Morocco Trip Letter Part II

Morocco Trip Letter Part II
April 13 - 19 2006

Background
Places: Casablanca – Marrakesh – N’kob – Essaouira – Casablanca
Cast of Characters:
Michele – fellow teacher
Jenay – my dentist from Sunnyvale, CA
Susan – our guide
Hamid – our driver

“What three words would you use to describe our trip?” asked Michele during our last meal of our 6 days in Morocco. I didn’t answer her then but I will now. Color. Susan. Hamid. Kasbah. Tiffany. N’kob. Tagine. Hand of Fatima. Djemaa el-fna (the Square). Tannery. Essaouira blue. Argane. Hammam. King Hussan II Mosque. Travelmates. Cancellation. Photos. Yes, I went over my three word limit but I had to because it was a great adventure.

Start of Part II

Djemaa el-fna for death’s square in the heart of Marrakesh. Public executions took place here in days gone by. Today it is a gathering place that comes alive at night with a huge food court, endless glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice from juice wagons, henna artists, fortune tellers, snake charmers, drummers, herbalists, story tellers, and much more. The square was unusually thick with people our first night and we heard it was a public holiday overlapping with spring break for the foreigners. I was mesmerized watching the smoke from the food stalls drift up to a hazy night’s sky as the hum of thousands of people buzzed in my ear. It is a unique site to behold. We had soup at one stall, tried an egg sandwich (Yemeni style) at another, and OJ. There were also wagons of dried fruits and nuts, perfect to bring along on our road trip. We then ventured into the adjoining souq for some shopping. I could have gone crazy buying things for my house but since I don’t have one, I passed up lanterns, antique doors, carpets, inlaid furniture, and knick knacks; maybe next time.

If you go to a Tannery don’t forget to bring your mint sprig. The mint sprig is for the “nausea-inducing skins” as described in the LP. We didn’t have any and there were times I felt like I would get sick at anymore moment. The guide book goes on to say, “unlike Fez where you can view the goings on from a rooftop, there are no viewing galleries for the Marrakesh tanneries and any tour is a perilous journey between large vats of dyed water and odorous damp fleeces. Few tourists make it out to the tanneries for obvious reasons, but it is a very human place where men labor hard, stop to pray, watch Egyptian soaps on black & white TVs, and continue their own particular brand of sorcery, transforming skins to leather using the cinnamon colored tamarisk fruit or conjuring up the brilliant yellow of the babouche (leather slipper) from milled pomegranate bark.” After this tour and watching how labor intensive this process is, I have a new found appreciation for leather goods. The same goes for weaving carpets.


Essaouira Blue is for the color Jenay, Michele, and me will be paint our doors, have as our car color, and dye our hair when we are old and wearing purple. On our way into Essaouira, we started noticing a distinctive blue on cars, doors, and building trim. About 9 out of every 10 vehicles were this blue with a white top. In town this blue is more prominent with people wearing the blue, blue vans, blue boats, blue roofs, and the list goes on. Even Jenay had this blue on her jacket. Hence we named this blue Essaouira blue. Essaouira is a seaside town (on the Atlantic Ocean for those of you needing a map) and was once Morocco’s most important harbor. It still has walls and fortresses built by its sixteenth- century Portuguese occupiers and its eighteenth century Arab sultan. Essaouira’s main draws are its small medina and its big beach. Orson Well’s used Essaouira as the major location for his 1951 film version of Shakespear’s Othello. I enjoyed the stay here because it was a nice contrast to being in the mountains and we had a very comfortable riad to stay in – thanks Jenay! This is also an artist community and it was nice to see galleries.

