Hiking in the Mid-Atlas Mountains

I sit here at the center feeling the after-effects of my weekend. My feet have several impressive blisters still paining me. My body is tired and wanting to sleep. My face is red. But I wouldn't trade it for much.

This weekend, after having couscous at my French professor's house (we ate couscous with a baby goat instead of the usual chicken) we hopped a train to Meknes. From there we embarked upon our journey in a petit taxi to a grand taxi to Azrou. For those curious souls out there, petit taxis are only allowed within the city's limits. They are different colors to signify the cities they belong to. For a grand taxi, however, the opportunities are endless. However, they are usually the more dangerous approach since the drivers are reckless and they pack you in like sardines. But that's life I guess.

We arrived at Azrou in time to check in to our hotel and then go out for dinner. (which was chicken, rice, and soup for 22 deerhams, essentially 3 dollars) This little mountain village is a beautiful quite town of about 50,000. It has a homey feel and breathtaking views of the mountains that surrounds it. We were accompanied throughout the weekend by one of the staff at the school I go to. Fouad's hometown is Azrou and he graciously volunteered his weekend off to take us through the mountain.

We awoke Saturday morning ready to set out for the mountain. We gathered the supplies around the city from various friends of Fouad's and then were off. We hiked up a winded path to the first mountain and then wound our way through a couple other peaks. The mountains are very rocky, which is fitting since Azrou means rock in tamazigh, one of the berber languages. This city has a large berber population.

We reached an opening where there were shepherds watching their sheep. As the silly Americans that we are, some of the group wanted photographs with these sheep. However, we really only succeeded in herding sheep, as anytime we approached them they ran away. We laughed, exchanged some baas, and then later reflected on what we must have looked to them. It's like someone coming to America, seeing something common like cars, and then chasing after them yelling vroom vroom. I hope we gave the shepherds something to laugh about later on.

The rest of the weekend can be summed up in a few words I think. We walked 25-30 kilometers, 15-18 miles? A few of the girls went back to the hotel while the rest of us stayed in the mountain. We ate chicken and vegetable tajjine over the campfire, watched a marvelous sunset, and camped in tents. I awoke with two other students for the sunrise over a rocky field. It was so cool in its eeriness and painted beauty. I can't resist a good sunset.

Sunday we continued our hike to find apes. Yes, our friends the apes. We saw wild ones that were hesitant to approach us, even after tempting them with peanuts. We found more apes that were more used to tourists and were willing to approach us cautiously and eat from our hand... hence the photograph featured. I returned to Rabat late and tired and so content. The more I am in the outdoors the more I realize how much I dislike much of city life. The more I explore the countryside and small villages of Morocco the more I love it.

I love you all and miss you friends and family! My mom is coming in a week and a half so pray that all the travel plans go well and she gets here safely! Yay!

Mohammedia and more...

Hello friends and family. General updates.
I am still in Morocco - healthy and happy currently.
It’s getting hotter here, a bit of humidity has hit. My face is strangely tan while the rest of me, since usually pretty covered up, is not.

I had a great weekend. I wandered around Rabat on Friday after couscous with some girls from the program. We went to the Hassan mosque which is the ruins of an enormous yet unfinished mosque. After that I went to a cafe and got avocado juice with dried fruit with my host sister. It is delicious.

Saturday I went with five other students to my lit professor’s house for the day. He invited us for the weekend but due to pre-made plans, we only stayed for Saturday. I had a great time and enjoyed being with a kind family who really wanted us there. He has four daughters and each of them were so kind and genuine. I have missed my parents a lot and being with this family reminded me so much of my family, my professor mostly of my dad. I LOVE YOU and MISS YOU DAD! A quote of my professor’s to his 21 year old daughter…
Daughter – Dad, all I need is a car. (meaning she wants his help)
Dad – I agree. Once you finish school, get a job and you should get a car.
And I will be so happy for you.
And from time to time you can give my a lift.
Needless to say his daughter wasn’t pleased with the answer.

