We then took a chilly evening stroll to Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox for dinner. Our server told us the building was once a brothel. Totally cool, right? The art throughout was on the provocative side, but tasteful and cheeky. The two tiered music hall showcased the band. We were there early so we only heard the sound check, but that told us all we needed to know about the venue. We ordered the plantains, Brussels sprouts and, of course, the brothel chicken sandwich. The food was fantastic!
https://youtu.be/uF83ar44i2A
What show is on the big screen?
We decided to keep this urban safari going a bit longer, so we held off on having dessert at Ophelia’s. Instead we decided to go to VooDoo Donuts. This was a first for us. As we walked to the car there was an A-frame sign shouting pickle shots. Ah, hell yeah! The Retro Room specializes in them. They had pickle and pepper infused liquor all along the bar. This was too unique to pass by.
https://youtu.be/zAGtyrMEW2w
Would you do a pickle shot with me?
After a short detour it was time to get our VooDoo on. Oh my God! You can smell them a block away. The unique flavors were hard to choose from. But we narrowed it down to Diablos Rex, Grape Ape, Voodoo Doll, and their famous, maple bacon bar. Yum!
https://youtu.be/5_YKgCz0-bE
Voodoo was the perfect way to end this delicious Denver urban safari.
A torrential overnight rainstorm took out the internet connection at our lodge which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With nothing else to distract us, we were able to completely unplug and absorb the scenery and wildlife around us. Wow! This place is magical.
We took a hike to “the tower.“ This is a platform built high into the canopy of the forest at the top of the Kapok Tree and is a perfect location to search for birds. We brought our binoculars and our guide Paúl brought a telescope to zoom in on birds we never would have been able to see with our naked eyes. It was one of the best experiences we’ve had in a long time. We saw over 25 different species of birds including toucans, macaws, parrots and tanagers. There were even unique insects up at the top too. We really wished we had one of those massive telephoto lenses the paparazzi use to get close-up shots of these amazing creatures! We spent almost three hours in the canopy, but easily could have stayed there all day.
The tower
During our downtime, we went swimming with the piranhas. Just kidding, we went Piranha fishing off the dock in front of the lodge. We used bamboo poles with a simple chunk of meat as bait. It was fun to feel them bite at the bait, but they are very hard to catch. They nibble at the edges of the bait so setting the hook was difficult. Watch the video to see if we caught anything.
Our night activity was a canoe ride along the Garza Cocha lagoon at dusk where we spotted black cayman, squirrel monkeys, several species of heron and lots of other birds pointed out by our guides. We then docked the canoe and went on a night hike through the jungle where we navigated by flashlight through the thick vegetation-lined trail. Paúl spotted many different tree frogs, millipedes and even a few tree snakes. At one point Rex looked down and saw a huge spider perched on a leaf at thigh level right next to the trail. He called to the guides and he was instructed to not get too close. Of course, this is after I pushed in close to get a zoomed in macro photo. Paúl told us it was a wolf spider which looks similar to a tarantula, but packs a painful necrotic bite. Glad it didn’t jump on us.
MillipedeIt’s a boy!Wasp nest“Marching” wasp nestHoatzinsSnake!Tree snakeWolf spider
We fell exhausted into bed immediately after dinner and slept soundly until the howler monkeys started roaring at 3 am…
We left Morocco on Thanksgiving day and spent three days in Lisbon, Portugal before we board a cruise across the Atlantic to South America. This was our first time in Lisbon and the city has impressed us. From the mosaic tile work to the incredible architecture, Lisbon is beautiful and is already on our short list to return to when we have more time to explore all it has to offer.
Portuguese is the national language, which is completely different from Spanish, even though there are some overlapping words. Luckily for us, English is widely spoken here or we may be completely lost.
Four Hour Tour
We took a four hour guided tuk-tuk tour of the city which gave us a great overview of the various neighborhoods and landmarks. Our driver was very informative and we learned quite a bit about Lisbon in a short amount of time.
Port
And of course, we couldn’t leave Portugal without partaking in one of our favorite adult beverages which Portugal is famous for – port. A sweet, fortified wine, port is a perfect after dinner drink. We enjoyed a tasting flight of 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, and 50-year tawny port at Taylor Fladgate, a leading producer of port wine, which you can find in fine restaurants and liquor stores in the US and around the world.
Portugal has so much more to offer than just Lisbon, and after our short time here, we can’t wait to return.
Tour guide, RubenMosaic sidewalksChristmas decorations Monument to the Discoveries
It’s been an educational 15 days for us in Morocco. We learned a great deal about Moroccan people and their culture. Most you will find in our earlier posts, but here are some extra tidbits we didn’t manage to fit into the other posts and thought you might find interesting.
Overall Assessment
Morocco is a very friendly and welcoming country to all. We encountered many different races and religions here, all living peacefully together. We felt safe the entire time we were in Morocco. We would definitely come back to here someday.
Quick Facts
Morocco is a small country in comparison to the US. It is 110% the size of California. You can find more fun facts here.
To Cover or Not to Cover…
In the larger cities you will see a variety of clothing. Some Muslim women choose to fully cover themselves from head to toe while others choose to only partially cover with a simple scarf over their heads. However, the strict adherence to the conservative dress is lessening. Tourists can wear whatever they like, within reason. Of course, just like anywhere, you may receive stares or comments based on how much you are choosing to show. Modesty and respect are important no matter where in the world you are traveling. For more about the covering and the hijab click here.