Argan is for the tree unique to North Africa. The argan trees, ARGANIA SPINOS, are confined to an area of around 150 square miles. We passed this area on our way from Marrakesh to Essaouira. The guide book noted another unique feature about these thorny trees. If you are lucky enough you will see goats in the trees nibbling away. I have seen pictures showing over 5 goats in a tree. We felt pretty lucky to have seen 1 goat in a tree.
Some say the argan oil produced from the olive like fruit grown on the tree is a true gift from God for the rural populations that share its habitat. The oil possesses many health benefits. We learned about these benefits at the Cooperative Feminine Argane El Kheir located on road into Essaouira. One brochure reads, “argan oil is produced from lightly roasted almond shells before being milled. However, almond shells destined for cosmetic oil are not roasted, which prevents the heat from damaging the excellent characteristics of this oil. Roasting yields an oil that is more odorous than non roasted cosmetic oil. Argan oil is precious because 1 liter demands a harvest of 6 to 7 trees, approximately 30 kg of fruit, and about 20 hours of work.”
A woman at the cooperative gave us an overview of the process. The locals collect the fruit during harvest by hand. The fruit is dried and the outer layer is peeled off. The nut is then cracked by hand with a stone being carefully not to damage the argan almond inside. The seed is then dropped into a hand stone mill to grind it into a peanut butter consistency. The oil is skimmed from the top and is purified for cooking oil. As the brochure said, this is very labor intensive and a bottle of cooking oil can go for $15 - $20 and a small bar of soap for $6. After the talk we were served bread with a bowl of oil and a dish of the butter. The flavor is nutty and wonderful. I brought back a bottle to share with others and we call it liquid gold, it is heavenly.
This web site posts the benefits of the oil http://www.naturalyherbal.co.uk/about-argane.php
The oil of argane is rich in polynsaturates, fatty acids and vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxydant that captures the free radicals and neutralises destructive oxidation.at cosmetic level it is used to moisturise the skin and revatilise hair.
Argane is used as a cream for the face to fight the drying and ageing of the skin, it also helps to strengthen breaking nails. In the medical field its uses are multiple, namely for the treatment of acne, rheumatism, psoriasis, eczema, acne, etc
If you are interested in ordering some for yourself you can email argoucha2000@yahoo.fr. This is the email address on the bottle I have.

Hammam because if the opportunity is there, use it. You don’t know when there will be another one. This is the same rule of thumb for using a toilet. Jenay and I went to a local hammam in Essaouira to soak in some local atmosphere but we didn’t think it would be a painful experience. We were scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed until our outer layer of skin was no more and we were as pink as a new born baby. We then had a rub down with argan oil. We walked out of there squeaky clean and soft. The hammam was very clean and well heated. The rub down room had heated marble floors.

King Hussan II Mosque is for the monumental mosque sitting on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. This place is a showcase of traditional Moroccan decorative arts and craftsmanship. There are sculptured columns and archways, mosaic tiled wall, the painted ceilings and domes, and the delicately chiseled plaster. All most all of the materials came from Morocco except for the Venetian chandlers, Morano glass, and a special kind of marble.

Facts and Figures:
· the minaret is 200m high, the size of four football fields
· it is the largest mosque outside Mecca
· the prayer hall covers 20,000 square meters
· the main hall can accommodate 25,000 worshippers
· the ablution hall has 41 lotus shaped fountains
· it took 6 years to build 24/7
· 10,000 craftsman and 2500 workers were employed
· it opened in 1993
· the estimate cost is $800,000,000 (that is US dollars)
· the king paid for 1/3 of it while the rest came from the people
· over 200 people are employed to maintain it
· I found no hand railings in this place and with many seniors taking this tour it is an invitation for accidents. As a matter of fact, a lady on our tour slipped and fell under one of the lotus fountains. We noticed an ambulance was leaving after out tour.


Travelmates is for Michele and Jenay. They made the trip extra fun with Michele rocking at the Kasbah, Jenay sharing her travel tales our favorite being the time her husband had to maneuver bringing back a 30 foot long raffia alligator from Papua New Guinea to the states via small boats and planes. We shared cramped and luxurious quarters, superb and bland meals, hammams, stories, and woes with our overstuffed luggage. We are convening in the Chicago area for a mini reunion this summer.

Cancellation is for what we didn’t want to hear at the airport when departing. Michele and I unknowingly made a mistake that was brought to our attention at check in. We neglected to confirm our seats three days before departure therefore our seat reservations were cancelled. Oops. Now what? The check in guy said the flight, like all the flights to Jeddah, is overbooked. I am thinking why would the flights be overbooked to Jeddah? Who goes to Jeddah? From the looks of the passengers, they are pilgrims going to Mecca. We waited an excruciating long hour praying we would not have to wait 2 days to get on the next available flight. Our prayers were answered and we had seats, al humdulilliah.

Photos for the lasting memories of the trip. Please go to www.clubphoto.com and use tumicki23@yahoo.com to access the albums. There are many favorites but the one with the bike and roses is a special one. I just happened to being entering the hotel as the guy was delivering the roses.

I hope you have enjoyed Morocco. There is more to see and I hope to return one day – enshallah.

