Every time we made our way to the central medina of Marrakech, we would pass a small woodcarving shop. This isn’t your ordinary wood carving shop, rather an out of the ordinary foot carving emporium. What do I mean when I say foot carving, well it’s kind of hard to put into words…

The artist was there everyday, making various trinkets with his unique foot carving technique.

As you can see your foot is operating a carving tool, while your right arm is manually rotating  the wood with some sort of bow, offering the possible shapes you can achieve while throwing a pot.

You are probably wondering where is the action or where is the humor, well here it is….the Sharples kids took this whole foot carving thing into their own hands…I mean feet!

I was up first. I sat on the small operating stool for the advanced contraption, and as Cari would say, my “nervous face” kicked into gear. The owner of the shop practically squeezed me into the necessary position and I tried to hold it for as long as possible, until he readjusted my mistake. He handed me the bow and the carving tool. He showed me the position and I started cranking.

Getting ready.

Getting the hang of it.

Right away, the piece of wood I was presumed to be carving fell off the wood spinner – I most likely had my left foot off a millimeter or two. After many minuets of struggling, the shop owner noticed after a career of doing this, that carving with your feet is tedious, and took pity on me. He helped me place the carving tool while I repeatedly pumped the bow back and fourth. After my arm was ready to burn into a pile of ashes, my amazing piece of art work was finished.

This is the piece I completed!

I compared the one that he gave me as a gift and the one I made – the moral of the story is: Woh, It’ll take way more than one lesson to not make your wood carving not look like it was a stick chewed by your dog, with a crooked pattern.

After my turn, Yve was up!

Then Wescott…

Then Tuck….Jones bailed on us and went back to the Riad

The artist took all of our wood pieces and finished them into chess pieces for a complete chess game. PopPop loves wood carving so he stuck around in awe of the artist’s precision and speed. PopPop, are you going to try some foot carving in Mattapoisett?

The garden is beautifully colored with cobalt blue, and that is where the color Majorelle Blue was born (even PopPop snagged some Majorelle blue coloring from a local herbalist in Marrakech.)  During our visit we learned that Yves Saint Laurent and his partner bought Majorelle gardens in 1980, but kept it open to the public. When Yves died, his ashes were scattered throughout the garden.

Yves Saint Laurent’s house in the middle of the garden.

That classic Majorelle blue.

We have tried to post pics and videos of our more interesting accommodations but some folks have asked for details so we thought we should award a “BEST” to each place and also send direct links in case anyone wants to bookmark them.

Our goal on this trip has been to stay at least a week but preferably 2-3 weeks in each place. Our philosophy on accommodations has been to try and stay in apartments or houses when possible. It is more affordable and gives us a better feel for the culture and community. We can cook for ourselves, seek out the best bakery and grocery shop and tackle laundry like the locals

 *****

Florence, Italy

AWARD: Most Colorful Neighbor

View from our balcony in Florence.

We wrote about “cranky lady” in our blog but this really was a great neighborhood apartment. Three bedrooms, great proximity to all the sites and good value! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/933558

 *****

Oia, Santorini, Greece

AWARD: Best Sea View

When we got up in the morning for coffee, this was the view from the table!

It is hard for me to be objective, because Oia is still one of my favorite places on earth. Staying in a cave house was a dream of mine, so Lydia House was a dream come true! Definitely one of our splurge accommodations but worth every cent and comfortably fit all of us! Plus Manos, the owner, is so gracious and made our stay unforgettable! http://www.vrbo.com/357131

 *****

Athens, Greece

AWARD: Best Amenities For Free

We had a peek-a-boo view of the Acropolis from our balcony!

We picked AVA Hotel from TripAdvisor and we weren’t disappointed! Great location and great service.  Free breakfast, free candy, free movies, free slippers, etc. Definitely a good value for Athens. http://www.avahotel.gr

 *****

Pitsidia, Crete

AWARD: Best Place For Insanity

Wescott rates all accommodations on whether or not it has enough room to do the Insanity Workout indoors…our Villa Potamis in Pitsidia was very spacious and perfect….it also had a pool! Great kitchen too. It was a little too far from Matala but if you want to be off the beaten path, it is a great house for your $$! http://www.vacation-apartments.com/11533.htm

 *****

Barcelona, Spain

AWARD: Best Location

Tons of cool street art in our neighborhood in Barcelona!

