Wednesday, September 11

P.S. Thursday, September 12 Updated with pics. Spread some of the scenery shots throughout this post.

May I start by apologizing for my verbosity this evening! I got on a roll and just couldn’t stop. I didn’t notice how long this is until I scrolled up to cut and paste it. Hopefully you can hang in and read to the end.

It was a bit of a surprise to wake up to rain this morning, well, wasn’t really full-on rain, but rather a mist at best. And by the time we were finished breakfast it had stopped. Sad to leave this hotel as we’ve enjoyed it and our down time. And Abdul has warned us our hotel tonight will be very basic. No pool, but bed, shower and most importantly wifi.

We left Taroudant and travelled through a flat plain for an hour or so where we saw oranges and tomatoes growing for the first time. There is more water available here with irrigation from rivers coming down from the mountains. Also we started to see Argon Trees. We’ll learn more about that tomorrow but Argon oil from the seeds is used as both beauty products and in cooking.

We soon left the plain and headed up into the Anti Atlas Mountains, which run at a diagonal from the SW near the ocean to the NE, south of the High Atlas Mountains. The highest peak, which we saw later in the day is at 2375 meters. We watched absolutely beautiful scenery go by as we made our way over the mountains and through valleys with small villages on either side. We had been told that the area of the Anti Atlas Mountains is where a lot of wealthy Moroccans have summer homes where they come to escape the heat in the larger cities such as Fes, Marrakesh and Casablanca. After coming through the High Atlas Mountains where it was obvious the villagers were poor, we saw huge villas dotted throughout the countryside today. They were well built, decorated and walled for the most part.

While we travelled along, Abdul talked to us about marriage in Morocco, both traditionally and today. The traditions in Morocco remind me of those in Turkey and I remember our guide there telling us almost the same story. Again, I’ll reiterate that I may have misinterpreted or gotten some of this completely wrong, and any errors are mine alone. I had found it really interesting to learn about the Islamic Religion from our travels and I know travel makes me a more tolerant and open minded person.

Traditionally, when a young man got to marrying age, (much younger then than today) he asked his Mother’s advice as to who he should marry as they were the social media of the day, all-knowing when it came to the available brides in the village. She would provide options and the young man would visit the young ladies with his mother to see if there was a match. If the young man did like one of the recommendations of his mother, he would visit the family of the girl taking with them dates and sugar (sugar used to be the currency and is the symbol of sweetness). And then he would wait for the brides response. She was allowed to say no, and the man was allowed to chose someone other than the ones recommended by his mother, but it sounded like out of respect for their parents they would take their recommendation.

In recent years there have been significant changes to the laws for marriage in Morocco and the social norms. For instance, it was traditionally allowed for brides who were as young as 15 to marry, usually to grooms who were much older. But the law now states that the man and woman must both be 18, or 17 with special permission from the judge. It is the judge who issues the marriage certificates, not the mosque. In fact the ceremony doesn’t take place in the mosque but rather usually in the groom’s family home. Traditionally there were 3 days of celebration, when the men and women celebrated separately on the first day (the bachelor and bachelorette parties if you will) when Henna is put on the bride and groom both. On the second day, the bride goes to the grooms house for a celebration and on the 3rd day is the ceremony where there is eating and music. The women wear 3 or 4 dresses during the celebration and the men at least 2 outfits. The man’s family pays for the wedding celebrations and also they paid for a dowry for the woman.

These days, a lot of the old way of doing things has disappeared and while it’s not flaunted, couples do live together before marriage, there are dating apps in use, birth control is exercised and the celebrations are more practically one day long. Arranged marriages do still exist in the countryside, but are rare in urban areas.

Divorces are becoming more common in Morocco and our guide provoked us to discuss whether perhaps the method of arranged marriages was a better way to chose life mates than in our society where people fall in love and then get married after getting to know each other vs their traditional ways of getting married and then getting to know each other and allowing love to grow. It was an interesting discussion which of course had no conclusion.

Abdul bravely raised the sensitive subject of Muslim women covering their hair and bodies in the presence of men and his point was that the Koran says only that “the beauty of a woman should be shown only to her husband”. While it’s a woman’s right to chose how to interpret the Koran on that issue, and Morocco is fairly moderate on this issue, it’s most often the case still that a wife covers her hair and body in public and sometimes even in the house out of respect for her husband’s father and brothers. We didn’t get into a discussion on this topic today and I won’t here. I will say however that I have been respectful of their customs and traditions while I’ve been in Morocco and for the most part have worn clothes that cover my shoulders and knees, especially in the rural areas, I have never been asked to cover my hair or felt uncomfortable in capris and short sleeved blouses or t-shirts.

Back to the travel log and off sensitive subjects now.

Just before lunch time we got to a place were we started down a long, winding road into the Ait Mansour Gorge. We went from approximately 1500 metres to 200 in the matter of 30 minutes. The views along the way were spectacular as the gorge has been cut out of the granite rock by hundreds of years of flooding after rain in the mountains. The contrast of the red earth and palm trees and other greenery made each turn in the road a delightful surprise.

Our tour has come almost full cycle, (and sadly is rapidly coming to an end) as we passed a quarry for marble that had been taken from this region to be placed in the Hassan II Mosque we had visited in Casablanca during our first day there.

Along the way we saw tents, fences and buildings used by the Nomads in the summer when they came into the mountains to escape the heat of the valleys.

