CJ and Jake Around the World

Armed with my newly acquired 2014 Nikon D3300 and a camera bag my dad purchased in the summer of 1988 I (CJ) have begun my amateur photography career. And no better place to start than Morocco. So here are some of my favorite photos: And of course this legendary sequence of photos:

Our flight from Casablanca arrived into Cairo late on the 16th. After a hiatus in Morocco, uber is back... and cheap. Like $2.50 for a 30 minute ride cheap. We took a ride to our Airbnb in downtown Cairo right next to Tahrir Square and Zamalek Island. Here's a view from our window.  After using a random number generator to see who got the big bed (it was Logan), we went downstairs for some shawarma at Gad, this restaurant on the street below the building. We ended up eating at Gad three times, thanks to the grilled meat selection, the shortage of other good looking restaurants, and the friendly server Omar, who never failed to flag us down every time we walked into the apartment and ask when we were eating next.  The next day we got a bright and early start (10:30am) and ubered to Giza to tackle the pyramids. We had to buy tickets to get access to the general area and the Khufu pyramid. Fortunately, our Dartmouth ID's got us half off the price. Unfortunately, I (Jake) didn'...

After our Fes decompression stop we moved on to Chefchaouen, Morocco's "Blue City". And true to name, it is very blue: Day 1 we hiked up to get a better view of the town: Jake and Logan took a stop to soak in the sights along the way: On our second day after more wandering we hiked to the top of the town for sunset and a rooftop dinner: Some other highlights include the worst Caesar salad I've ever had in my life (turns out Caesar dressing is actually just mayonnaise sometimes): And also this photo where Jake looks like this: We taxi'd to Tangier and then took a high speed train to Casablanca for one night. We saw the tallest mosque in the world: And then Logan put on the worst performance of all time as we tried to win 500 dirham from a street soccer gambling competition: We capped off Morocco with of course one last tajine: Just kidding. We left that behind in the Sahara. We got fried chicken and pasta. Also note what almost three weeks in Morocco has left Logan...

We arrived out of our desert tour tired and weary. After battling 3-4 days of illness, I (CJ) heard myself mutter in a feeble voice, "no ... more ... tagine." Words I never thought I would hear. Yes that's right. The novelty of Moroccan food had worn off. Gone were the days of lamb skewers for breakfast and multiple lunches. Now it was about survival and digestive health. As the sickliest of the bunch, I took point on finding a safe Western escape from the chaos of the Fes streets. I barricaded myself inside the Palais Faraj, a five star hotel with prices of around $400 a night. I spent seven hours indulging in all of the luxuries our $37 a night AirBnB was lacking. Logan and Jake joined for a refreshing Caesar salad lunch in a wonderfully air conditioned restaurant. We savored every bite of (hopefully) clean crisp lettuce. Vegetables are few and far between these days. After Jake and Logan split off, I situated myself in the courtyard and journaled for the next four hour...