Our Barcelona 4th floor walk up apt in the Barri Gotic district was so ubercool we felt like hipper humans simply walking in the front door. The neighborhood was unbeatable with El Salon, one of the best restaurants we have discovered on the whole trip, right across the alleyway…Laura Kelso, you would love it!! http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p970965?flspusage=fl

 *****

Seville, Spain

AWARD: Best Piazza & Worst Wifi

Tuck in courtyard of our apartment, eating a donut and looking for the resident Turtle (Tortuga)

We don’t want to make a habit out of awarding “worsts” but we had to do it here. The apartment was dynamite with a terrific roof deck and adjacent to a quaint piazza with several good restaurants. But the Santa Cruz neighborhood, while ground zero cool in terms of its location next to the cathedral, was also the worst part of the city for wifi. It was so bad we had to get an extra room 10 blocks away at a hostel just to do email and Skype calls….!!! http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p1004734

*****

Lisbon, Portugal

AWARD: Best Interior Decor

A machine gun box is in the hallway…the twins used it as a shoe holder

Our apartment in Lisbon was a three bedroom centrally located in the city.  But the best part was the decor! Frederico, the owner, is an interior designer and has created a uniquely eclectic vibe with use of local artists pieces mixed with antiques. It is awesome! We actually had the pleasure of staying in 2 of Frederico’s apartments because our stay in a Lisbon was extended and they were both amazing! Apt1:  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/991682 Apt2: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/823181

 *****

Marrakech, Morocco

AWARD: Best Urban Oasis

Killer lighting in the Riad!

Right in the heart of the old Medina, Riad Sekkat is a wonderfully zen escape in the heart of the Marrakesh chaos. And everyone who takes care of you at the Riad is amazing! We definitely had some of our best meals in Marrakesh at the Riad, and the cook, Raja, taught us some cooking techniques! Siham, the house manager, went above and beyond to make our stay unforgettable. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293734-d1389183-Reviews-Riad_Sekkat-Marrakech_Marrakech_Tensift_El_Haouz_Region.html

 *****

Bwejuu Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania

AWARD: Best Unspoiled Beach To Get Away From It All

Bwejuu is definitely the most “off the beaten path” we have been so far on this trip. Most tourists go to the northern coast of Zanzibar rather than the east. We stayed for 3 weeks in two different hut-type accommodations. The first was Crazy Mzungos which was exactly what it sounds like…. A funky backpacker type place with a great sand floor bar and a good chef! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g616019-d1942330-Reviews-Crazy_Mzungo_s_Flashpackers-Bwejuu_Zanzibar_Zanzibar_Archipelago.html

This is the beach in front of Crazy Mzungos during Christmas week!!

The second was Pakacha run by a local man who has integrated the village into his establishment. More likely to see cows walking by on the beach than people  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g616019-d2374032-Reviews-Pakacha_Bungalows-Bwejuu_Zanzibar_Zanzibar_Archipelago.html

View from the bungalows at Pakacha

Both were fun and funky!

 *****

Arusha, Tanzania (on safari)

AWARD: Most Luxurious Tent & Best Organic Farm

We used safaris.com to book our entire expedition and were lucky enough to get matched up with Kibo…a very cool Tanzanian company! They owned both lodges we stayed in during our safari, Kitela and Lake Masek Tented Camp. Kitela has a gigantic organic farm on the property that grows food, not only for Kitela guests, but many other Kibo lodges. For those of you obsessed with gardening, it is worth the trip to Tanzania just to take a tour of the Kitela organic farm. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g790144-d3421174-Reviews-Kitela_Lodge-Karatu_Arusha_Region.html

Lake Masek is a tented camp right in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the edge of the Serengeti. The tents are the most luxurious tents known to mankind with footed bathtubs, flushing toilets and amazing outside showers. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g317085-d1547561-Reviews-Masek_Tented_Camp-Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area_Arusha_Region.html