Sunday, I found the Rabat International Church. I got there early, since I wasn’t entirely sure where it was and talked with one of the English pastors for a while. He was very kind and discussed the political and religious atmosphere in Morocco with me. A notable case of Christians deported occurred within the last two weeks from Village of Hope, a ministry in the Atlas mountains. In a nutshell, Village of Hope is a sort of foster care program operating for the last 10 years for orphaned Moroccan children. The parents take these children into their homes and raise them as their own. However, they are unable to adopt as a result of the strict religious laws in Morocco. They are Christians and so unable to adopt Muslim Moroccans. As a result of supposed proselytizing, even though the organization has said that they didn’t do anything different, but had always been open about their faith in Jesus, they are being sent from the country to their respective home countries. This leaves these children without the only family many of them have ever known. Pray for the political situation and that other countries would bring pressure to the Moroccan leaders to reverse this action, restoring these families.

Anyway, I went to the service and afterward met another American who was coming for the first time from another program. She was very sweet and together we went to a café after the service with some other young people from the church. There were girls from Germany, Korea, Finland, America, and Britain plus two guys from Ghana. One of the guys shared his testimony with us and how he had come to faith, finding his salvation and eternal assurance in Christ.

I am torn between wanting to stay around Rabat for the next few weekends and wanting to explore Morocco more. I am realizing I don't have a lot of weekends left and so am going to start planning more to make the most of the time here.

Dondee Essstaaa Barcelloonnna Weekend...

This weekend I ventured out of my comfortable moroccan existence to visit the faraway land of Barcelona.
I took two trains and a plane on Friday for my brief Spanish holiday. I had wonderful sun-filled weather and great food. PLUS, I was able to see some of my lovely friends from Drake who were there for the week on a mission trip.

My friend and I were mistaken for Spaniards multiple times (although not by spaniards, by tourists). We almost felt like we blended in with a country and enjoyed the time where we didn't stick out everywhere we go. We didn't draw stares and didn't hear any degrading remarks. It was a wonderful respite.
We were site-seeers extraordinaire. I saw Sagrada Familia, Parc Guill, various other Goudy houses and buildings and the magic fountains. To make the trip even better, we stumbled upon the world's longest bench. I sat on it. Not sure what else to say about the bench, it was very long and windy and was very comfortable. Perhaps my favorite bench in the world. We did a little bit of European shopping, hearing that prices are better in some of Barcelona's stores since they originate from Spain.

The weekend concluded with seeing Drake people from my church in Des Moines. It was wonderful to see so many people and to spend time with them. I attended the Sunday morning worship with them and then Alicia and I were accompanied the rest of the afternoon with Jon and Ashley. We saw the beach, ate gelato, and visited a pretend road? - There was a park with an abundance of road signs and road markers which we assumed is for those parents who don't want to deny their children anything, including playing in the street. It seemed like a safe and contained alternative.

We came back to Casablanca at 9:40 pm, ran to catch the first train and then planned on taking the second train right away, leaving us in rabat at midnight. However, the train wasn't going to arrive until 12:55am. Bringing us to Rabat at 2am. I arrived back safe and sound thanks to a friend meeting me at the station. A restful end to a restful weekend.

The Saharan Weekend in the Red Dunes...

Hello Friends and Family.
This weekend I spent four days traveling and visiting the Sahara desert. It was great!

After an 8 hour day of traveling on a bus, we arrived at a beautiful resort in the middle of nowhere. It reminded me of the Moroccan exhibit at Epcot, with lush gardens, Moroccan music, two pools, and everything else for a palace-esque Moroccan paradise. We arrived Thursday night, had a great buffet style meal, complete with couscous, lamb, cow hooves, and who knows what else.. There was dancing and Berber (native Moroccan) music after dinner. Of course I joined in and felt compelled to dance. They brought out some of the sparkly hip belts and tried to teach us to shake our hips like they did. Most of us failed miserably. But we failed together at least.