Our destination in the valley was an almost abandoned village that has been inhabited for 900 years. There are only 3 families left in the area of what was once a thriving community and we were going to visit one of the families for a traditional lunch and to see how they lived. These visits are one of my most favourite parts of the G Adventure/National Geographic Tours. The family we visited was a husband and wife who had two boys. The seven year old, Said was home but the 15 year old was off at school. The gentleman was such a gracious host and seemed to proud and happy to have us there.

He first produced a kettle of water and soap, and a special container to catch the water which he poured over our hands as we washed them, and a towel to dry them. This is a traditional comfort which hosts provide for their guests and since I was first, I was thankful we had experienced this before at the women and children’s cooperative so I knew the routine. We were seated on low cushions at low tables, in a room that was kept for special occasions. His wife prepared a fabulous Couscous dish with chicken and vegetables, and that was followed by the traditional mint tea and biscuits (which Mike on our tour really liked). Her cooking duties done, the woman named Sophia, came to meet us. She was so lovely, gentle and genteel. And their son, Said, also came around to handshake with all of us.

Then we were invited to see the third floor of the home, the terrace, where the kitchen was located, and an outdoor sink. There were dates drying on a raised area that used to be an open courtyard to allow more light into the living spaces before they had electricity but was now closed in. Abdul gave us a bit of an impromptu Arabic vs Latin character lesson but I’m afraid we failed miserably as students. He’s going to try again.

We left this serene and lovely lunch in the town and jumped onto the bus and headed back up the road we’d wound down in the first place. At a place where it was safe to park, the driver let us off the bus and we walked along the single lane road in the gorge for about 30 minutes or so. It was getting hot this afternoon, but we were mostly in the mottled shade of the trees along the road, and there was a bit of a breeze and it was quite delightful. Once we’d got the kinks of sitting on the bus all day out, we jumped back on and headed for the painted rocks.

So, “painted rocks”, and and I’m thinking petroglyphs or something from the ancient Arabic people or something like that. Take a look at the pictures and you’ll see I was mightily disappointed. We made our way into the area where there were some really interesting natural rock formations where you could let your imagination run wild and see all sorts of things in the rounded boulders. Then we came upon the most hideous sight. The story goes that in 1984, a visitor, I think from Brussels, wanted to demonstrate a symbol of peace and he painted the two large boulders in pink and green, which blended nicely into the natural landscape. Well, I guess they got looking a little rough and they were painted again in 2010 and then in 2018 a business man, and owner of a paint company had the rocks painted these bright and rather startling colours. It was quite bizarre and we wasted little time documenting our visit with pictures.

It was then on to our destination for the night, Tafraout. This is a really nice town, where a lot of the aforementioned rich people have built really substantial summer homes. It’s a little strange to us coming from places where summer homes usually involve lakes and rivers and water, to see these homes in the arid environment.

Our hotel here is “really basic”, which Abdul warned us several times, but we had a great dinner in a nice restaurant tonight which I think we all enjoyed as one of the best we’ve had. I had Kefta Tajine once again and it was even better than the last one I’d had. Dessert was sliced apples, bananas and oranges drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. Yum.

We will travel to the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow morning and later into the beach side town of Essaouira where we spend two nights before sadly heading back to Marrakesh for our departure on Saturday.

Tuesday, September 10th

We had a relaxed start today and a pretty light program which was actually a nice change. The rest of the tour is lower key than the first half had been.

We made our way in from the outskirts of town where our Riad is located to visit a tannery once again. This one was much more of a working tannery than the one in Marrakesh. They showed us the process right from the scraping of the flesh from the hide through to putting the parts of shoes together to come up with the finished product. The show room was full of purses, shoes, belts, wallets, hats, etc. I bought two small purses of beautiful leather, all lined, with excellent workmanship for about $60 Cdn. By now I am wondering about the wisdom of bringing a small suitcase.

Then we entered that medina of the town. It is a smaller one that we have been to so far, the walls being 8 kms around, with over 100 towers built into the walls. It is a strategic location for protecting SW Morocco being only 30 minutes into the High Atlas Mountains, 30 minutes into the Anti Atlas Mountains and 30 minutes to the Atlantic Ocean.

We went into the main square by bus and then had an hour to wander the medina. After all the Medina’s and souks and cooperatives we’ve been in to there wasn’t a lot of appetite for buying but still some of our group managed to do a little shopping, including the purchase of a suitcase for carting their purchases home. I enjoyed the people watching from a table in the square while enjoying a glass of hot tea with some of our group.

By early afternoon we were back to the hotel and have the rest of the day free to enjoy the hotel and pool. I’ve been in already, did some aquafit and laps and finished up writing a couple of days worth of blogs. I will head to the hotel reception area to use the faster and stronger wifi there to insert pics and upload the blogs.

Tomorrow we’ll be hiking in a gorge somewhere. Haven’t read up on that yet, it sounds great. Could use some exercise.

Monday Sep 9th

We’re been fortunate on this tour to get to know a lot about Morocco and that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? From visiting historic sites to having dinner with an accompaniment from traditional bands from different regions, and dancers to entertain us, to visiting places where they do special handicrafts. Today we visited three separate towns that specialize in three things synonymous with Morocco.

We travelled once again along the Draa Valley to a town we had been through before, where there was a date market. One of our group asked if we could stop and take a look and so Abdul had out driver stop right at the market for a few minutes and we all piled off to have a look. There were boxes and boxes of different kinds of dates for sale by various vendors, all from the nearby palm groves. A few boxes were purchased and off we went.