 *****

Arusha, Tanzania (rental house)

AWARD: Best Mountain View

Mom and Cliff hang in gout in the Arusha House garden

With a sunset view of Mount Kilamanjaro from the swimming pool, dining room, and master bedroom, this house can not be beat on the Mountain View! Add monkeys swinging in the trees on most nights for an added bonus! Such a cool house and great place to chill after safari! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1669725?guests=7&s=h4cq

 *****

Bagamoyo, Tanzania

AWARD: Best Body Surfing

We changed places in Bagamoyo because the first place we stayed at was a nightmare. The Bagamoyo Country Club is probably the nicest place in Bagamoyo. It is on a spectacular stretch of beach and has a decent restaurant. But all in all, you should not travel to Bagamoyo if you want an outstanding beach experience. There are a ton of awesome reasons to visit Bagamoyo, but a great hotel is not on the list. If we had to do it over again, we would have tried a small guesthouse and skipped trying to be on the beach.  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g678704-d1758132-Reviews-Bagamoyo_Country_Club-Bagamoyo_Pwani_Region.html

 *****

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

AWARD: Best hotel room with dining table for 8!

View of Dar Es Salaan from our hotel room balcony

We picked our hotel in Dar based on TripAdvisor reviews and we weren’t disappointed. Tanzanite Suites isn’t the most awesome hotel but it is a good value.  Plus we were able to get a 3 bedroom suite that had a dining room table for 8 which was an awesome hang out for all of us as we regrouped before headings to Asia. We visited some of the more expensive hotels in Dar but decided they weren’t worth the money. http://www.tanzaniteexecutivesuites.com

 *****

Hanoi, Vietnam

AWARD: Best, Best, Best! Value!! Service!!!

Tuck and Jones hanging out with Viet and his son at the front desk playing games on the iPad

Finnegan’s was so outstanding, we can’t decide on only one “BEST.” For $45/ night, we had a great room in a great location with an awesome breakfast included. But the best part was the service! Viet and his whole family took care of us and helped us get the most out of our 2 weeks in Hanoi! He even called Tuck and Jones orphanage on our behalf and set up our visit!!! Thank you Viet and everyone at Finnegan’s for making our visit unforgettable!! http://hanoifinneganshotel.com

 *****

Hoi An, Vietnam

AWARD: Best Home Base

At the Ha An they even put rose petals on your bed for check-in

What does “home base” mean? As we talked about it, we decided it meant a place that makes you feel at home! Ha An had a killer breakfast (included!) free bicycles, a pool table, a fruit basket in your room…everything! The bed and pillows were super comfy too! http://www.haanhotel.com

 *****

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

AWARD: Best Host…laundry room gets honorable mention

View from our HCMC apartment!

Our apartment in HCMC was gorgeous! Well decorated and had a killer view.  But it was our host who made our stay there so spectacular. Bach is so thoughtful and accommodating, he makes you want to stay and stay!!! He read our blog before our arrival and moved a Wii into the apartment just for our stay. He kept our baggage for us for 5 days while we went to the beach. He put extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, Oreos, coffee, snacks, water, laundry soap, everything in the apartment for us to use. This is the type of service you expect from a good hotel but you never get pampered like that in a rental apartment! It was awesome!!!! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1980685

 *****

Mui Ne, Vietnam

AWARD: Best Pool for Kids

Even though Mui Ne is on the beach in Vietnam, we didn’t spend anytime at the beach…that is because our pool was KILLER! It had a slide that was so fun, I spent as much time on it as the kids Roaming Jones kids and Sharples kids agree that what we will all remember about Mui Ne will be the epic Sea Links pool!!!  The house was decent.  In a golf resort where all the houses look exactly the same but the pool was unforgettable! http://www.agoda.com/sea-links-beach-resort-golf/hotel/phan-thiet-vn.html

*****

In the spirit of trying to keep a journal of accomodatons, restaurants, sites, etc. I have become an uber-reviewer on TripAdvisor.  Feel free to check out my profile and follow along on further details if you want  http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/misopiso88

1) FUSION. Morocco is a fusion of many different perspectives and beliefs. The combination creates a unique atmosphere that is hard to describe. It is a mix of Arab and African. East and West. Progressive and traditional. Friendly and intimidating. Religious and secular. Elegant and harsh. All of this makes for an enchanting and exotic culture that seems poetic and overwhelming at the same time.

