Morocco ramblings

It snowed my first day in Ifrane and again my last week here.  Worse than that, Kasey wasn't feeling well, so she stayed home with Ruby and I ventured out to do laundry and go grocery shopping.  I like the babysitting part better.  Petit taxis are the main means of local transportation, as opposed to grande taxis which run intercity routes.  To go grocery shopping, I walked ten minutes to the gate of the university to get a petit taxi to the marche (market).  After shopping at the various stalls, I took a petit taxi back and hiked back up the hill to our apartment building.  I realize that this is not a big deal for people on the East Coast, but I have not been in snow in twenty years.

Returning from the Marche

Walking to the laundry on campus

On Thursday I left Ifrane for Fez where I had my second annual dinner with the Ullmans' in a random part of the world (last year was Thailand).  This is a selfie Michael took in front of the Blue Gate to the Fez medina, and one of me shopping for rugs.  I bought a rug but did not want to carry it, so I paid for shipping.  All cash.  Receipt?  We don't need no stinkin' receipt.  I don't even know the carpet seller's name.  Maybe it will show up sometime next month.





John sent me some pictures he took in Chefchaouen, so blue town redux.  I don't have a picture of all of us together, but I do have all of us.









This morning I took the train from Fez to Tangier for a quick overnight before flying to London tomorrow.  Tangier is underwhelming after Fez and Marrakech.  On the plus side, the second language here is Spanish, not French, so I can communicate again.  I understood French better than I thought I would, but could barely speak.

Morocco is like many of the countries I have visited:  poor, lacking in infrastructure, and corrupt.  But I did not find it as charming as other countries and have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why.  Is it a subtle prejudice because it is an Arab/Moslem country?  Kasey has another theory that a tourist would not see.  She is clearly affected by the frustration of living in a very inefficient, autocratic country.

Actually, Morocco is all Moslem but only forty percent Arab.  The Berber natives are still the majority.  There never was a Berberia, however; Berber is a corruption of "barbarian" which is what the Romans called the natives.  Although almost all women and a lot of girls wear head coverings, many do not, and few wear face coverings.  Moroccans are quite tolerant of the practice of Islam by others.

Unlike many African countries, Morocco is extremely fertile.  I believe it may be self-sufficient in agriculture and it exports quite a lot to Europe.  The Sahara is in the south, but as I rode by the northern half of the country, I saw endless orchards and green fields.  But ... I almost never saw anyone working in the fields.  Also, the "farmhouses" were shanties, like the housing in much of the country.  I was told that most of the farms are small and family owned, but I also read that large agribusiness has made farming uneconomical for small farmers sending young people to the cities.  I never could figure out how the fields were so green with no one working.

Similarly, I saw signs of construction everywhere - houses, whole developments, roads, and bridges - but almost no one working.  Kasey said they would run out of money and stop working.  So lots of partially constructed houses just sitting.  They have been "working" on widening the road from Fez to Ifrane for the entire time that Kasey and John have been here, but the construction has barely progressed.  During my hour long ride to Fez today, I saw three individual construction vehicles with crews of two or three men for a construction project of about 50 kilometers.

One other thing I saw along the roads all the time:  flocks of sheep grazing on the narrow strip between the fields and the road.  Most of the flocks were fewer than twenty sheep with a single shepherd.  Larger flocks had two shepherds.  Occasionally a cowherd tended one to three cows.  I have decided that the most boring job in the world is to be a shepherd in Morocco.  You stand there all day long making sure the sheep do not go onto the road.  I did see one smart shepherd with earbuds in.

When I was in Antigua, Guatemala a few years ago, I was impressed by the colonial architecture:  very narrow, uneven sidewalks with stucco buildings right up to the sidewalks.  But when you walked inside, beautiful courtyards and interiors.  Then I went to Seville last month and realized that "colonial" style was Spanish.  Duh.  The same narrow sidewalks with forbidding building facades.  Then I came to Morocco and realized that Spanish style is "Moorish."  Duh.  The streets here are narrow and winding, often with no sidewalks at all.  The buildings are continuous, with closed doors and shuttered windows.  The outside gives no clue as to the interiors.  Traditional houses have courtyards planted with trees and gardens.  All of the rooms open on to the courtyard so there is no need for exterior windows.

In Southeast Asia, I noticed that life was lived outside.  Houses were very small with no living rooms or big screen tv's.  There were always people outside - eating, shopping, or just hanging out - giving every city and village a lively feel.  The houses in Morocco keep people inside.  The living rooms are lined with huge sofas, and I saw satellite dishes on most roofs.  There is no tradition of eating out here.  Men still sit in cafes for hours talking and drinking coffee, but the restaurants are almost exclusively for the tourists.

I also was impressed with the Giralda, the huge square minaret in Seville.  Then I saw the original- the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech which was built in the twelfth century.  All mosques in Morocco and southern Spain have the distinctive and beautiful square minarets.

The Koutoubia Mosque

The guidebook says that if you get lost in the medina, you can pay a kid a few dirham to help you find your way.  I tried that in Marrakech a few times, but whatever I paid the kid, he threw back at me and said it wasn't enough.  After a while, I realized that kids (all boys) hang out looking for tourists to "help."  They always started by telling me I was going the wrong way without asking where I was going.  I hired a private guide one day and asked him how much I should pay the kids.  First he said I should not pay, that they should just be helpful.  Right.  I told him my experience of the kids demanding more than I paid.  Of course, he said, that's natural.  If you offered $500 they would want more; if you offered $1,000 they would want more; if you offered everything you had, they would want more.  It's natural.  An interesting concept of natural for me.

Today, I was walking around the medina in Tangier when a boy insisted on showing me the way.  I told him I didn't want his help, that I was just wandering.  I told him right away that I would not pay him.  Bah, money, he said.  I don't care about money.  I couldn't get him to leave me and he led me back to where I had already been.  So I turned and went the other way.  Then he very aggressively demanded money.  I am tired of being hustled by fifteen year old boys.  I understand that Moroccans are traditionally very helpful and friendly.  Unfortunately, the "natural" inclination to separate tourists from their money has made it impossible to take any offer at face value.

Moving on.  As Sweeney Todd said:  there's no place like London.

One last picture of Kasey and Ruby before moving on.