I haven’t written in a while and that’s because I’ve been busy seeing the country or too exhausted to write - taking naps during most of the downtime. There’s a lot of driving involved on this trip, and for some reason I find myself nodding off once I get inside the van. It could be because it’s been 85-106F most days or the fact that car rides rock a person to sleep. But Khalid, our tour guide, has the trips planned well and we stop periodically for a city or market tour, coffee break, or just a photo stop, so the time goes by quickly.
We had a local tour guide in Meknes and in Fez to tour the Medinas. It was Friday, the holy rest day, when we walked through the mostly empty Meknes streets. The city is being renovated, so a bunch of the walls have been painted and new, ornate wooden doors added to homes. We first walked through what was once an old Palace, but has since been turned into local homes and shops. If I lived in the Medina, I would for sure move to this neighborhood. Everything was clean, including the white stone walkways.
The Medina in Fez was very busy with a souk in the middle selling everything you could think of- Jewelry, clothing, food, shoes, etc. We visited a leather tannery and learned how leather bags and jackets are made. The tannery was outside and when we entered the shop, I was confused about the sprig of mint handed to me, but once near the tanning pools, I figured out real fast it was to breathe in as you watched men dunk the leather into colored vats of pigeon poop to soften the hides and dye them. Smelled awful, but the products were very pretty and mailable.
The Canadians and Mary tried Camel burgers in Meknes, while the local BBQ man- everyone in town brings him their meat and he will cook it for you in certain spices- made Robby and I turkey burgers. They tasted ok, but it was a dry rub and no mayo or wet sauces. The others said their camel taste like a dense meat. In Fez, we were shepherded to a touristy restaurant, but after sitting down and realizing we were 1) not very hungry, and 2) did want to pay the tourist food prices, we as a group, left the restaurant with the waiters perplexed.
We told our guide we were going to find a small snack shop and get a sharwma, which he semi didn’t mind (pretty sure he gets commission if we ate at the fancy place). But as we walked the narrow alleys we didn’t see any food places. A local directed us to a closed shop, another tried to take us back to the restaurant, and a random Intrepid tour guide wanted to call Khalid because he didn’t understand why we were out and about unchaperoned. It was slightly sad, but kind of funny how everyone thought we were hapless when we just wanted a little independence and cheap food. Apparently most people on the Intrepid tour just go were they are lead, but our group prefers to wander and actually immerse ourselves into the culture.
I found a fruit shop and convinced everyone to get fruit smoothies- fresh squeezed oranges, pineapple, and peaches. The shop owner found us a table and chairs and we enjoyed people watching and talking to an unofficial guide who eventually figured out we were already on a tour and he wouldn’t get a commission from us. Khalid and our guide found us eventually and after being refreshed by the fruit sugar and cool drink, we continued on our way to see a rug shop and a old university.
On our way to the Sahara desert, we stopped for the night at an interesting hotel resort place with a pool, restaurant, and castle looking building that housed our rooms. We thought about the pool, but a lot of kids were splashing about, so Robby and I followed a spray-painted sign saying “Parc” through a heavy green gate and out into the desert. In front of us was a wide open sandy plateau with southwest looking zigarat mountains. We passed by a huge turkey herding some chickens and a rooster across the path, and almost stepped on a turtle crossing the road. Two back jokes since in real life.
We came to a junction that said “Lake” and River”, choose the river route, but never found the river. We did pass a garden and notice we were in a sort of dry brush park with views of plains and the lake was to the left of us. Since a storm was approaching, the weather cooled, and it was an enjoyable pre-walk, as Khalid took us into the mountains and lead us on an 1 1/2 hour tour of a local Berber village. Berber’s are the semi nomadic Moroccan people. Some of the earliest settlers, who have since been colonized and live in villages and half converted to Islam.
In Midelt, a modern town of 55,000 citizens, many of the people live in the hills and hidden valleys of the surrounding areas and have farms and orchards. We started our hike on a random road that lead through an apple and fig orchard, into the village made of adobe (clay and hay) houses, up a small hill to the edge of a cliff looking down at a very baby Grand Canyon, and then up over the slate rock hill to the van waiting up the road. It looked like we popped out in the middle of nowhere, so I bet there are more hidden villages all over the place.
Once back at the strange resort-like hotel, we had a lovely dinner as a thunderstorm rolled in and then headed to bed.
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