Keeping in line with the “sitting atop four-legged beasts” theme, here’s a glimpse of riding a mule in the Middle Atlas Mountains.

Meet Karim.

Before he met us, Karim was just known as “the mule”. That simply would not do. Without launching into a long-winded explanation of how Karim got his name, I’m just going to give you the condensed version. Human friend Karim is a chill dude. Human friend Karim is affectionately referred to as Ferdinand, after the bull who would rather smell flowers than partake in bullfights. Mule friend Karim has a predilection for a very specific type of flower. During our ride, he frequently stops to munch on them, which reminds us of Ferdinand, which reminds us of human friend Karim.

I’m sorry; I know that was very confusing and teetering over to the side of oversharing. Also, I’m sure if human friend Karim was reading this, he might be slightly offended. I apologize in advance! It was all in fun, I swear! No malice here, nosireebob.

Meet Abdullah. He held onto Karim’s reins and lead him around the village and mountains for us. He explained that Karim was a good mule for beginner riders because of his calm nature and ability to be very steady on the rocky mountainside. Karim’s only fault was that he loved to run. Would we like to see him run? Sadly, I had to decline this time. I totally would have done it next time. Besides, my thighs were starting to ache and the thought of holding on for dear life as Karim careened down the face of the mountain was less than appealing at the moment. Who knew riding was so much work?

I wanted to snorgle those floppy ears. Err…Karim’s, not Abdullah’s or the dude walking in front of Abdullah. And while I’m clarifying, I might as well also mention that I meant mule friend Karim and not human friend Karim. No offense to the ears of Abdullah, Karim, or white cap dude. Not that I think they’d be flattered if I described their ears as “floppy”. Umm, I’m going to change the subject now because I just made this post super awkward.

In hindsight, I guess I could have used this picture. It’s much clearer which ears I’m talking about. That’s what happens when you have too many photos to sort. Your brain turns to mush and you end up running off on tangents about not snorgling people’s ears.

Here is the lovely D posing in front of the mountain landscape. We were almost as high as the highest point in that area.

And here are E2 and I, smiling for the camera and being terrified (Abdullah had let go of the reins and Karim looked like he was contemplating a quick run) at the same time. Funny story: As a joke, I was introduced to the dude in the white cap as Jackie Chan. “Jackie Chan? Kung-fu! Hyah, hyah!” he said, as he danced around doing mock kung-fu moves. For the rest of the mule ride, that’s what he kept calling me, because he actually thought that was my name. I know that all Asians look alike, but come on! He was nice though, so I forgave him.

I think that ends the “exotic animals of Morocco” posts. I have to say that I’m sorting through these photos and I’m impressed at how much we got done every day. Stay tuned for some more photo goodness.

Xoxo,
Jackie Chan