Muslims are called to prayer five times a day and this call is made live by the muezzin from the tower of the mosque. In Marrakech the call could be heard throughout the old city (medina). We only saw a few locals stop to pray when called, but it likely occurred in the mosque or in private for those not supporting tourism. Several public places such as restaurants and airports had prayer areas which we weren’t permitted in.
Cash is King in Morocco
Nearly every monetary transaction was expected in cash which was a difficult transition for us. We are used to using credit cards for everything but that was not possible here. Some hotels or fancier restaurants accepted cards, but most did not. This meant frequent trips to the ATM to withdrawal cash in $2,000-dirham ($200) increments. Tracking cash expenses is much harder and exponentially more frustrating than it is for credit cards.
Tip for Everything
Tips are expected everywhere and for everything. Since it isn’t expensive in Morocco and they expect only about 10% of the service they’ve provided it isn’t too bad. The hardest part is trying to keep smaller bills and coins on you. You don’t want to carry around 5 pounds of coins in your pocket, but you also don’t want to get stuck with only 200 dirham bills when you’re trying to just use the toilet (which they expect you to tip for after each use). Tips are expected for any form of assistance such as getting directions because you’re lost (personal experience) so it can add up. Also, it is good to remember not all Moroccans are helpful from the goodness of their hearts. They expect a little something in return.
Photography
In Morocco and other Muslim countries, it is important to ask permission when taking someone’s photo or video. This is because in the Muslim faith many believe it is against Allah’s teaching to capture a likeness of a living being. We asked permission of many for the images we used in our Moroccan blog posts. We were told no or asked to not take photos on a few locations. In the market once when I was shooting a short video with the seller’s permission, a covered woman’s escort came behind me, tapped me on the shoulder and pushed my phone down, then scolded me in Arabic. I respected the culture and stopped recording until the covered woman left. I still find myself questioning why a photo of a covered woman would be bad? It’s not like I am able to actually see her. The camera isn’t capturing her at all really. She is covered after all.
Consuming Alcohol
Be ready to sober up! Alcohol is not consumed very much in Morocco. If you need a glass of wine with dinner, you need to check the menus to make sure it is served before sitting. Otherwise, you may be disappointed. Morocco does craft its own beer, wine and spirits. However, since it is illegal to drink where you can be seen from outside and most Muslims don’t partake, this drives up the cost per drink substantially. For example, a cheap bottle of local red wine would cost you $35 at a restaurant. A glass of the same might be $9 which is on par, but the pour is only 4 ounces. The liver needed a detox anyway.
Getting Around
Google maps worked great in the newer parts of the city and to drive between cities on the main highways. However you can’t trust it in the medinas. The tight streets and high walls make it difficult for the satellite to find you which led to several frustrating U-turns and unkind words directed to our phones.
Language
Language was quite the barrier for us in Morocco. Arabic is the primary language, but many also spoke French. We speak neither. So, we hired English speaking guides to accompany us as we journeyed to several places within Morocco. They were a wealth of knowledge and created experiences we would not have been able to create on our own. Here are some key words to know when in Morocco, spelled out phonetically..
English
Arabic
French
Please
Min fad lee ka
See voo play
Thank you
Shoe kran
Merci
Yes
Nam
We
No
La
Non
I’m sorry
Ana ass ah fun
Jay swee day zo lay
Excuse me
Af wan
Pardon
If we have missed anything you are curious about, please let us know in the comments and we will respond as quickly as we can.
We screwed up and miscalculated our Schengen Area time limit, but caught our mistake just in the nick of time.
You see, there is a rule in Europe, specifically in the countries making up the Schengen Area, which allows tourists to visit anywhere within the “area” for 90 days out of every 180 without a formal travel visa. Most travelers on vacation don’t run into any problems with this, but long-term travelers can if they are not careful.
Source: Wikipedia
We had planned our time in Spain and Portugal with this in mind. We arrived in Madrid on September 2 and would be leaving Lisbon via cruise ship on November 27. This meant we would be in the Schengen Area for 87 days, 3 days under the limit. Everything was planned to line up perfectly.
About 60 days into our trip it hit us. The “clock” stops only when your passport is stamped into a country outside the Schengen Area. Because we are cruising out of the area and there is no exit stamp when you leave a country, we will be over our limit by about 11 days. Our passports would not be stamped until our cruise arrived in Brazil. By going over, we could face hefty fines or be denied reentry back into the area the next time we visit Europe. That’s not good!
So, what can we do?
We talked through about a dozen possible solutions and the quickest, easiest and least expensive option was to skip the time we were going to spend after the Camino touring southern Spain and Portugal and fly to a country outside the Schengen Area instead, thus buying back the days we need for the cruise.
It’s a bit of a convoluted mess, but we’re flexible and open to new experiences. We spent a few hours researching and booking accommodations at our chosen destination and then let out a big sigh of relief knowing we’d avoided what could have been a huge problem for us when we planned to return to Europe next summer.
We knew this nomadic lifestyle would come with challenges. Hopefully we successfully passed our first test!