We headed off into new territory with our destination this time, the centre for carpet making at Tazenakht. I had seen carpets along the way and really none of them had appealed to me so I thought I was safe. We stopped at the showroom at one of the 40 or so cooperatives of women carpet makers in the region. The President of the cooperative showed us the different styles of carpets made by the different tribes of Berbers. Some were made by Bedouin’s and Nomads who live in the desert, others by Nomads who live in caves, some were made by the Tuareg people from the Sahara region. They make them from wool, camel and goat hair. Many of the carpets have similar symbols, one being a diamond shape that is meant to protect the owner from the Evil Eye. I did hear my name being called by one of the carpets, and so I succumbed. It will hopefully be delivered by DHL within 2 weeks. It worked in Turkey so I’m hoping it will work for me this time as well without any issues. I get joy every time I look at my Turkish carpet and I know it will be the same for this one.

We were at the carpet place much longer than our guide anticipated but the cooperative did rather well from out tour group. We were all pretty starving by the time we got to our lunch stop, where we had a lovely Berber Omelette, spiced by saffron from the very village where its claim to fame is as the Saffron capital of Morocco.

Morocco is the third largest supplier of saffron in the world and the crocus flower stamens that it is made from love the climate in the valleys of the hills around the town. It takes something like the stamens from 140,000 flowers to make one kilo of saffron so it’s understandable how much this “yellow gold” costs. This shop also did very well, with sales from our bus of happy shoppers.

While I’m talking about learning about Morocco I’ll mention a subject that Abdul raised at some time over the last couple of days although I’m not exactly sure when. On our way back from the desert, he mentioned that we had been within 20 – 25 miles of the Algerian border. He said he didn’t tell people that until after because of their concern about the Western Sahara situation. To be honest I don’t think any of us had been aware of any situation regarding the Western Sahara, but apparently some country foreign affairs departments put it on the Do Not Go list. I really don’t understand the whole situation, and will have to do some research once I’m back home and able to google at will. It seems some academics wish to separate from Morocco (Abdul likened it to the Catalan in Spain or the Kashmir in Pakistan) and apparently the Algerian government has been supportive of this separation. A quasi country has been set up in the south west of Morocco called “Western Morocco” but it has only the support of Algeria, Cuba and Kenya, so it’s not really a separate country. So there has been tense relations between the Moroccans and Algerians and then in 1994 a hotel was bombed in Marrakesh, and the finger was apparently pointed at the Algerians. The two governments closed the border between the two countries leaving extended families unable to get back and forth to see each other. The King of Morocco has recently made overtures to Algeria to re-opening the board, but the Algerians have not yet officially responded.

Back to our travels, after our stop at the Saffron shop, we went on to our overnight stop called Taroudant for the night and once again have a lovely Riad. And we actually have some time to enjoy it for a change. We arrived mid-afternoon in time for a swim before an excellent dinner at the Riad. I managed to get caught up on some of my blogging and we had an early night with a late start tomorrow morning.

Sunday, September 8th

Well, it’s morning in the desert, I finally got to sleep early this morning as it finally cooled off in our “tent”. I should explain that the tent was actually a small building with white canvass on a frame over top of it used to reflect the heat. It has a bedroom area and somewhat separate toilet and shower. There was a breeze when we went to bed, and in fact we were getting sand in our teeth and eyes as we sat out after our dinner and talked. But sadly the breeze disappeared and so we roasted just a little.

After breakfast our little caravan headed back to Zagora across the route we’d come the afternoon before. I think we were all feeling in need of a shower, even though we had showers because there was sand in everything. And I for one could use some more sleep. But the 4X4 ride was not the place we were going to get it. The river had dried up so the trip was not so challenging but it was still bumpy and swervy. Along the way we came across some camels packed with camping gear and some people who were hiking from one well to the next as more of an adventure than we’d been on. Can’t imagine thinking that was a good thing to do.

It was late morning by the time we made it back from the desert camp and we transferred back to our bus and headed back to Tamegroute to visit a pottery cooperative. This region is well known for it’s green pottery although they do use many different colours. The things of beauty they were able to produce in such primitive conditions is amazing.The firing kilns reach 800- 1000 degrees by fire formed in pits under the oven using palm fronds and some acacia wood. We watched one man throwing pots on a pottery wheel which was underground from the waste down (I’m not sure why?), then painting them, building the fires, placing the items in the kiln and then a show room of the final products. Yes, of course I bought a little red bowl as has become my tradition while travelling.

We arrived at our overnight stop in Zagora quite early and it was a beautiful Riad with a lovely garden and pool area and it was so nice to be able to take advantage of it. I swam and relaxed by the pool for a bit and then had a bit of a nap.

Abdul took us on an really interesting walk through the neighbourhood where the Riad was located before dinner. It is a farming community, and we walked along narrow pathways in between the plots of land the villagers use to grow their crops. Each of the plots is divided by mud walls which are “poured in place” and very cheap to make. They build forms from wood which can be reused, and put and straw which they get from their own plots into the forms and let it dry into large blocks. They were built several layers high to about 4 – 6 feet. Abdul explained the cooperative use of the rudimentary irrigation system. The water comes by canal into the area and then ditches distribute the water throughout. Each farmer had a designated time during which the water flows into his field and the change over is made simply by moving a wall of mud to either block or open the flow of water into his plot. Simple and effective. We saw alfalfa, corn, dates and cabbage all growing in various plots. The air was just delightful as we walked along in the mottled light coming through the foliage. Feel quite serene.

