MARRAKECH (really Saturday)
The first thing I read this morning was that there was a large earthquake in Morocco at 11 p.m. last night which has killed 1000 people in and around Marrakech. The center of the quake was 50 miles south of Marakech. Just a year ago, in October, Susie and I drove from Essouria, Morocco, through the red rock endless stretches of desert to Marrakech spending a couple of nights along the way. Susie is here at my house spending the night and the news of the earthquake led us to talk of the wonderful time we had driving around Morocco.
We knew nothing about Morocco when we visited and during this 900 mile drive we were overwhelmed by the huge empty spaces and the red rock mountains with huge house size boulders hanging above the road, boulders which must now be blocking the roads and rescue attempts.
At the bottoms of the deep canyons were streams and flashes of greenery and red abobe villages but above on the plateau there was endless desert.
And then when we got to Marrakech, completely exhausted, within the narrow lanes of the Medina or fort we had a room off a beautiful courtyard and just down the street eat at Limones, an Italian restaurant, with lemon trees between the tables, both off a narrow street behind small doors with no indication that they were there.
We had a wonderful couple of days exploring Marrakech, the colorful market and a large garden behind a stone wall. All these memories come back and we can only imagine the pain and destruction as the masonary walls crumble and rocks slide down on villages at the bottoms of canyons.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 