Morocco Trip Letter Part I

Morocco Trip Letter Part I
April 13 - 19 2006

Places: Casablanca – Marrakesh – N’kob – Essaouira – Casablanca
Cast of Characters:
Michele – fellow teacher
Jenay – my dentist from Sunnyvale, CA
Susan – our guide
Hamid – our driver

“What three words would you use to describe our trip?” asked Michele during our last meal of our 6 days in Morocco. I didn’t answer her then but I will now. Color. Susan. Hamid. Kasbah. Tiffany. N’kob. Tagine. Hand of Fatima. Djemaa el-fna. Tannery. Essaouira blue. Argan. Hammam. King Hussan II Mosque. Travelmates. Cancellation. Photos. Yes, I went over my three word limit but I had to because it was a great adventure.

Color because coming from the semi-arid and barren landscape of Saudi, the fields of green, red, and yellow made me take notice. The wheat, red poppies, and brilliant yellow flowers seemed alive and alert with the recent rains. The color of Casablanca is a dingy colonial white from the days when the French ruled the area. The color of Marrakesh is a rosy hue from the local clay. N’kob is the color of carpets – indigo, saffron, kohl, henna, flower, tan, and mint. Essaouira is a divide of unmistakable white and sky blue.

Susan for being our remarkable guide. Her affection towards Morocco started in the late 1960’s when she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Working as an anthropologist she has been involved with numerous development projects for groups such as the World Bank and the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization. Susan also started an e-commerce site for Moroccan women weavers called www.marrakeshexpress.org. Please visit this site to read about the women weavers and to view their wonderful and unique carpets and shawls. There are new pieces are well as antique ones. I am now the proud owner of a small rug made by a talented young lady in her early 20’s. I can not give Susan enough praise for her work, efforts, and commitment to Morocco. I feel fortunate to have met her.

Hamid for being our prompt, careful, and considerate driver. Susan has found a gem of a driver and we were pleased to use his services after the village tour. He helped us locate banks to change money, he recommended pleasant roadside cafes for tea, he delivered us to our hotels even when we had to go searching for them, and he helped us with our tagine mission.

Like the song from the 1980’s goes, “rock the Kasbah”. Not knowing what a Kasbah is I looked it up on the net. It says, “a Kasbah is a palace centre and/or fortress of an Arab town; also used to mean a walled residential quarter around the Medina (eg Fes), or the citadel (eg Tangier and in Tunisia), or the whole medina (eg Algiers). In the south of Morocco, it is a feudal family castle - and it's the root of the Spanish alcazar.” As luck would have it, there was a famous one off the main road on our way to the village. We stopped at the Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah and this one can be seen in Gladiator among other movies I can not remember now. The Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou is one of the most famous Kasbahs in the Atlas Region. Much of the Kasbah is rebuilt, because it served many times as a decor for movies. Now this Kasbah an UNESCO World Heritage Site as ''a striking example of the architecture of South Morocco". We had an added treat on our visit when we watched two storks circle over head to land on their nest.
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Tiffany, Target and Gingersnaps are the code words we came up with when shopping for carpets. Gingersnap is low end, Target is middle, and Tiffany is excellent. Most of the carpets we looked at were either Target or Tiffany for laying flat and keeping with a true rectangular shape. As I mentioned earlier, I found a lovely piece combining three styles of weaving. Now why didn’t I take notes on the three types of weaving? I love my carpet and the history behind it and it goes perfect in my bedroom.

N’kob is the village we visited in the anti Atlas Mountains. From Marrakesh it is a lovely mountain drive of about 5 hours. We passed by terraced farm land, flocks of sheep and goats, cedar forests, and a gazillion roadside stands selling fossils, geodes, and rocks. An added surprise was to be on the highest road pass in Morocco, the Tizi n’Tichka at an elevation of 7230 ft. The village is home to about 700 people and has the basis necessities of running water and electricity. We stayed with a family and immediately felt at home. We had delicious meals and I would say the best tagine of the trip was made by Sophia, the wife. We visited another family and had a delightful time right from the start. The women in this family were also warm, friendly, making jokes, and accomplished weavers. Their smiles were non stop and infectious. We sat and talked, learned about making carpets and how some were made from scratch. They cleaned the wool, carded it, spun it, dyed it and weaved it. With limited time we headed back to the host family’s house for dinner. By the time we finished dinner it was getting late and we were all tired but still game for a henna party if the locals still wanted to do it. Come midnight there were 20 people in the small room and we were still getting our hands done by the experts and getting demonstrations on how to tie headscarves. By 1 am we were dead to the world and had a very sound sleep. Not much noise where there is no traffic.