Friday we woke up bright and early, ready to leave the comfort of the hotel for a day of museums and ruins. We had a little rundown of the area and the historic significance; there was a wall of sultan portraits that was a little surreal to look at. We have our history of presidents, some wearing wigs. They have a history of sultans, bearing swords.

We had lunch and visited a few shops. I bought a black berber scarf for the camel ride, even though the traditional color is blue. But really, I just have so many blue things. Scarfs in hand, or on head, we were ready for the desert.

I rode a camel (the Arabic word is Jamal) that I named Xavier, although he had a real name that I could not pronounce nor remember correctly. Dahabeena...? X was easier. My camel was old and short, not the cutest of the bunch, but trusty and pretty chill. We were tied up in lines of 5, each led by a guide. Initially, hearing that you are led by someone doesn't seem as exciting when riding an already very slow camel. However, since the dunes are actually very difficult to maneuver, since you sink down into them a bit, it was nice having a professional Berber show our camels the safest paths to take. Camel riding gets a bit sore after a while and scary when you are going downhill. All I can compare it to is a continual process of falling, very bumpy. But I survived.

It was a breathtaking trip as we rode across the dunes as the sun was setting. After the two-hour camel ride, we arrived at camp. A huge sand mountain was behind our tents and a few of the students decided to climb it. It's not that high, right? A couple guys started running. I, evidently never one to be outdone, started to run too. This put me (and the guys) out of breath within five minutes. Then we started to realize how freakishly high this mountain was. Half of it I legitimately climbed by crawling up... on my hands and knees since the sand sunk so much that walking was futile. A few of us made it to the top (well after dark at this point) and we forgot the pain and reveled in our success. It was really windy up there and I believe that I conquered the mountain merely by collecting it in my hair. Of course, I ran down.

Back at our circle of tents, we enjoyed a meal together and then dancing broke out again. This time more people joined in, rocking out to the Berber drum beats. We took the dancing outside and under the stars. We had 5 or 6 Berber guys that were our guides and musicians, each willing to show us some move they enjoyed. A couple people tried pounding out a beat on their drums. I refrained from drumming, compelled instead to dance on the sand in the destitute darkness.
Watch out USA, I might be bringing some of the berber moves back to the states...



P.S. Evidently the politically correct thing to call Berbers is the Amazigh, but most just go by Berber. There has been a sort of mini-revolution in Morocco, where the Berber language used to be against the law and the people were labelled as second-class citizens. Now the culture and heritage is increasingly more valued and the government is attempting to right old wrongs.

After a lot of people went to bed, I stayed for a little just chatting with the Berbers and some other students. We left camp and went out past where the camels were sleeping, and told jokes and riddles. The riddles, as tricky as they already are, were even harder from the Berbers when their English was only so/so. If you got an answer wrong, they would yell, MAAA, or BAAA, I couldn't really tell.

In the morning, I awoke to catch the sunrise over the dunes, but unfortunately it was cloudy and hard to see much, plus we had to leave and ride the camels back. :( However, this only inspires me to someday return to watch the sunrise again over the Sahara. I am left with hope instead of disappointment. It was beautifully serene.

Saturday we went to a self-sustaining women's center, where the rural community creates their own goods, grows their food and educates the children. Then we headed back to the first hotel, where we had a free day to eat, swim, and do whatever. I swam in both the outdoor pool and then, as a result of a sandstorm (it is the desert after all) swam inside. I haven't swam in a long time and it felt wonderful. I relaxed the rest of the day, taking a much needed nap and getting some reading in.

Sunday we headed back and passed by one mountain area where there were wild monkeys!!! Well, I guess they were apes. Tourists where feeding them and taking pictures; one was eating the Yami Yogurt that we all like so much. Cute AND smart little guys.

I am comfortably back and listening to traffic and honking horns in Rabat, missing the quiet of the desert. I love you all friends and family!

Marrekesh

So.. I didn't take this picture, I took more of the hike than Marrakesh. Oops. But here is what I saw briefly before exiting the city...

