Here comes the sun...and orange juice

My first hours in Morocco and as the airplane begins to make it's initial descent, it occurs to me that I'm in Africa. I can tell by the shape of the hump of the island and the water - exactly where we are in the map. I take my camera out and start taking pictures. As you see, if you didn't know you were in Africa, the terrain looks like middle-farmland USA. The excitement for me is at a fervor pitch, and I look around at the people I'm with who think...another day, another gig. No, not really, they are equally as excited being in such a magnificent place. After the last of the breakfast trays are picked up, and the final bathroom run, we begin to descend. We are flying over barren land, farms, and there she is...coming into view...Casablanca.

'Here's lookin' at you sweetheart' - the famous line from Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca comes to mind. It's the same airport where Boggie and Hepburn said their final goodbye. Funny thing....it still looks the same - basically. They haven't done much to expand the airport in size. I will say that they are supper efficient. We land at 7:15am, and while we have to take a shuttle bus to the gate, the bags are just coming off the belt as we arrive. Would love to see that JUST ONCE at JFK airport.

At 7:30 our guide Nejoua a beautiful young woman, fair-skinned, whose eyes are rimed with Kohl, and dark curly hair is pulled back into a ponytail. She is striking!! Yes, the guys begin to droll... She tells us that she is assigned particularly to our group, and will be with us 24/7 to assure comfort and any need. My first impression is "this is her first gig and she's scared like crazy". This happens to be true. This is her first large music tour, and yes she is nervous, but I assure you by day 2, she has it under control and has gained the respect of everyone.

We load up, move out, and fall asleep in the 45 min drive from Casablanca to Rabat. Once we pull into the hotel - a Hilton (bet Paris never slept here!!), we are pretty easily checked in, and told that breakfast was waiting for us. What made it better is that because of the concert the 3 meals of the day are paid for - so EAT UP!!

Settling into our room, I just wash my face, get my camera and start to move. The hotel is very beautiful, with every touch Moroccan. My only complaint…the bed is H-A-R-D. I mean really hard!! There is no getting around it, and at the end of the day I just may be too tired to notice.

The lobby the over sized waiting area, and the shops all tailored to the tourist who might not get into town (read: they mark up their prices 400% but still make it look like it's a bargain), but also there are security all over. Not that this isn't a secure place, it's just their security stick out like a sore thumb. You can definitely tell - so much for undercover.

After checking out the grounds and eating breakfast, we all pile into the vans and proceed to the venue for an initial look/sound check. This is a day off so it's done quickly and then we head to the markets. I will say that the property is beautiful with amazing flowers, trees, and oranges everywhere. You need a fresh orange - just pick one. Its fragrant, and yet smells of incense everywhere.

Cue Music. If you've ever thought of snake charmers, and belly-dancers, and people calling you to check out their stalls....not here!! That’s Marrakech…this is Rabat.

Instead, there are stalls, after stalls, after hidden stares to different stalls everywhere. There are the most beautiful handmade rugs, and leather bags. There are traditional tiles and the doors…OH THE DOORS. Now I know some of you don’t find this kind of thing interesting, but for me photographically, these doors and tile work were so incredible beautiful, it could make you cry. When you think of the time, effort and ability it takes to create these, it’s breathtaking.

With Nejoua we get our first lesson in bargaining. I don’t think I bought anything the first day – I just wanted to get the feel of things. I was also way to tired to do the conversion of Dirhamas to dollar in my head. I did learn that you never say yes to the first price, you can use shoulder shrugs, and noooo's, and you can set your own price...pretty much. More about this later.

After a long day of flying, seeing the venue, going to the market, we headed back to the hotel and settled down for the night. There were cigars and amaretto, plenty of Mint Tea, and the kind of laughter that tells you the person telling the joke is tired, but trying to adjust to the time changes so just a bit longer….

We finally settled in for the night, cuz tomorrow will be the first rehearsal, and it’s back to work.