The next morning we watched Sophia make bread in a clay oven. She feed the oven sticks and weeds and then would spread the dough on the vertical walls making something like a huge pizza about a foot in diameter. She could cook two at a time. It is hard work with her stooping over the oven in a smoke filled room. We had this for breakfast with honey and mint tea. After breakfast we visited a local school. The students were adorable, 3 to 5 year olds and well behaved. We sang Itsy Bitsy Spider to them and they sang us a song – very sweet. The last stop in the village was to a big stone structure. The purpose of the building is similar to a bank with safety deposit boxes. The “boxes” are cubby holes in the walls with a small wooden door for entry into the space. There are three levels with primitive ladders leading to the levels. These small rooms are used for safe keeping of silver, other valuables and grain. While most of the cubby holes are abandoned some are still in use. There is a huge key to open the huge wooden outer door. We were told not just anybody can get a tour of this and even Susan was pleased because this was her first time even though she has been to the village several times. I felt very much at home in the village as I reminisced about my Peace Corps days in a remote Nepali village.

Tagine is for the national dish and for our hunt to purchase used cooking vessels with the same name. Tagine is a stew of tender mutton cooked with onions, prunes, and nuts. It is served in a large earthen dish that everyone eats out of scooping with pieces of bread instead of silver ware. There are many variations to this dish and, if prepared correctly, the flavors are intense, the meat is tender, and the vegetables are savory. We shared chicken, beef, and lamb tagines. The best one was made by Sophia in the village. She piled French fries on top that soaked up the meat juices and were addictive. The rule of thumb for eating a tagine is to dig in the spot in front of you and not to hunt around looking for your favorites. If found doing so after imprisonment, there will be a fine. J I plead guilty.

My Moroccan friend told me if I was to buy a tagine I should buy a used one to know it has survived the test of time and will not crack or fall apart when cooking with it. He also gave me an idea of how much to pay for one – less than $5, hence the search for a used on. The first roadside café we stopped at wanted $20 for one. No thank you. The next day we stopped at a mountain side café for tea. The staff was friendly and even invited us back to the kitchen to take pictures. I think they liked us so we decided to stop again on our return for tea and to try our luck. After tea each of us had a heavy tagine to tote around. The question of the day was how to carry it back? We all managed and now I am waiting for my Morccan friend to show me how to cook tagine. I am going to try this recipe out after my lesson. http://origin.www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/103829

Hand of Fatima for the ubiquitous symbol throughout our trip. Jenay bought a pendant to wear on the trip and put it to good use one day while we waited for a taxi. We were in a residential area waiting for a taxi to appear. It looked bleak. Jenay then took her pendant in hand and said, “let there be a taxi”. No sooner than she said that a taxi turned the corner and headed towards us. Here is some background information on the hand of Fatima.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Khamsa (Arabic: خمسة, Hamsa,' literally "five-fold", Hebrew: חמש, Hamesh, literally "five"). An alternative Islamic name for this charm is the Hand of Fatima or Eye of Fatima, in reference to Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Muhammed. An alternative Jewish name for it is the Hand of Miriam, in reference to the sister of Moses and Aaron as well as the Hamesh Hand. It serves as an ancient talismanic way of averting and getting protection from the evil eye, or more generally of providing a "protecting hand" or "Hand of God". It appears, often in stylised form, as a hand with three fingers raised, and sometimes with two thumbs arranged symmetrically. The symbol is used in amulets, charms, jewelry, door entrances, cars, and other places to ward the evil eye.
Some sources link the significance of the five fingers to the five books of the Torah, the Jewish name for the first five books in the Old Testament scriptures, or to the Five Pillars of Islam, the core principles of Sunni Islamic faith, though this significance may have been attributed after the fact to a symbol that quite possibly pre-dated both religions.
In recent years some activists for Middle East peace have chosen to wear the hamsa as a symbol of the similarities of origins and tradition between the Islamic and Jewish faiths.
I purchased a used Hand of Fatima door knocker. Now I need a door to put it on.

The end of Part I. Part II is coming shortly.For photos go to www.clubphoto.com and use tumicki23@yahoo.com to access my albums.