I had a simple supper of just soup tonight, as many of us did, because we all feel like we’ve been eating too much. The food has just been great so it’s hard to turn it down. It was early to bed tonight with the hugest pillows you’ve even seen in your life.

I’m behind in my blogs because it’s been just too busy or I was just too tired, or I didn’t have power. So here is Saturday’s blog for our trip from Ait Ben Haddou to our desert camp at Erg Chigaga. No, that’s not slang for Chicago. It’s the name of the area of the Sahara Desert where a number of hotels have remote desert camps.

Today was a long one, but interesting and exciting. We spent most of the day travelling along the Draa River and the bountiful valley surrounding it. The valley has thousands and thousands of date palms, heavily laden with fruit as it’s almost harvest time. There are different varieties of palms, some short and some tall, and various types of fruit from the premier medjools to those varieties which are yellow, brown or red.

Not far from the desert we stopped at a small town in the middle of the Draa River Valley, called Tamegroute to visit a religious sanctuary and library established in the 11th century which houses 50,000 – 60,000 volumes of ancient Islamic Texts. We met a 92 year old, delightful gentleman who has looked after the books since 1959. He told us (through our guide interpreting) about many of the books. It was so bizarre to see these important historic books housed in a small room in a small town with no environmental controls and very little security. They were all hand written, in Arabic script, some so small you could hardly distinguish the characters. Some were written on skins and many were done in multiple colours. Despite the lack of what you’d consider good conditions for storing the books they seemed in remarkable shape. The gentleman seemed to revel in being able to tell us about his precious treasures.

We were really lucky in our timing and were there during a local festival marking a month following the slaughter of the sheep or some such thing. People from towns all around and even from the cities travelled to this town to join the celebration. There were tents and tables with everything you could imagine to sell. There were kids running in and out, and drums clanging and families visiting. We were definitely out of place there, but no one there seemed to mind and we were greeted warmly by everyone. Our guide has been to this spot on many of his tours but hasn’t seen the celebration. I didn’t take any pictures because it just felt too much like an intrusion.

We traveled further south to Zagora, where we stopped at a hotel for lunch and to rest up until our transportation to the desert camp was there to get us. Zagora was the northern terminal of the ancient camel caravan routes and is now the jumping off point of modern day treks. Many of the hotels in Zagora also have a desert camp where they host their guests in various levels of luxury or not. There are 40 – 50 camps in the same area as ours.

The 4x4s arrived and thankfully were covered and air conditioned because it was hot in the late afternoon when we struck out across the Sahara Desert to our camp. It was a road for about 500m and then the road disappeared, and in some cases all evidence of vehicles having been there before disappeared as well. Off-roading for sure. It was an interesting but bumpy ride, but the driver was a pro. What we didn’t know at the time was that the rain the previous night had caused flooding along a riverbed which normally is dry but was turned into a raging flow by the run off. We apparently took a different route than normal to avoid the worst of it but did come to a point where the drivers of the caravan of 3 4x4s stopped to confer and decide where to try to cross. Our driver was clearly the leader and he started off in the lead. It was a little tense for a few minutes but cheers erupted just a few minutes later as we reached the other side. The others got through as well and we carried on.

We stopped at a “thirsty river” or dry river bed to get some photos and the second vehicle’s hood was opened up and buckets of water were put in the radiator as it was overheating. It was coming out almost as fast as it was going in, and it took off like a shot to get to the camp before it ran out of water. And the third one took longer to arrive than it should have because they got stuck in the sand and they all had to jump out and push to get it out. We obviously picked the right vehicle.

We all arrived safely at the camp, home for the night. It was pretty rudimentary and it was the first group to come through after the too-hot summer for tours, and they were still getting things set up. We all sat around in the shade, without our electronics soaking in the fact that we were actually in the Sahara Desert. And about to go on a camel trek!

The time came for us to mount up. The camel handler chose each person from the group for each individual camel and up that person went. It’s a rather disconcerting process since after climbing on to blankets thrown over his hump (with some help for the shorter among us) the camel stands up first up to the knees on his front legs, then fully extended back legs and then the rest of the way on the front legs. The rider gets rather jerked around in the process. And it’s high up there! Much higher than being on a horse and a little more rock and roll to the sides. The camels were chained in two groups of 5 and off we went. After a while I got used to the rhythm and I started to enjoy it a lot. Just kept thinking, wow, I’m on a camel in the Sahara Desert! Going down hill was a little disconcerting as they get going a little faster and you tip forward on the camel’s back.

They had timed it perfectly and we were out among the dunes as the sun slowly went down over one of the dunes, casting wonderful shadows of the dunes and our little caravan crossing the crest of the dunes. Abdul was running around on the sand dunes taking video of us, which he promises to get to us, although the price seems to be going up every day. I think he’s kidding. We were out for about 30 minutes, which was just the right amount of time. Long enough to get comfortable and not so long as to get sore! Thankfully we didn’t have to trek all the way on the camel caravan route to Tombouchtou which took 52 days.

We had a lovely dinner under the stars in the middle of the camp and without wifi and our electronics no one was in a hurry to get back to our tent, and while it was nicely cooling down from the heat of the day outside, the tents remained stifling hot and I have to admit to not sleeping very well.

The next morning we were up and out early and back by our 4X4 and by morning the river had been reduced to a trickle.

