Triporama: October 2017

Moments in no particular order

It's date harvest. Toward Erfoud you can find dates for sale along the road.

Stewed prunes are a regular meal item. This is beef dish was roasted to perfection and topped with prunes stewed with cinnamon and sesame seeds.

Olives are a major part of the diet. All kinds. Here is pretty display in Meknes market.

This is our home hosted meal family. 5 of us went to their home for dinner. Arci, in real estate, Nadia, his wife and Kenza their college student daughter. Food and conversation great! We watched some of their wedding video (20 yrs ago) and all 3 of them started singing along with the wedding folk songs that were on the tape.

Who knew they can make silk out of Agave fiber?! We are at that workshop. Several of us were chosen to model different turban styles. I'm in Tuareg style. Ready for a sand storm.

Here is example of market in Fes. Vendors are grouped by type. "Sweets" or "dreses" or "carpentry" and so forth.

Making phyllo type dough. She's been doing this for 20 years!

Green roof building is part of the first university here or in many other places. In 859 AD, Lalla Fatima started univ of Fes. Nowadays, state sponsors free univ for students from Morocco.

These young men were gathering the acorns from the Cork oak tree. They will sell what they gathered. They said it might bring in $3.

The road, the nomads

On the road for at least 9 hours, with a few stops.

We drove thru the up the Middle Atlas Mtns to Ifrane. Stopped for coffee. A ski resort town developed by French back in the day. Looks like Ashland. It does snow there. On through a national park called the Cedar Forest. Looks like central Oregon. Very pretty. Across high plain.

Stopped to visit this nomad family. Grandma, daughter, daughter-in-law, 2 grandkids. Men off with the herd of sheep and goats. The women were dying wool today.

Amina, the one in turquoise dress, invited us in, made mint tea for us, and served us fresh warm bread.

Our guide translated our questions and her answers. She is 25. Married at 16. They share the work of shearing the wool, dying, selling or making woven material. The live in this set of tent cabins and trade locations with other family members. Instead of hauling their tents around, they are some what permanent. The people move with the seasons.

The two younger women each have a school age child. These older kids live in near by town with an aunt and go to school. Our guide gave them green tea, sugar and olive oil as thank you gifts for letting us visit.

And off we went up through the High Atlas Mtns enroute to Erfoud.

Gates galore

Gates to the city, to the palaces, to the major thorough fares, to mosques, and riads. Gates in walls that are 18 ft thick. Wood gates, bronze gates. All gates with tile and plaster decoration. An interesting tidbit, per our local guide Hesham, in the olden days circa 800 AD, camel caravans all had to enter the city of Fez through one specific gate where all people and animals were examined by doctors. If any were sick, the individuals were denied entry. To keep the city healthy. They also exited through another gate where they had to prove they had paid any taxes owed. These two gates were called the kidney gates because of their filtering functions.

Staying in the labyrinth

The Riad Salam Fez is within the old Medina. No cars allowed. Few would fit the narrow walkways. Active until late into the night, one can hear people talking, motor bikes, music, babies crying. Its like a very close neighborhood. The house next door is feet away.