New post from July 8

Just now getting around to posting this from July 8. I have at least three more posts in the queue waiting to have pictures added to be posted. Be patient!  

I have MANY more pics from the medinas we have visited, and will try to post them in short order. However, I may have to finish this blog after I get home... I am off to Rabat and Casablanca in about 30 minutes, so need to go for now! 

Hammama-mama

So while in Fez, Casey and I decided to go to hammam. Casey's description is quite brilliant, so I won't waste my words, just click on her link below. No pictures, thankfully, to share!

http://caseyqrt.blogspot.com/2009/07/hammam.html

Off-roading, Moroccan style

Yes, yes... I know You have already heard about my trip to the desert. But here are my pics. No sunrise, sunset... I took pics, but it was partly cloudy, so no good pics worth sharing.

Our tents. Traditional nomadic, with woven camel hair, wool, rugs...

I now know why they wear it like this... sand gets EVERYWHERE. My camera equipment will never be the same.

Traditional Gnawa singers and musicians.

The view from the topside! I had an awesome camel. She was very sweet and let me scritch her face!

Fennec fox prints (they are nocturnal, so no luck in seeing them) early in the AM. And lastly, the amazing feet of the camel... really so perfect for their job.

The ocean in the desert

So, on the way to Merzouga, we stopped at a fossil store. What, you say? Fossils in the desert, at the beginning of the Sahara? But, of course! Back in the day of the dinosaurs, this part of Morocco was underwater. I kid you not. Take a look at some of the pictures, and you will see shells and sea-like creatures fossilized in the rock... They are called Orthoceras

Why did the camel cross the road?

To get to the watering hole, of course! As we were on our way to Merzouga (the desert), we came across this camel driver and his herd. He kindly let us take pics.

This one in particular, liked to flap her lips/ head after every drink. Pretty funny.

The blonde one was my fav, she nuzzled my hand. :-)

Don't know how those camel babies don't get cricks in their necks!

Dades and the Gorges

The drive is long between Ouarzazte and Merzouga, so we stopped in Dades. This country is amazingly diverse, so you can see the dry red sand but then we toured an oasis. It seems that families each have their own plot to grow and cultivate whatever they wish, and there's a pretty extensive irrigation system (from the Dades River).

Amazing what they can and do grow there: beets, rutabaga, corn, squash, tomatoes, alfalfa, almond trees, date palm trees, pomegrante, figs, and more!

PICS

At one point, Youness (our guide) and I were at the back of the line and a little old man stopped us and begins talking to Youness. He wanted us to see his garden, so we followed him a few steps and he led us behind the mud walls and there was his beautful garden, full of all the wonderful things growing. Next thing I know though, this sprite tosses off his sandals and scurries up the nearest date palm to the top!!

Turns out, Youness asks him how old he was... He said proudly 75! To give perspective, Youness is alittle over 6 ft tall.

So after about an hour in the oasis, we head to the Gorges. A really neat place where families gather to swim, picnic, relax etc. We had a nice lunch there.

Love the water wings on this kid!

Ait Benhaddou

About 19 miles north of Ouarzazte, the ksar (fortified city) of Ait Benhaddou backs up to a large hill. This location has been used for many films, including Gladiator. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. And, yes, we climbed all the way to the top.

The kasbah's crenallated towers are decorated with blind arches and geometric designs in negative relief. Today there are only 10 families living here.

Like the kasbah in Ouarzazte, it is also made of mud bricks.

On the way down there was a guy painting and selling watercolors using only saffron, henna, tea and indigo. Here he has painted on the paper with tea, and in order to get it to show up, he has to warm/ slightly burn the back of the paper. Pretty cool, huh?

We stopped at an Amazighen Women's Weaving Co-op also that day. Here, a lady is hand knotting a rug. Lots of work, and very much worth it's expensive price tag.

Ouarzazte - The Kasbah

So, as mentioned previously before, the bus broke down on the way to Ouarzazte, I was one of the people that was welcomed into the Imazighen family home **. I don't have any pics of that available, hence no real post about it. But I will say that they were the kindest people, serving us mint tea. Showing us their home. Then making us bread and rabbit stew. When we told her that we had to get back to the bus (it was fixed), and couldn't eat, she was DEFLATED. So we all agreed to stay for just a bite and her smile quickly returned, brighter than before. It is pretty much required that if something is offered, you should accept.