Wow, one of those amazing life time experiences. I am so lucky to be able to have had so many amazing experiences and makes me so glad to be alive.

The camel herders. Photo credit to someone else in the group, can’t recall who.

Today we left the cities and freeways behind and travelled up and over the highest pass in Morocco in the High Atlas Mountains to the town of Ait Ben Haddou.

The road was much more interesting today, presenting new challenges for the the driver. Instead of dodging cars and motor scooters he was clinging to the side of the mountain. There is a lot of construction on the road as the government is upgrading the original road put in by the French but it didn’t stop us or really slow us down at any point. It snaked up the north side of the High Atlas Mountains and along the way we passed many small villages tucked into the green hills. The villages disappear into hillsides because the outside of the houses is covered in the mud surrounding the village so the colour is identical to area it’s in.

Early on we drove through agricultural areas, with olive tree groves but as we got higher the slopes required terraces to be built in order to grow things and small mixed farms sustain the villages.

We stopped for a photo op at the summit of the pass, at 2260 metres, the highest pass in Morocco and it was delightfully cool. It was also very blustery!

The Atlas Mountains divide Morocco into the north and south, with the north being cooler than the south, with Marrakesh, nearest the mountains being the hottest of the northern region. In the south, it is much hotter and eventually becomes the Sahara Desert. There it can get as hot as +50 and as cold as -2! And they get snow in the high peaks of the mountains.

Some tidbits of of info we learned today:

-Although there are 15 golf courses in Marrakesh, Moroccans generally don’t play golf. They’re put in for the tourists.

-There is shale oil, gold and silver in the Atlas Mountains but it’s so expensive to get out of the ground that they don’t do much mining of any kind.

For lunch we stopped at a restaurant in the mountains, and I had something quite different – a Berber Omelette. It was eggs, with tomato and onions cooked in a tajine. I was looking for something light and this fit the bill. It was lovely. The restaurant was along the highway between two small towns and while we were there we heard the Call to Prayer first from one of the valley and then it started at the other end. Both were quite melodic.

As we drove today our guide talked about the political system in Morocco. He reiterated that he would only talk about it at a very high level, like our religion discussion yesterday. And a disclaimer again, I’m sorry if I got any of this wrong or misinterpreted anything he said. He was very careful not to express any opinions and those expressed here are mine alone.

So, Morocco has both a King and two elected bodies – the House of Representatives and the Councillors. To understand the relationship between the King and the parliament our guide gave us some historical perspective.

When the French came in to “protect” Morocco, they moved the current King, and his family first to Sardinia, and then to Madagascar. They tried to start a feud between the Arabs and the Berbers to destabilize the country. They then tried to get another relative of the King to take over but the Moroccans weren’t having anything to do with him. Eventually Morocco gained it’s independence from France in 1956 when Mohammed V became King.

In 1961, Hassan II became King, and in 1999 his son, King Mohammed VI, took over upon his father’s death and he is the present day King. He has a son so the lineage is preserved.

The picture above is our guide Abdul goofing around. There is another picture of him at the end as he came to dinner tonight. His home is in the High Atlas Mountains and so he changed into his traditional garb.

There are 12 administration regions in Morocco and representatives are elected from each of them every 5 years. There is one year left in their mandate. There are currently approximately 33 political parties (not unusual for emerging democracies), with 5 or 6 being the main one. Since 2011 there have been some positive constitution amendments such as Berber becoming a second official language. These were put in because of the Arab Spring unrest in the Arab countries. The King headed off unrest in Morocco by implementing these changes pre-emptively. The significant one from a democracy perspective is that it used to be that the Prime Minster of Parliament was appointed by the King, but that has changed now and the head of the Parliament is now the President and, as in Canada, the leader of the Party winning the election is the President. But read on, there are some safeguards put in place to ensure there is control by the King over certain areas.

You are able to vote at the age of 18 but it’s not obligatory to vote. Recent elections have seen approximately 40% turnout. The winning President appoints the government ministers with two exceptions. And here is where the control by the King come in. The Minister of Islamic Affairs is chosen by the King and there is no Minister of Defence as the military reports directly to the King. The reason for this is that in 1971 King Hussan II was celebrating his birthday when an attempt was made on his life and it turned out to be traced back to the Minister of Defence, so since then he has maintained that portfolio.

So is this situation good for Morocco? They have achieved some democracy but there is still control by the King through his control of the military and control of the message the Imams deliver at Friday prayer. Perhaps it is because it gives the country stability, and certainly it does appear stable compared to much of the Arab world and middle east. It’s certainly an evolving democracy and has a long way to go on that front, but it’s at least making some headway. We were told there is a free press, and that they are able to publish whatever they want except the King’s family is off limits. We aren’t able to tell if that’s true or not. And then there is the judicial system. We haven’t talked about that, and I’d be surprised if we do. All makes for interesting discussion, but really we’re here to see the beautiful country, meet its people and to learn about its history and culture, and of course to eat its food! Not to solve the worlds problems.

We arrived at our overnight stop around 3 pm and it’s a lovely Riad with a real pool and garden in the courtyard and our rooms all around it. After our welcoming mint tea, I jumped in for a quick swim, and believe me it was quick because it was frigid. I have no idea how they have kept it so cold given how hot it normally gets here. But it felt great after so may days in the heat and most of the day on the bus.

