charlesbreland.com

here, we menfolk are displaying our new ink. rod's the scorpion king, trey's got a star, blake has a salaam alykum (all apologies for the spelling) and i have an elephant above my berber tribal band. it may be tough to tell from the cell phone pic here, but we're pretty hot. we're leaving here today to head into a city for a bit and then on to the beach. it'll be nice (once we finally get there) to just relax for a few days and chill.

one update from yesterday, one person did end up dying from the accident. we suspect it was a woman in white who had quite a bit of tenderness and guarding in her abdomen. oh, and it wasn't the steering wheel, but the actual wheel that came off. we've all discissed what life would be like here, using the bathroom in a hole, no ac, etc. i can't imagine what it's like to be the woman who broke her collarbone bust still has to carry water from a well and grind her own meal….for the kid with the broken foot who has to walk a half mile over rough terrain to pasture his sheep. what is beautiful and peaceful to us, can be frightening and terrible for the old and the infirm, i'm sure.

our last night here at Ali's auberge (french for inn) with stomachs full of couscous, and legs well traversed on the High Atlas mountains. charles is looking more and more local each day! the sweat and dirt has mixed and dried on his skin making him a Berber shade of brown, however, the plastic fedora purchased at the souk reveals his true Cuban "businessman" identity. Your distinguished and grateful commentator tonight is writing this in the full moonlight outside while Caroline is playing (cheating) Uno with our host family – earlier, she was teaching smarty Samir the English alphabet (see pic) – amazing how language is not required to have a grand time in our little town called Amizmiz. Earlier this evening, the team got "henna-ed". Arabic tattoo's ranging from Rod's scorpion to Lydia's floral anklet, all designed by the talented and beautiful Jamila. I am personally blessed by the time spent with the Berbers, in particular Ali and his care for our group during both joyful and tragic moments. Although he put this Cornell grad in her place with his crazy riddles. And so I leave you with a "Bon Nuit" and one of Ali's finest: what will constantly eat if you feed it, and at the same time, go away and never return? hint: it's in your house.

this is us midway through a 3.5 hour hike to the market. it was tremendously beautiful and caroline had the chance to count sheep AS they jumped over here. now she'll be able to really personalize the whole "trying to get to sleep" experience. we then ran into an accident, though. a bus carrying 15 people lost it's steering wheel and went over the edge, tumbling down 100 feet. our guide ali was able to call an ambulance and we picked about 50 cactus quills out of one boy who had limped away to get help. thankfully, no one was killed, but people were bleeding and dazed and two people were still trapped inside. we stopped to help for a bit and prayed for them. we just got into town here and are sitting down to a lunch that is a little more subdued than usual for us. this was the first accident on this road in 20 years. please remember the victims.