View from our Riad roof deck at sunset!

2) LANGUAGE SKILLS. We know as a whole, we Americans are pretty lame when it comes to learning foreign languages. Travel to Morocco and speak to anyone and you will be humbled by their language abilities. Everyone for the most part knows Arabic, Berber and French as these are the languages spoken by their fellow countrymen. Hang out with the Moroccans who work with tourists and they know 3 or 4 additional languages! We were blown away by those individuals who seamlessly switched from French to Arabic to Chinese!

3) COLOR! As soon as you get off the plane in Morocco and weave through traffic to your first destination, you can not help notice the colors of Morocco! Earth tones, vibrant hues and patterns… it is gorgeous. Mom and I kept taking pictures of tiles because the patterns and colors were so beautiful we thought they might inspire a future quilt! Driving to the Sahara region, the colors reminded me of Moab, Utah and the desert southwest in the USA.

My feet and a cool moroccan tile floor :)

4) NEED TO BE ZEN. The day we arrived in Marrakech, I asked Siham, our house manager “What do we absolutely HAVE to do while we are in Morocco?” Her answer was genius! …”you don’t need a schedule, you shouldn’t put together an agenda. Whatever you want from Morocco, it will come to you. If you want art, it will find you. If you want history, it will find you. Just walk around and get lost and you will find what you are looking for.” I didn’t really understand how right she was until the last few days of our stay but I did think “what a cool attitude!….and it is easy for us to get lost so we will be good at this!” Now, in retrospect, I think this is a good attitude for every destination, not just Morocco.

One last picture with our friends, Siham (second from right) and Raja (far right) who taught us “zen” during our 3 week stay in the Riad. Siham s a student learning web design and Raja is the private chef at the Riad, and made our favorite meals in Marrakech! …she also cooked Mac and Cheese for Tuck and Jones everyday too

5) JUST SAY “NO” TO CAMERAS. Simply said, Moroccans do NOT like to have their picture taken! You can be pointing your camera at the sky to take a picture of the clouds and they will approach you with disapproval and talk to you about taking pictures. Perhaps it is the countless years of individuals pointing zoom lenses in their direction without permission that have them on high alert now. Regardless, the right way to experience Morocco is without a camera. People are friendlier and more approachable. Cliff and I ditched our cameras and have very few pictures as a result which you know for us was hard to do, but it was definitely the right decision.

A sign in the souks of Marrakech

We are off to Tanzania! Happy holidays to all!!!

Notice the camels in the background!!

Learning a totally new technique with Rachid… Tony would be mortified :-)

Wescott riding the waves

Otto and Yve riding tandem waves

Wescott, Otto and Yve were joined by Victor from the Netherlands, and instructor Rachid

Meanwhile, Lisa, Tuck, Jones and I kept very busy with our camel buddies Cappuccino and Chocolate!

Rachid torturing Tuck

Navigating the Souks

Unlike any city I have been to, Marrakech is loaded with thousands of entrepreneurs, offering a dizzying array of goods that blend into a commercial tapestry of wonder. Every style of salesmanship is on display, sampled each day that we wind our way through the ancient streets, souks and markets. Communication and presentation skills are essential, and the Moroccans can do this in a plethora of languages. French, English, Japanese, Italian, Bereber, Arabic, German… it seems that everyone in this country can converses with almost anyone in the world. And communicate they do!

“Barack Obama! Yes We Can!”

“Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!”

“Hey China, Japan, Kenichiwa, Nihau!”

“Cookies, hey Bieber! Cookies, hey Bieber!”

“Good price. You want? Good price!”