We rested a bit and then headed off to climb up to the Kasbah at Eit Ben Haddou, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is apparently one of the most preserved of this type of construction in the country. If you look at the tourist brochures for Morocco it’s often one of the profiled iconic shots.

My Fitbit says I did 63 flights of stairs and it felt like that. Thankfully for our comfort the sun went behind some clouds, but just before it did, it was the most amazing light for picture taking and so I was disappointed when it deserted us. Every little village had a Kasbah for two reasons, as a final defence against warring other villages and as a safety deposit box for the villagers valuables. Every family had a small space where they could put their silver, jewellery, or money. UNESCO is restoring part of the town buildings around the kasbah.

We came back down from our visit to the Kasbah and it was time to eat again. This was one of the places where G Adventures covered our meal and Abdul ordered skewers of turkey meat for us tonight because we have been having a lot of tajine and couscous and he thought we’d like a change. The salad before dinner was a variety of cooked, pickled and fresh vegetables, and the desert was the standard fruit. Everything was really nicely prepared.

Off to bed to dream about our adventures tomorrow. There may be camels involved, but you won’t know for a couple of days because there isn’t any wifi at the Bedouin camp where we’ll spend the night tomorrow.

This evening we set out for Jamaa El-Fna Square once again for a taste of street food. What was an empty square when we visited it at 10 am, was now full of people 60 or so food booths, each with their own little tables and chairs, and the fabulous smells of fresh food being prepared.

Around the square there were also vendors selling tourist trinkets, ice cream and fruit. And there was a huge section where musicians were playing, women were doing henna patterns on hands and ankles, and there were people with trained monkeys encouraging you to have your picture taken with them, for a fee of course.

There were maybe 10% tourist but mostly it was locals who had dealt with the heat all day and were energized now that the air temperature had cooled off. The whole family unit came out – most usually 3 generations – and there were also groups of young men, and young girls hanging out together as well.

We had some great fried egg plant (and I thought I didn’t like egg plant), and five small kababs of meat and vegetables. Of course we finished with mint tea.

We then had a chance to wander the market for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel. It was an incredible experience. One that will be remembered by all of my sensory receptors.

Nanci and I discovered a roof top bar this afternoon and so after our trip to the square we came up here for a drink and to enjoy the lights of the city. I am sitting a bit apart from the 7 of the group who have assembled and I can hear that they’re discussing the current inhabitant of the White House. Ha! Glad I begged off to finish this blog.

Tomorrow Abdul is excited to show us his part of the world as we will leave the chaos and energy of the cities to head into the High Atlas Mountains and south toward the Sahara desert for our next big adventure. Should be some interesting scenery tomorrow. The driver said not only will we say goodbye to the cities, but also to the highways and good roads. Think I’ll aim for a seat near the front of the bus tomorrow.

Today is a travel day and light itinerary, which after yesterday is a nice break. We travelled from Fes south west to Marrakech where we’ll stay for two nights.

This morning we traveled with the Middle Atlas Mountains to the left of us, approximately 60 miles away. In the area we’re travelling through are hundreds of acres of olive trees, grapes, and other crops such as wheat and barley. There are small dairy farms set among the rolling hills and aside from the olive and grape crops, one could imagine being in Saskatchewan. The soil here is a little red, and great for agriculture. In the Middle Atlas Mountains, they grow apples and cherries.

We have seen a lot of donkeys mules and horses being used throughout the countryside in this agricultural region, and in fact we saw lots of donkeys in the medina yesterday used for hauling products throughout the market. With the narrow alleyways and up and down grades they are really the ideal way to move things around. By the end of the day I was wishing someone would offer me a ride on one of them.

As we travelled south west towards Marrakech, Abdul talked to us about religion. He is a brave man. He kept things to a high level but answered our questions with humour and wit and helped us to understand the Muslim religion as it is interpreted in a more moderate way in Morocco than some other North Africa countries.

He explained some basic tenants of the Islamic Religion as outlined in the Koran and taught by their spiritual leaders, the Imams. I’m sorry if I got any of this wrong and stand corrected, if I misinterpreted his remarks or didn’t hear correctly as I volunteered for back of the bus duty today. And these are in my words, which may not be the correct technical terms.

So, there are 5 pillars of the Islamic religion

1. You must declare that you believe in Allah and in Mohammed as the final prophet (they believe in other profits such as Abraham, Ismail, Moses, etc but Mohammed they believe is the final prophet).

2. Prayer – Muslims must pray 5 times a day, “unless they are otherwise busy”, and the men and woman are separated in the prayer room. The prayer times are at approximately 5:30 am, between noon and 1, 4:30 – 5:00, Sunset, and 1 hour after sunset. They are “Called to Prayer” by the Muezzin (the Imam’s assistant) and the call is done live (not recorded) from the minaret of the mosque. I’ve travelled in several countries where the Islamic religion is practised and the Call to Prayer sounds different from mosque to mosque, country to country, but the words are apparently always the same, and it’s just the tone and voice of the Muezzin that makes it sound different.

Before praying Muslims must perform Ablutions which consists of washing different body parts (hands, mouth, nose, head, hair, feet, etc) 3 times so they are cleansed before praying to Allah.

There is a weekly prayer on Fridays when the Imam makes a speech of 20 minutes or so and there are some other times such as at Ramadan, EID, funerals, weddings, etc.

Abdul pointed out to us that the minarets in Morocco are square whereas in other countries in North Africa they are round, and this is due to the Spanish influence.

