "sorry folks (insert Irish lilt) I have left something very important in our room".   He had to get out!  From that back seat!

Obligingly, everyone seated up the middle isle hoped up, snapped the temporary seat back into position and proceeded to get out of the bus.  The poor Irish man was saying 'sorry' to everyone all the way out the tight, tight bus.  His wife was saying from the back seat 'oh my, he is usually so organised' and the kids adds 'what's he lost this time?'  Mum says 'oh, be quiet Brandon!'

All Mrs Browns Boys sounding!  The only thing missing was 'be fekking quiet Brandon or I'll knock your block off!' ..........biffo!

Everyone hops back into the bus only this time they are one seat further back and it is like speed dating, with a totally new person squished up against you, looking awkward and careful not to invade too much space.  I was lucky.  I went from a larger, large woman, to a tiny woman, so my speed dating was awesome!

The bus lurched along and I am pleased there wasn't a hill start in sight as that bus was chokka!

The airport was magnificent, new (like everything else) and totally over the top.  We met up with the rest of our group and the 9 of us set off for Helsinki on a 6 hour flight, that was particularly uneventful (just as well since we flew over Iraq, Iran, the Kush, Russia etc!!!).

Helsinki airport was less of a magnificent building and very totalitarian.  Function being the order of the day.  We went out and about in the city and taking into account it is Sunday (and no alcohol is sold on Sunday) it is pretty sparse of people for a capital city.

Some of us ate our evening meal in a lovely eatery and some of us ate at McDonalds.  Nothing to add there!

Today we are off to look at schools, so I have my camera loaded and ready to go.

Nearly Out.....

There is an attitude here that I cannot put my finger on.  Of course there is the very male dominated structure of society, but there is also a feeling of distain for foreigners.  In fairness, I may be confusing the women thing for the foreigners thing, but I understand now why NZ is considered to be such a friendly place, because eye contact and making way for others on the footpath is kind of a given at home.  

We were in the hotel, going down in the lift from the 7th floor and the lift stopped on the 5th floor.  Three men waited.  One hoped in and in a very English accent said 'they probably won't ride the lift with women'.  

Too bad!  Let them wait!!!   I guess they didn't want to catch 'girl germs'.

Check out this pic, you may have to zoom in, but it is a wedding reception that was in the hotel where we are staying  and in different rooms at the reception are.......... the 'Ladies' and the 'Gents'. 

The majority of the taxi drivers, however, have been awesome.  First we got a taxi from the airport to the hotel 150 Rial, then we took one to town 135 Rial, then we grabbed a cab back to the hotel 11 Rial, now we are catching the free shuttle to the airport!  They ripped us early, but we found out!!!!! (eventually) . Once we got to the 11 Rial, we discovered that the special coloured taxis were the state run taxis and everything else was just an unregulated rip, perpetrated by the hotels!

The state drivers are all imports from overseas and they take a contract with the King for two years and all cars, accommodation, airfares etc are supplied.  The contract is for 2 years and these guys leave their families to come here for work.  We had drivers from India, Uganda, Kenya etc. most had passable English and there was no requirement to speak Arabic, to come and drive taxis in Doha.  The also didn't have to be Muslim, which I found interesting, they are allowed to practice any religion here, although I didn't see any other churches.