Entrepreneurship around photography is everywhere… after I took this, he grabbed my camera, stuck a snake in my lens and took a few more; then hit me up for a bunch of dirhams

It can be pretty disorientating, but also part of the down-the-rabbit-hole experience that is Marrakech. Our favorite business strategy we found in the city, which was fairly rare, was to put actual prices on the merchandise, and let the consumer just shop… It’s a radical approach for sure, but one that seemed to yield the best response from us, at least!

The good news was we are American and there are Embassies and Consulates all over the world and we had two work days before we were leaving. The bad news is to replace the valuable piece of paper is super complicated.

Siham, the manager of our riad, figured out that the first step was to report the loss to the police and get an official stamped report.  This sounds easy but turned into a huge adventure involving two police stations, the post office, three photo shops, and a random shop to buy a stamp.  How to get around?

Siham and I venturing out to the great unknown

Siham and I get decked out in our warm clothing ( mine being the crazy bilious green jacket that I bought at JCPenny and causes comments even in the US).  We hop on her Peugot motorbike.  Anyone who goes to Marrakech should have this experience.  The streets are approximately 9 feet wide and are shared by pedestrians, donkey drawn carts, motorbikes, kids playing soccer  and shop keepers trying to get tourists to buy their wears.  Chaos at best.  We weave in and out all over the city. I thought this would be terrifying but it actually was fun. A word of advice:  always have a copy of your passport with you, and your driver’s license when traveling. After four hours we had our report in hand.

We now have to go to Casablanca to the consulate.  Siham suggests that she take Tucker and me by train but then realized that she had a final exam for her web design class so we hired a driver and off we went. The countryside reminded me of Montana. The Atlas Mountains in the distance and wide open space with nothing growing and few people. Three hours later we arrive at the Consulate.

The building was architecturally hideous with two rows of garbage dumpsters planted with Palm trees in front of the entrance.  Security guards were everywhere and no Americans were to be seen.  At the third check point we had to have everything scanned and they kept our cell phones, cameras, cords, lipstick and my Starbucks Via Coffee (a very dangerous product). We finally get into the inner sanctum where a US Marine standing guard ( this was the only American we came into contact with) and start the process.  One and a half hours later we have the new passport – good for one year.

The only other complication was that I had to get out of Morocco.  They are very careful who leaves the country so exiting with a passport that you didn’t enter with created a new set of standing in line with lots of papers. Thank goodness we had allowed over 3 hours at security and check-in.

The first room I went into was room filled with only paintings of doors. You may be thinking that this must be the most boring paintings on planet earth, but they were actually quite stunning. For some bizarre reason these paintings of doors were extremely appealing to my eyes. Each door had a unique feel to it, and we all had our favorite one.

The next room was also all of the same variety, and it was paint buckets. Again, you might be thinking that this might not be the sharpest looking group of paintings, but these paintings had something special. Already stunned, the artist came in to give us the low-down on his paintings. And what he said was he actually painted them on metal canvases to give them a rusty-bucket look.

After exploring a little, Stephane, the artist, led us to his subterranean lair. This room was the most interesting one. It was all paintings of scenes under water. Pretty cool right, but wait there’s more. Stephane actually went scuba diving, deep down under, with a canvas and some oil paints, and painted under water! This was possible because of his oil paintings (oil doesn’t mix with water).

Basement gallery with all the underwater paintings.

Stephane then led us to a screening room were he played a video of him painting underwater. First he would sketch out the scene with the paint straight from the tube. Then he would do the actual painting with a metal trowel so it would give the painting a lot of texture. After that, he would go back to the studio to do some touch ups.

I learned some valuable lessons from Stephane: you can paint anywhere and on anything and even the most boring subjects can make a great masterpiece!

Me next to one of my favorite paintings!

Wen everyone went to the market Rasha got  baby chicks. We named them aporcot, scarface and flomingo.  Scarface dide. He droned in the water bole. Aporcot was OK in the ferst place and then she dide. The only chick we had left was flamingo. We are dropping flomingo off at a farm.

All the chicks at the market!

Otto and Apricot