In other countries we have been able to visit mosques as long as we were appropriately dressed (head, shoulders and knees covered) but in Morocco there are few that allow non-Muslims to enter. (Perhaps only 2?) This dates back to the colonial wars when the French respected the religion and would not enter the mosque so the Moroccans used the mosques as sanctuary.

3. Charity

Muslims should contribute any money which they have held for at least one year directly to people who they know need the help. It should amount to 2.5% of the money they have. However, no one in the mosque or state collects the money and it’s between the Muslim and his/her god as to how they do that.

4. Ramadan

Muslims must participate in Ramadan which is fasting from sunrise to sunset for the month of Ramadan. The timing is based on a 12 month lunar calendar which is only 28 or 29 days long vs our calendar based on months of 30 or 31 days so it changes from one year to the next on our calendar.

They drink water before the sun rises and then don’t eat or drink anything until sunset. They break the fast with a few dates and water before going to prayer at sunset. Then most have a large meal after sunset. At the end of Ramadan they celebrate the festival of EID when they are able to eat again. This is seen as a test of their faith. There are exceptions such as pregnant women, the elderly or sick, etc.

5. Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia

This pilgrimage is not considered obligatory if the person is not able to afford the cost of travelling to Mecca. The pilgrimage involves visiting special sites where Mohammed got the Koran from Allah through the angel Gabrielle, Kaaba, and the mosque where Mohammed prayed, etc.

The number five is repeated in various symbols in Morocco such as in their flag, which is red background with a green 5 pointed star on it. Red is symbolic of sacrifice and green is the colour of Islam. Also a symbol we found on many doorways in the medina is the “Hand of Fatimah” (Fatimah was one of the Prophet Mohammed’s daughters) with it’s 5 fingers.

Of course, this all led to a lively discussion and I felt a little sorry for Abdul, but he held his own. I appreciated the information and the discussion and seems that as with other religions, the interpretation and the evolution of the interpretation of the holy books is different in each country and religion.

Abdul gave the example of marriage in Morocco. Sharia law is used here for family law matters, but the State also brings in laws to moderate Sharia law. For instance, according to Sharia law, men may have up to 4 wives, however according to State law, the man must first get permission of his first wife to take on the second, third or fourth wife. Maybe not ideal but attitudes are evolving in the younger generation in particular.

Other tidbits we learned today:

-They have only 2 humped camels in Morocco and they are all domestic.

-Marrakech means Land of the Gods and is nicknamed the Red City because the soil here is red and the buildings are made from it and therefore red.

– Escargot are eaten here, and the snails are stored in dry format until they want to eat them and then they are reconstituted and they come back to life.

– Marrakech was founded in the 11th century and is one of the 4 Imperial cities.

– there is a ready water supply from the rivers coming out of the Atlas Mountains and the irrigation makes the city very lush and green. There are also 15 golf courses in Marrakech.

We arrived into Marrakesh at about 4 pm today and will spend two nights here. We have a group dinner tonight and then tomorrow we’ll do a tour of the medina of Marrakesh, including a cooking class at one of the Riads, and then have free time in the afternoon. Tomorrow evening we’ll be visiting a huge square in the heart of the medina and tasting food from the vendors there.

I’ve included some of my favourite pics that I haven’t yet posted here today since I didn’t take many pictures from our travel day today.

Honestly, the days are starting to all run into each other. Some have been long with travel and others long with amazing activities.

Today we left our hotel in the new part of the city to go by bus, just 15 minutes to the medina (the old walled city with gate openings on various sides) with a local tour guide. He was a fantastic story teller and like the others before him, we learned so much.

Today’s challenge walking through the medina was motorscooters. The land is flat here, with no steps and the alleyways wide enough to allow them to be the main mode of transportation in the medina rather than the donkeys they use in Fes. And they go ridiculously fast down this alleys so one needs to have their wits about them and stay to the right as much as possible, while following the guide, not stubbing your toes on cobble stones, taking pictures and taking it all in. Ha, another day of adventure.

We stopped first to see the Koutoubia Mosque minaret in the Kasbah – a fortified area where administration of the city, armoury and barracks were. It is one of three sister mosque minarets including one we’ve seen while visiting Spain. You can see at the top of the minaret, the pointer indicating east to Mecca.

We walked through more of the winding alley ways, dodging motor scooters to the Saadian necropolis. This complex was hidden from view from when it was built back in the 17th century (I think) until the French took over Morocco in 1917. They were flying over the area and saw the structures covered in brush and dirt, but could tell there was something there. They built a small tunnel into the complex and unearthed this area where Saadian Sultan Ahmed al Monsour Ed Bahb and his wives and children and special people were buried. The guide explained that the bodies were buried on their sides, with the body facing Mecca in their last sign of respect.

We were supposed to visit the Bahia Palace, the King’s palace in Marrakesh which he doesn’t visit very often, but there was an unscheduled closure today for a wedding apparently for a wealthy American. So let me know if you hear anything on the news about someone famous being married in Marrakesh today!

We visited a shop where they sell all sorts of natural spices and healing agents that they have been using for generations. They described each of them and offered back and foot massages, and after all the steps we’ve taken over cobble stones in the last few days I opted to treat my feet. You knew those toenails would put in an appearance didn’t you? The shop did a fine business from our group and it was really nice to buy our spices over a cup of mint tea, in the comfort of this shop instead of in the bustling alleys.

