oookay, let’s get this second installment going!
as a precursor to this next bit, let me just say that,
generally, i stay as far away from guided tours as i possibly can. in nearly
every circumstance, i prefer to do the planning myself and enjoy every moment
of the exploration once i get to a new place… but i had one item on my moroccan
must-do list that was basically impossible for me to accomplish without paying
some kind of professional, and that was to ride a camel. preferably in the
saharan desert. so, early in the morning on our third day in marrakech, lauren
and i crept down the dark stairs of our hotel and waited for the quiet knock of
our tour company’s representative, who was sent to retrieve us. we followed him
down the street to the plaza where all the tour vans were parked, waiting for
the droves of tourists who were leaving that day on various excursions. after a
slight hiccup with the number of passengers in our first van (no, 16 people is
not the same as 15, and no, you cannot just “squeeze” in the back), we joined a
different group and started to get acquainted with our new friends. there were
three germen men, two chinese guys, an italian couple (shout out to fred and
maria vittoria!), an indian girl, a girl from vancouver, and us. we’d chosen
the two day / one night excursion, which ended up meaning a whole lot of van
time and not much outside time… you live and you learn, i guess. but when
you’re driving through the high atlas mountains, a view from the window is still
pretty awe-inspiring!
we stopped a few times on the way out to the desert, most
notably at the fortified city of ait ben haddou – famous for being the city to film any movie with a middle
eastern / african / sometimes ancient roman vibe. we’re talking lawrence of
arabia, prince of persia, gladiator, even game of thrones… and despite all
that, the handful of families that still live in this ancient kasbah do so
without running water or electricity. after that afternoon spot, we high-tailed
it out to the city of zagora, which was our last stop in “civilization” before
the camel portion of our trek. when we pulled up to the dirt lot where our
camels were waiting, about five miles outside of zagora, i felt this little
twinge of excitement – one of those “i am about to do this, and it is something
awesome” feelings. we loaded up the “saddle” bags (woven bags draped on either
side of a few camels) and hopped up. and i say “hopped” because i literally had
to jump a little bit, even with the camel kneeling down… those things are
enormous! when mine finally stood up, my head was about 15 feet off the ground.
which was slightly disconcerting at first, but the awesome vantage point it
gave me to look out over the expansive landscape quickly outweighed any
uneasiness i felt. and to top it off, we set out to our camp just as the sun
was setting, which was a miraculously beautiful sight. the camel trek lasted
about an hour and a half, which meant that by the end of it, the sky was pitch
black in all directions, and filled with more stars that i have ever seen. we
saw a few lights off in the distance, but eventually, we were walking towards
one tiny glow on the horizon, and i felt like i was almost riding through the
sky. the fact that our guide knew exactly where to walk in the dark like that
was incredible.
when we arrived at the camp, we put our bags in the tents and
sat for a bit of mint tea. then, the other guides had dinner waiting (harira
soup and tajines, what else) so we spent the evening socializing around the
tables, first with food and then with hookahs, before eventually moving outside
to listen to some berber music around the campfire. in the morning, i woke up
eaaaarly to watch the sun rise over the dunes by myself… and it was arguably
even more breathtaking than the sunset. the light was so soft and everything
had a sort of magical glow about it; the pictures did not do it justice. once
everyone else in the camp had woken up, we had a quick breakfast of leftover
bread and jam, with the ever-present mint tea, and then loaded up the camels
for the return journey. i enjoyed soaking up the sounds and sights of the
waking desert as we made our way to the rendez-vous point. from there, it was
van time basically all the way back to marrakech! after a little refresh in the
hostel room, lauren and i went and got dinner and tea with the italian couple,
which was so fun! they are wonderful, and we had a great time talking for
several hours – a fabulous way to end our time in marrakech!
after a comical, three-stooges-esque train ride (let’s just
say the concept of a train “selling out” doesn’t exist, and neither does
personal space, or personal hygiene), the next stop was fez, the cultural and
spiritual capital of morocco; it also has one of the oldest and largest medinas
in africa, and boasts several universities, one of which is certified by UNESCO
as the oldest in the world! we stayed with a friend of connor’s, in a super
cool riad tucked into the medina. ethan and his housemates were, like everyone
else we encountered in morocco, exceedingly hospitable and generous. we had a
blast getting to know them during our short stay – cooking dinner together,
trying new restaurants (i highly
recommend café clock if you’re ever in fez), and exploring the medina… which is
absolutely enormous, and rather confusing until you get the hang of it. while
we were only there for two full days, i really got the feeling that fez was the
most “authentic” place we went. of course, there are plenty of tourists, but as
you walk around the souk in the evening, you can see everyone going about their
daily lives – buying food for dinner, greeting their neighbors, coming in and
out of the mosques. it seemed less like a tourist trap (like marrakech) and
more just like a glimpse into the inner workings of a city that has stood the
tests of time.
i also had the distinct realization in fez that moroccan
culture, like so many other cultures in the world, is decidedly not one of
waste. especially in the food/animal department… when a sheep is slaughtered,
for example, the wool is used to make fabric, the skin is used for the leather
goods you see for sale in the medina, the meat is sent a few streets over to
the butcher stalls, and even the innards are given to the cats that roam the
streets. it seems gruesome at first, when you spot a pile of skins, or a row of
whatever body part (heads were particularly disconcerting), or a cat nibbling
on some intestines… but then, it becomes almost comforting. i found myself
enjoying the peace of mind that comes from watching the butcher grind your meat
in front of you – there can be no questions as to what went into that kilo of
kefta. and the leather flats that you buy haven’t moved more than 50 meters in
their little, inanimate lives, because the tannery is just around the corner and
the man you just paid is the man who made those shoes, probably a just few days
before. it’s a far cry from the distanced, thoughtless consumerism we have in
america, in all the best ways.
the coolest thing we did in fez, though, was going to the
hammam. a hammam is a traditional public bathhouse… and talk about a real,
moroccan experience. we got up close and personal with a steaming room full of
mostly (if not completely) naked women, and had the top layer of skin basically
stripped from our bodies in the process. the hammam is an interesting way to
see the other side of the relatively conservative culture of the outside world.
inside the safety of the hammam doors (there are no men inside during female
hours, and vice versa), the women are free to show parts of themselves that
never see the light of day. and i noticed that there was basically no evidence
of any kind of self-conscious body language; the overall attitude was just,
“yep, we’re all ladies here, we have the same parts, it doesn’t matter how they’re
shaped.” if only just for that reason, it was something you’d never see in the
states, and it was a really nice feeling. the other important service the
hammam provides is purely social – for some of the women, it’s their only
outing for the week, and they take advantage of the total freedom of expression
that the privacy offers to chat freely with their friends and neighbors. plus,
on top of all that, you get SO clean. despite the kind of grimy atmosphere (a
very, very hot tile room constantly sloshed with water that you draw in buckets
from a tub, the soap/skin/whatever else running off bodies onto the floor where
you’re sitting), i have never felt so exfoliated and clean. we paid the extra
few dirhams to have the resident hammam lady scrub us with the little black
mitts we’d bought earlier… and she did not mess around. i was glowing like a
lobster by the end of it, but it felt great! she also washed and brushed my
hair for me, which is my #1 favourite thing. so, all in all, a fantastically
entertaining and eye-opening experience.
i keep writing too much!! this will have to do for now – the
final part will follow! pictures from this installment are here, beginning with number 67!
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