This weekend began after couscous Friday when I packed up and left for the train station with some friends from the program. Off to Marrakesh we go. After getting on the wrong train, where we made our entry and then an awkwardly quick exit, we got on the right train and were off. The train was packed and we didn’t have seats for a while until finally settling into the very hot and steamy un-air-conditioned cabs. There were 8 to a cab and it was laid out like the train on Anastasia where they almost die? Do you know what I mean? Anyway, four and a half hours later we were in Marrakesh, about 930ish. P.s., this was the prophets birthday weekend in case you didn't know, and so festivities were sure to be extensive.

We arrived at Marrakesh and were struck by the stark difference from anywhere else we’ve seen in Morocco. Marrakesh is a sort of Moroccan playplace, with snake charmers (I was approached persistently by a snake charmer where I actually ran away.), monkeys, music, and dancing. They have this central square where tented restaurants are set up that smoke from the grilling. They also have lots of stands with dates, figs and tasties such as these red sugar peanuts, plus lots of fresh orange juice and grapefruit juice stands. They are extremely pushy and will legitimately grab your arm and drag you to their stand. It was very intimidating. I feel bad for anyone who would come to Morocco and only see Marrakesh. It is so unlike anywhere else and only really suited for tourists. There were lush and exotic hotels and resorts that harshly contrasted the shanty towns we passed just hours before in Casablanca. It is a red city, where the architecture all has a red tint to it, something in the building material they used from the area. I heard something about orc? whatever that may be. With the lights it sort of glows, creating an otherworld feel combined with the exotic music.

After the chaos of Friday night, the group split up for Saturday’s plans. I decided to climb a mountain for waterfalls instead of site-seeing in Marrakesh. We wondered around the city and then sketchily found a couple grand taxis to take us to the cascades, getting the price almost cut in half, about 2 hours outside of the city. We figured out we were going to the wrong falls in the middle of the drive, but just sort of went with it. Once there we wandered and then hired this little persistent kid to take us through the mountain to the falls. I, unfortunately was wearing flip flops and a skirt, was not suited for the walk, but went anyway. Despite a couple of close calls with clothing, extremely steep climbs where we assumed death or severe injury was coming, (We definitely didn’t sign any waivers for the walk) we found the falls. They were beautiful, as well as some of the views we found climbing up the mountain. We had a relaxing tanjiya that was pretty much tajjine(meat and vegetables sort of like a potroast in a special ceramic tp- esque thing.. i'll take pictures don't worry) but grilled over coals for dinner and couldn’t stop commenting on how beautiful and perfect the day was. We sat at a little outdoor restaurant that was right next to a calm river. This was such a needed break from the busy city life and constant on edge-ness I have been experiencing. It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful and vast God’s creation is. The tranquility was broken when we were affronted by our now angry taxicab driver who said we were two hours late to go back… We for sure didn’t set a time, but oh well, at least he still took us back for which we were thankful.

That night we ate, walked around and just enjoyed the evening. Sunday I caught the train back and enjoyed a better ride with all women in the cab, making a much less awkward 5 hour ride. Little things really do help the trip.

Conclusion? I have no desire to go back to Marrakesh. The blatant tourist nature sort of had no charm for me. The people were pushy and put me on edge, including this little man who came right up to me, followed me saying something to me, and then pointed in my face and laughed at me. Unsettling. However, the day in the outdoors next to waterfalls and a river has replenished my spirits and given me a much needed respite, of that I am thankful. All in all a good weekend. Also, I now have a bag of dates of which I can’t stop eating. They are so cheap here and soooo excellent. I will miss the dates and figs when I go home as they are much more expensive in the states.


(I also didn't take this picture since they charge for photos with the snakes and monkeys... but you get the idea)

ooh, side note... I totally stumbled upon a moroccan wedding procession on the street last night. I was walking around with my host sisters and heard the music and saw the bride being put up on the gold riding chair where she is actually carried around the city to the beat of the drums and the music. Very cool. I didn't have my camera. :( But, my host sister said that sometimes their family hosts weddings at her house and that I might be able to go to one if they do! That is all my friends. :) Much love.