So what about projects? We have begun planning for a tree planting/ town beautification project. In addition to meeting with the local governing body, we have taken a survey of public places in order to decide how many and what species of tree we will plant. In addition to planting trees, we will also build a few gardens for prettiness sake. In a week, we will have a large meeting with Peace Corps staff and other volunteers to discuss the feasibility of our projects and begin implementation… hopefully. But we have learned that things move slowly out here.
On a different note, Carrie and I spent the weekend with the Association Sportive Speleologique: an explorers club from Agadir. These guys are interested in the natural history and archaeology of Morocco. They produce really nice films on these subjects and also travel all over the country exploring. This weekend, we visited three caves near Paradise Valley, east of Agadir. One of these caves, Imi Ouggoug I, is a little under 1 mile long and was quite interesting. It was very clean and filled with eroded flowstones, making for pretty swirling patterns in the rocks. Another cave, Imi Ouggoug II, had a large population of bats, Miniopterus schreibersi, and as a result of this and the presence of water, there were lots of cave adapted species present, such as terrestrial millipedes, isopods, and some insects that may or may not have been cave restricted species. In the water, we saw diving beetles, planarians, and copepods. After visiting the caves, we camped in an olive and palm grove next to the river in a large valley. The group cooked up huge lamb tajines and we compared jokes. Apparently, American and Moroccan humor is very different. How do you get a camel in a fridgerator in three steps? Open the door, push the camel in, and then close the door. How do you get a giraffe in a fridgerator in 4 steps? Open the door, take out the camel, push the giraffe in, and then close the door. The lion had a huge party for the birth of his son and all of the animals were invited (like in the beginning of the Lion King). Everyone showed up except one. Which one? The giraffe because he was in the fridge. Hmm.
Before returning to our town, we stopped and had lunch at the house of one of the associations leaders, Aziz. He has a little museum on his roof, complete with dinosaur bones, other fossils, man-made artifacts from prehistory, and preserved animals. All of these things, he has found over the years through exploration.
On a different note, Carrie and I spent the weekend with the Association Sportive Speleologique: an explorers club from Agadir. These guys are interested in the natural history and archaeology of Morocco. They produce really nice films on these subjects and also travel all over the country exploring. This weekend, we visited three caves near Paradise Valley, east of Agadir. One of these caves, Imi Ouggoug I, is a little under 1 mile long and was quite interesting. It was very clean and filled with eroded flowstones, making for pretty swirling patterns in the rocks. Another cave, Imi Ouggoug II, had a large population of bats, Miniopterus schreibersi, and as a result of this and the presence of water, there were lots of cave adapted species present, such as terrestrial millipedes, isopods, and some insects that may or may not have been cave restricted species. In the water, we saw diving beetles, planarians, and copepods. After visiting the caves, we camped in an olive and palm grove next to the river in a large valley. The group cooked up huge lamb tajines and we compared jokes. Apparently, American and Moroccan humor is very different. How do you get a camel in a fridgerator in three steps? Open the door, push the camel in, and then close the door. How do you get a giraffe in a fridgerator in 4 steps? Open the door, take out the camel, push the giraffe in, and then close the door. The lion had a huge party for the birth of his son and all of the animals were invited (like in the beginning of the Lion King). Everyone showed up except one. Which one? The giraffe because he was in the fridge. Hmm.
Before returning to our town, we stopped and had lunch at the house of one of the associations leaders, Aziz. He has a little museum on his roof, complete with dinosaur bones, other fossils, man-made artifacts from prehistory, and preserved animals. All of these things, he has found over the years through exploration.
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