We walked deeper into the medina to a small guest house with an opening to the sky over the courtyard. The guide explained it was like a riad but technically a riad has to have a fountain and garden in the courtyard. None the less it was lovely and cool inside while it was starting to get really hot outside. It was forecast to hit 37 degrees and when you got out of the medina and darkened alleys, you could certainly feel it.

We were ushered into a room upstairs in the riad where we met the wonderful chef who would lead us through preparing our own lunch. Small tajine pots with wonderfully smelling spices were set along the centre of the table along with a cutting board for each of us. After we were properly attired (apron, hair net, gloves) we each got a chance to participate in the slicing and dicing and preparing some part of the meal. I made the eggplant dish, called Zalouk, following her great instructions. It took an hour or so and we made the Zalouk, a cabbage salad, a pepper salad, and chicken tajine. Mike from Australia became known as “chicken chef”, a nickname I fear he will wear for the rest of the trip. Every one was game to do their bit and we had a lot of laughs along the way, and even the presentation was done to perfection.

We retired to the dining room on the main level and enjoyed the rewards of our hard work. One of the best meals we’ve had!

We had the option of staying in the medina or heading back to the hotel for a rest before heading back in to the main square of Marrakesh Jamaa el-fna tonight to sample some street food (from vendors who the guide knows are safe). I opted to head back to the hotel. It was getting really hot and quite frankly I was terrified I’d never find my way out! I’m so enjoying the culture, the food, the history, the food, the people, the food, the smells, the sounds, the food… you get my point. It’s definitely sensory overload, but in a good way. Also makes you appreciate a nap in the afternoon.

So off for a shower before heading out for more adventure. Not taking my camera tonight but may take my phone. So may or may not have more pics to add.

Today was an amazing day. We spent the whole day in and around the medina in Fes. The sights, sounds, smells, and tastes were a surreal experience. We had a local guide for the day who was a hoot. He had a sense of humour and he imparted a vast amount of knowledge and given that there are 9000 alleyways in the medina, and he navigated us through 15% of it, and didn’t lose anyone I’d say it was a successful day.

We started with a walk through the Jewish neighbourhood, the largest and oldest in Morocco, which dated back to the 14th century. When they were expelled form Spain in the 1400s, many of them moved to Morocco and Fes had the largest Jewish neighbourhood in all of Africa. The guide pointed out the Moorish architecture in this neighbourhood as being different to what we would see later in the medina. Shops weren’t quite open yet as they open late and stay open late at night to take advantage of the cooler temperatures. In 1948 when the Israel was established, the majority of them abandoned their homes in Fes and moved to Israel.

Our next stop was a photo op at the gates of the King’s palace in Fes. He wasn’t in residence at the moment as he was on holiday, but since his beautiful wife is from Fes, he apparently does spent quite a lot of time here. I hope at some point to have time to talk about the things we’ve learned about the current King.

We then boarded our bus to head up to a fort or Kasbah up on a hill to get an overview of the whole medina area. It was amazing to see the buildings winding through the valley.

We then went to a co-op organized by the government in order to preserve the traditional methods of making amazing mosaics and ceramics. The patience of the artisans is incredible, especially the ones making multi-shaped mosaic pieces and the ones putting the patterns together. Some of them have thousands of pieces and they have to be placed upside down in the correct pattern and the correct colour by memory. I made a couple of small purchases, but could have spent Gillian’s inheritance if I’d had more time.

The bus then took us to another entrance to the medina and we walked through more of the narrow, winding alleys, sometimes short ceilings looking at all the things for sale. This is a tourist destination for sure, but a lot of the areas we walked through were where the locals were buying their meat, vegetables, fruit, clothing, shoes, getting sewing done, etc. Basically a mall of shops, each only 8×8 feet and in a labyrinth of alleyways.

We passed by one of the oldest universities in the world, started by the Fatima, wife of one of the Kings. I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten which one, and no time to take notes walking through the medina. Between watching your step, and your head, (yes, even those vertically challenged ones), and looking around, it was quite the sensory overload. Next past the area where they hammered and sold copper, and then on to the tannery area. What an interesting experience. They scrape the hides, preserve them, dye them, and finally make them into amazing leather products. I’ve never seen so many leather jackets in one place. I had read how stinky it was, and when they handed us mint to put under our noses if the smell bothered us I have to admit to being a little worried. But it wasn’t that bad. Sure wouldn’t want to work there though. They get paid by the piece and so work fast and long hours and it was really hot today.

We had lunch at a restaurant in the medina, which was standard “salad” and I tried the Fes specialty, Pastilla today. It was really good. Chicken in a pastry with almonds, cinnamon and sugar.

Then we headed to see a demonstration of weaving. A very different loom (not sure they call it that), than I have seen elsewhere. They use the standard wool, cotton and a vegetable one, made from the agave plant. They cut pieces of the plant are stripped and in the centre is a strong fibre that they call plant silk. I knew when they opened a beautiful blue one that it was coming home with me. It’s the blue color of Fes, so it was meant to be.

Then we moved on to a calligraphy class. It was really interesting and surprisingly calming. We learned about the tools and how to make the proper spaces, etc. And then the calligraphy master did each of our names in Arabic symbols. The top part is my name, the middle part is his signature and the bottom is the year.

Sorry I wasn’t more poetic, but it’s 11:38 and I still have to add the pics to the post and go back to my room and pack as we leave at 8 am. So that’s all for tonight. I’ll fill you in on the riotous evening we had which included food, a belly dancer and a wedding involving several people from our group.