This past week was the Prophet’s birthday so we had a five day weekend. We took this chance to head north to the Rif mountains and to the city of Fes. We visited a town called Chefchaouen (described as the most beautiful small town in Morocco) in the mountains known for its blueness (many walls and walkways and doors are blue-washed.) The whole area was beautiful and green, a drastic difference to the south of Morocco. We stayed in a small pension called Hotel Mauritania, which was small and cozy and with good character. We spent our time there wandering the streets and taking lots of blue photos and hiking in the mountains nearby. The area is also known for it’s marijuana which is why no peace corps volunteers are in the Rif. There are quite a few farmers offering agro-tourism of their marijuana farms. There is also a very heavy Spanish influence there (makes sense, very close to Spain.) The textiles and even the music had a definite Spanish twist and Spanish is spoken before French which is used in most of Morocco. After exploring Chefchaouen for two nights we headed by bus to Fes, described as the most complete medieval city in the Arab world. It’s a big modern city with many ancient monuments hidden in its windy streets. Fes is known for its leather tanneries which we were able to visit and its old medersas or Islamic colleges. We spent our time there wandering the streets. We’ve been watching quite a bit of bizarre foods with Andy Zimmern, so we decided to try lots of street food. We had a chance to taste makootas (fried mashed potato cakes), pastilla (fried meat pie filled with chicken or beef or rice or noodles), camel burger, spleen sandwich, variety of fried fish and a variety of fresh baked breads. We didn’t try everything though, there were lots of unidentifiable organs and fish in lard that we chose to pass up.

It seems that spring is here. The weather has been warmer the past week and with plenty of sun. Our house is a good temp now and we don’t have to stay huddled in our sleeping bags to stay warm. Flowers are blooming and beetles are running around everywhere. This weekend we rode our bikes to the nearest volunteer’s house (about 30 km, a lot of which is downhill.) The way down is through lots of thuya forest. We took a bus back up and stowed our bikes under it instead of climbing the 30 km back up. This week we’re waiting to hear any news about our grant proposal and Ben is sending in another proposal for a school garden. We are also getting ready for our town’s big festival in the middle of March. I am planning an AIDS info booth and game and Ben is doing an environment mural contest. There is a big race in Rabat in a few weeks for ages 14-16. We are hoping to send, all expenses paid, a runner from our town who has already won some nearby races. It will be really cool to help give him an opportunity to compete nationally.
On a different note, we saw a funny scene a few weeks ago on a bus from Agadir to Essaouira. This type of bus is called a souk bus. It stops at numerous towns along the way and it is much older and cheaper than the regular buses. During this particular trip, we were driving through heavy rain the entire time. Oddly, it was also raining inside the bus (but only on the right side: we were on the left). The people that had umbrellas had them open but everyone else was using plastic bags or whatever they could find to try and cover themselves. I still don’t understand how the water could come in so many places. One particularly unlucky lady had a stream pour on her every time we would go around a curve. When her husband noticed the stream he would hold a plastic bag over her head, but by that time, it was too late. He would hold it there a few seconds, realize that it was too late, and would then lower it back down just in time for another curve at which point the process would begin again. Ahh the joys of public transportation.

It’s been raining for about a week. We hear that Morocco hasn’t seen rain like this since early 90’s. No one is prepared for so much rain. Roads are washing away and every house is leaking. Including ours… just in one room and it’s a slow leak so just wetness but no puddles. We loose electricity every day for a least a few hours, sometimes the whole day so we’re all around ready for spring and the rain to go. Everyone here is really excited about the rain since it means a good harvest season so we have to at least act pleased that we’re getting drenched. We are dog sitting for another volunteer this week. It’s a young doxen that has entirely too much energy. She wants to play all day long and then at night she sleeps inside my sleeping bag with me. It’s interesting to see everyone’s reactions in town when we go out with a dog on a leash. Most people laugh but then they’re scared that she might bite them (even though she’s tiny) and then some people want to pet her. I actually feel like it’s a good tool to use to teach people about treating animals humanely since throwing rocks at dogs is the usual interaction. We are making progress on the toilet project now. We gave them a deadline and it seems to be working. We plan to submit the paperwork early next week and then the funds should come through in the next 6 weeks. I’ve been baking lots lately since we’ve mostly stuck in the house. My new favorite is cinnamon rolls from scratch. We can clean a pan of those out pretty quick. I also tried a lasagna like dish this week which turned out OK. Ben finally saw a doctor and he has bronchitis. He has some pretty serious medicines and seems to be doing better but his cough isn’t gone yet.

This is a project another volunteer is doing if anyone is interested...

http://sendmedicalsupplies2morocco.blogspot.com/

So it’s been a rough past week. We’ve both been sick, Ben with the flu and a fever and me with a chest cold. I am headed to Tiznit in a few days to give a seminar on Down Syndrome and Language. I’m pretty excited about it and plan on spending a day or two in Tafrout afterwards where the almond trees are hopefully in full blossom. The highlight of the day was definitely the cinnamon rolls. They rose and they were fluffy and cinnamony and wonderful.

January 3, 2009
Christmas in the states was fun but too rushed. It was great to see everyone if only for a little while. Next time, you all will just have to come here. On the way back home and on the way back to Morocco we were able to spend a few days in London. Of course our first order of business was to visit a pub where we had some great burgers and a beer to wash it down. The hostel that we stayed at the first night (St. Christopher’s) was nice but really hot after being used to our 50 degree home in Morocco. On the way back, we stayed a night in the Meninger Hostel. A day pass on the subway allowed us to see several sights including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey (although we didn’t go in to see Darwin’s grave), Big Ben (a clock), the Globe Theater, and an old church Of special interest we got to have a cask drawn ale at a Fuller’s ale house…mmm. After a nap, we headed back out to celebrate New Year’s near Covent Garden. The place was really crowded for the fireworks display so we ended up settling down at a pub a little farther away although we still had a good view. Then we woke bright and early for an uneventful (thankfully) flight back.