Supriya Uchil

What a strangely fascinating country! I have been here for the last six nights and am really enjoying myself. Amit, Urvashi, Keith and I have been in Casablanca, Marrakesh, Essawaira.

We stayed at some pretty cool places called riads, old palaces redone very nicely. At Irenes suggestion we went to Al Fassia, a restaurant run by housewives. The food was superb, had a pigeon pastilla. Amit and Keith went crazy and had sheeps brain and snails on the roadside stall. The medina in Marrakesh is like a a crazy bombay market. Everyone is trying to sell something.

One night we headed off to the mountains to stay with a traditional berber family. There we stayed with a donkey, a cow and some chickens. The family was quite poor but thier hospitality was phenomenal. They cooked the best homemade meal ever. They had a threadbare existence in the snowcapped mountains. At night we fell asleep to a million stars.

I have been drinking mint tea 10 times a day, very soothing in the oppressive heat! We eat tagine at every meal, in the morning its always fresh orange juice and parathas. The lamb out here is excellent.

We are currently in the seaside artistic town of Essawara. Amit and I squabble a lot; he reminds me of my brother Ameet! He did laundry for the first time in his life, it took him several hours to wash a few boxers. The whole bathroom was a swimming pool after that. All is well and I head off to Accra tomorrow evening.