MOROCCO 2007: Americans in Morocco — December 19, 20, and 21, 2007

Hi All-

Arrived in Madrid safe and sound — after a grueling few days at the office.. And despite all the discussions about not taking the computer — well here I am with computer in hand. Actually the Blackberry is working everywhere, but computer access is spotty. Anyway, spent about 18 hours in Madrid and took off for Casablanca, where the real journey begins.

We had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the Casablanca Airport, which worked very smoothly. The drive from Casablanca to Rabat, where we would spend the first night in Morocco was uneventful until the driver stopped the car (a rather old, well-worn Mercedes in fair condition) and we realized the last few blocks would be on foot. Our “hotel” – a riad – is in the center of the medina (the old section, dating back about a thousand years).  We’re in a very cute little riad (formerly the home of some merchant, I suppose) that has about six rooms on two floors surrounding a courtyard, where meals are served, and there are three little rooms around the court on the first floor.

The riad is sweet, friendly, authentic, but a bit musty, especially since it’s been pouring since we got here. Southwest Europe and Northern Africa are under some rain spell that is unbelievable. Anyway, we walked throughout the medina yesterday afternoon and today up the many, many, winding, tiny alleys to reach the Kasbah.  It’s pretty amazing, with about 5,000 families (all Muslim we have read) living in the Kasbah today.

Yesterday we noticed truckloads as well as individual carts being driven, walked, drawn by mule, etc… filled with sheep – sometimes a single one, sometimes many in a cart. And last night, from our room we could hear the Baaaas of sheep all night. Today, it turns out was the last day of the “fest” (or so we believe) and six million sheep were slaughtered – one per family! This morning we could see young boys (always boys) gathered around fires everywhere cooking/burning the heads of the sheep. Men were skinning the animals and young boys were cutting the horns (which by afternoon were strewn everywhere).  So wherever you looked down every street and alley you saw small fires with the heads cooking on skewers.. horns.. and sheep skin, as well as trails of blood.  It was quite a sight, and quite a smell. Everything was closed today and tonight for the holiday, but last night we walked through the night souk (market) where it was like Times Square with everyone out and everyone selling something. The cross streets of all the intersections in the medina were packed so tightly it was nearly impossible to move from one place to another. The best stalls were the ones selling shoes – one at a time, so you needed to work hard to find a mate in the pile.

Eating has been fabulous. Yesterday we broke down and ate at a little stall.. We thought we had ordered chicken, but I think it was chicken liver. In any case, very tasty on great bread. We had to have dinner both nights at the riad because of the holiday (We could only eat at hotels since all restaurants were closed for the holiday.) Fortunately our little riad has a great chef, so we’ve been treated quite well from the gastronomic side. Meals consist of opening Moroccan salads, followed by appetizers that could pass as full meals (pastilla or tagine) followed by the main course (another tagine or some other dish) followed by two desserts! Haven’t figured out why you get two full desserts per person, but they are generally fruits cooked with syrups and maybe some alcohol.. and something with almonds. Excellent, but I don’t even want to know the calorie count. 

Before dinner, we decided that tomorrow’s trip to Fes should be by train rather than with a hired driver. The hotel didn’t know the train schedule. So, with the help of Fidel back in Oakland and the trusty Internet (which I can get on my Blackberry but not on the computer at the moment) we got the schedule and decided to go to the station to buy the tickets tonight to be prepared for morning (also to see how complicated the station would be with baggage, since we correctly doubted that there would be any lifts). We leave tomorrow morning by train to Fes. Hopefully I can connect there and this email will get out to you. It’s a three-hour train ride.

Mike says hi and that he questions six million sheep being sacrificed on his birthday!

Cheers – Happy Holidays. More to come.

Fern