** as a side note, you'll notice in Carol's post referenced above, she uses the term Berber. Berber is an acceptable term to use in this day and age, however it was given to this group of people by the Romans and means "barbaric". I prefer to use the term Imazighen (Amazigh is singular) as that is what they call themselves. It means Free People.

So, on to Ouarzazte. The next morning, we went to the Glaoui Taourirt Kasbah. Such a beautiful place. Kasbah means castle in Spanish.

Some beautiful iron work screens in the windows, all done by hand held together by tabs.


It is a lovely place, but unfortunate to see it in its deteriorating state. In one room, we came upon recent graffiti carved into the walls.

The walls are very thick, made of mud brick. With all the ventilation, it's not so bad inside temperature-wise. Speaking of ventilation, in this next pic, the small holes below the window are for just that when the window shutters are closed. A/C of sorts!

Goats in trees

So on July 2, we headed to Essaouria and stopped at an Argon Oil Women's Cooperative. Argon oil is used in cooking and cosmetics, and as you will see from the pictures, not so easy to produce.

First, the argon tree:

Yes, those are goats in the tree. They like to eat the argon nut.

Once the nut has dried well, the outer shell must first be removed. This outer shell is used as a fire fuel. Then the second layer is removed. This layer is used as animal food. (sorry no close ups of this, but I am bringing home an argon nut!) All the ladies do it by hand with a stone...

Then you finally get to the meaty part used for the oil.

This last pic is of the nuts being ground (by hand and a heavy stone, you'll notice... the nuts are dropped in the hole in the middle and as the woman turns the stone the nuts get ground up).

And this was just a random donkey on the street waiting for his owner to finish lunch. Aren't those the fuzziest ears EVER? Too stinkin' cute!

Essaouira

Awesome place. Wish we had stayed longer. Just wanted to share some pics.

Oh, and this was on the way to Essa... Such awesomeness. Three (you can't see one, but I assure you there were three!!) in the bed of a small pickup.

And a side note to tell you all know that it is much harder to post these blogs without your own personal computer: the keyboards are AZERTY instead of QWERTY (left top five letter keys on your keyboard), which makes all letters out of wack and the extra stuff hard to do as well (i.e. the @ symbol is not above the number 2, but rather on the far right middle above the shift key), so typing takes twice as long... AND the fact that I have to go though all my pics on my viewer before I can post them to the computer... So, that said I am trying to get stuff up as quickly as possible! :-)

I kissed Obama!!!!!

Seriously, I did!!! It happened while we were in Marrakech. Call all the tabloids, there will be a scandal I assure you! If only because I really, really wanted to take him home with me... Scroll down for the pictures.

Meet Obama:

Adorable, no? He is the unofficial mascot of SPANA. He is about 4 - 5 weeks old. He is named, of course after our president, and the fact that he is the symbol of the Democratic party. His mother died of pneumonia. :-( So, he will stay at SPANA to help educate the local kids.

SPANA is a wonderful, wonderful organization. They educate animal owners and local school children about how to properly take care of animals. Sad, but true that it needs to be taught... It has been the highlight of my trip so far.

Not only do they take care of equids, but also dogs and cats.

Their services are strictly for those who cannot afford care for their animals. They also take care of injured strays (dogs and cats), who are then available for adoption. They have a free spay/neuter program, of which all the potential adoptees take part (though I can imagine some take part not so willingly!)! And there are a few storks running around the grounds who were injured and can no longer take care of themselves in the wild.

Here's Obama making sure I am filling out the donation form properly. He's so stinking cute!

Chez Ali: Arabic DisneyLand on crack

I don't have much to stay about this place, so will send you to Casey's very good description of the evening we had there...

You'll note she's more update on her blog... the advantages of having your own computer on the trip...

Best part of the night for me was getting to see some Barb horses (and a few Arabians)... The bottom pic is of them re-enacting a Fantasia, hence the fake gunfire... Unfortunately, no real Fantasias while I am here.