Marrakech and environs

Ok, so I have kinda lost track of time/dates etc... It has been a whirlwind of activity the last 7 days and am behind on postings... So last week we went to Marrakech.

Walked to a mosque in the AM one day, non Muslims aren't allowed inside. Can't find the picture at the moment, so you can use your imagination!

Let's take a short tour of the medina, shall we?

First is an blacksmith making a iron screen, Note that that screens behind him are not soldered or welded but held together with tabs. We'll see more of that up close on the Ouarzazte kasbah post.

Next, we have what I like to call the rainbow. Scarves and a handpainted table.

A man making handmade string instruments.

Recently dyed yarn drying before being used to make rugs.

I have MANY more pics of the medinas we have visited and will try to post them in short order. 

Volubilis

We went to Volubilis (6/27) which is near Meknes. The site was settled as early as the 3rd century BCE (Before Common Era) and prospered to 40 CE (Common Era a.k.a. AD). The Romans annexed the town in 45 CE. 

It is an odd town, with mixes of Roman, Greek and Berber architecture elements.

It was known for it's olive oil production. Below is an industrial olive press for making the oil.

Volubilis is also known for beautiful mosaics. They are unfortunatley being damaged by the elements as they are uncovered and are also not guarded, so easily walked upon by uncaring tourists.

The art and architecture is unusual in this odd city, as there are elements of Roman, Greek and Berber art elements. For instance, the columns have Greek tops (Corinthian style), with Roman style bottoms, then there are Berber symbols (wheat, flowers etc.)

One interesting animal fact is that storks (not sure what kind) winter here (though some stay year round), and they build thier massive nests everywhere, in the highest spots... this particular stork (below) has built their nest (they are monogamous) on top of one of the old columns! In a true display of being a good neighbor, sparrows nest in the bottom part of the nest.

So, the bus broke down yesterday, turning a 9 hour drive into 12 hours... Niiiice. Still not much time to post, as we are in Ouarzazate today and on the way to Merzouga (will get to ride a camel there! :-)

Will catch up on posts when I get back to Ifrane in a couple days... 

Ang

Donkey Hospital!!!

We are in Marrakech... I am behind on posts since I am currently using Casey's computer, I don't want to monopolize her computer to do the long posts I want/need to do. I still need to blog about Volubilis, before I blog about Marrakech. I'll get to it, I promise!

Just a quick note that I am going (alone!! yeah!!) to the SPANA donkey hospital this morning. Quite excited about that!!

There is a new post (July 27), that I just now posted (a few posts below this one).

Different perspectives

The address the to the UCLA Fulbright GPA Morocco blog to give you other people's perspectives... the posts I put on that blog are copies of the ones I put here, so nothing new from me there...

10 things about Morocco you probably don't know...

A quick post while I am Marrakech. I actually wrote this up several days ago.

So thought y'all might be curious about some of the basic everyday things here in Morocco which seem mundane to the locals, but somewhat interesting to us Americans...

1. The currency is the dirham, which at the moment has an exchange rate of  ~ 8 dirhams to 1 US dollar. Basic pricing for a few items:

"local" beer: 30 - 35 dirhams = ~ $4

Budweiser: 80 dirham

small bottle of water: less than 10 dirham = abit more than ~ $1.5

leather sandals I had to buy our first day: 150 dirham

100% cotton embroidered shirt also bought the first day: 90 dirham = less than ~ $11

2. Morocco is an absolute monarchy, though is considered "democratic" in the sense that there is a Parliament. But with close to 35 different political parties, no one party ever has a majority... Smart thinking on the king's part, no?

3. The official language is Arabic, but most people also know French.  Arabic here is different from Arabic spoken other places, with the Moroccan Arabic called Darijii (sp?). The Amazight (Berber) people speak Tamazight. Some Spanish is also spoken (mostly in Tangiers), while English is usually only spoken by the upper-class and those involved with the tourist industry. Most people here speak Arabic and French, but than can be said for mono-linguistic Americans.

4. Air Maroc sucks.

5. The capital is Rabaat, but airlines fly into/out of Casablanca which is the largest city in Morocco.

6. The movie Casablanca was not filmed in Morocco, there is no Rick's Bar, so you can't ask Sam to play it again...

7. Not all the women cover themselves in hijab... you'll see women on the street in anything from a form fitting short-sleeve dress and heels to capris, a t-shirt and sandals, to the full length "robe",  all worn with or without head cover...

8. You must bargain/haggle for most anything you buy... Bargaining is expected. Can be lots of fun actually, as the vendors way over inflate their prices, so you give the shocked face and tell them how crazy that price is and then you low-ball them... then they laugh and say no it really is worth that much, so you laugh and walk away, then they shout out a better price... and on and on it goes until you both reach an agreed upon price, usually quite abit lower than the original one. But let's but honest, as a tourist/ traveler, you will never get the Moroccan price.

9. The people are incredibly diverse ethnically... I'll go more into later.

10. Moroccan mint tea is SWEET (gives Georgia sweet ice tea a run for it's money) and should never be refused if offered. 

Oh, and an extra one for you:

11. Did I mention that Air Maroc can suck it? :-)

12000 horses

Disclaimer: I am still trying to figure out how to post pics to this blog, so sorry if the page seems out of sorts! If you know how to work blogs, let me know! Thanks.

Finally! A short trip to someplace less isolated and less Western feeling than the university... as an aside Ifrane (location of the uni) is called Little Switzerland... so that should give you some idea of what it is like... built by the French as a resort town in the 1920s.

Anyhow, we arrived in Meknes yesterday and after dropping bags at the hotel, we got back on the bus for a quick tour of Meknes and the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail. Meknes is a large city (1 mil people I think)... the old medina (city) has the longest emcompassing wall of any city in the world at 25 mi total!

The gate we saw (there are 3) is called the Bab el-Khemis (Thursday Gate) pic above, called so because of the Thursday market that drew people to the medina. A lovely gate, with same aeration holes all throughout where swallows and chickadees have made their homes. Lucky birds!

We then drove to see the stables and graineries of Moulay Ismail. Moulay Ismail was a great sultan, who ruled for 55 years (1672-1727)... to put that in perspective, he was a contemporary of French King Louis XIV (14th). We couldn't go inside the structure, but was told that Moulay Ismail stabled 12,000 horses! My kind of guy! :-)

The Mausoleum of the Moulay Ismail was next (above). A beautiful structure, containing 3 rooms with wonderful zellij (geometric tilework), fountains and carved cedar wood ceilings. Although we could go inside, we weren't able to go into the actual room where the tombs are located.

We walked through the medina, which I loved. I love markets. Here is a shot of a man stoking the hammam fires by throwing sawdust in the fire...

We took a group photo in front of one the medina gates, and one of our guides was taking our pic with my camera, when a little old lady comes toddling by slowly in between him and us... we wait for her to cross, but she stops in front of Youness and tells him in Arabic "take my picture!" So he did... funny because she was very adamant and didn't ask for money!

The Fulbright GPA Morocco gang! 

L to R front row: Maceo, Jen, Manny, Jenny, Angela, Azeb. L to R back row: Beate, David, Sherry, Laura, Sylvia, our Meknes guide Abdellah, Casey, Carol, Julani, Shondale.

A small request: PLEASE ask me questions via the blog comments... Admittedly, they are keeping us very busy, so sometimes when I get time to blog, I am soooo brain dead, I have no idea what to write here... Odd, no? So I need your feedback as to what you want to read about!! Hopefully it will be easier to post pictures in the near future...

Next post: Volubilis