I wish I remembered more of the process of actually getting to Fes, but we left Sevilla at 4:30 am Friday morning, and so Emily and I didn't sleep at all Thursday night. We had a bit of a late start- two members of our group that were supposed to come to Morocco with us had apparently overslept their alarms and didn't show up. We waited for them as long as we could, but had to leave without them. I have to add a side note here- we thought it sucked for these two students that they paid so much for the trip to Morocco only to not go, but to our great surprise they were present at breakfast at the hotel in Fes the next morning. Realizing that they had missed the bus, the ISA staff here in Sevilla immediately contacted their roommates to get the students to the ISA office, where they were presented with an alternative way to get to Fes. ISA really has some of the best workers I have ever met. But anyway having left around 4:30 am with no sleep, I passed out almost as soon as I got onto the bus, only waking when we were at the port to catch our ferry into Ceuta. Ceuta is a town on the tip of Africa, but it's owned by Spain. This border town is heavily secured, as it is technically Spanish soil it's a popular place for African immigrants who are trying to get to Spain illegally. We learned a lot about Ceuta and both legal and illegal immigration in my Spanish cultures class here, so it was really neat to see firsthand the high fences and heavily armed police officers the control the border from Ceuta into Morocco.
We arrived to our first city, Fes, around 7 or so in the evening on Friday. Fes is an older city in Morocco, but it does have a newer section. We learned the next day from our local tour guide that Fes is the birthplace of the current queen of Morocco, who our guide described as "the perfect example of a progressive and liberated Moroccan woman." Not only is she queen, but she is a computer software engineer. Our hotel in Fes was a four star hotel, but not the quality of a four star hotel that we expect in the US or even in Europe. I encountered our first difficulty when trying to shower that night. As a normal person does, I turned on the water for the shower before actually getting into the shower. So I was standing outside the shower, and when I turned on the water, I realized that not only was I still getting soaked by the shower, but so was the rest of the bathroom. I looked up at the shower head and realized that it was pointed straight out of the shower into the rest of the bathroom! Emily's phone was plugged in charging on the sink (we only had one outlet in the entire room) so I grabbed that and sprinted out of the bathroom- thank goodness Emily wasn't in the room at the time because I was completely naked running around the room and the bathroom trying to figure out how to turn off the water while the bathroom floor was slowly filling with water. I felt like I was in a bad remake of a scene from the movie Titanic.
Anyone who knows me is probably wondering what I ate in Morocco, or if I just didn't eat anything at all and died of hunger and my ghost is updating my blog for me. All but three meals were included in our trip which was super nice, but also limited what we could actually eat at those meals because they were already arranged for us. Fortunately, I actually really like spicy foods and so the food wasn't too bad. But that doesn't mean it was good. I definitely lost a couple pounds during these six days from lack of sustenance. Also we had to be careful with what we ate. The water in Morocco wasn't safe for us to drink, and therefore fruits or vegetables that had been washed in the water and not peeled weren't safe for us to eat either. Of course this was pointed out to be the first night in Fes while I was three quarters of the way through a massive plate of strawberries and oranges (oranges were safe because of the peel) which is why I said above that I am choosing to blame my mysterious sickness on the strawberries. Of course the fruit was really the only thing at dinner that first night that I wanted to eat besides bread (obviously) and a little bit of a dish consisting of chicken and peppers.
We had a pre-arranged tour of the Medina, which I actually liked a lot. We got to see all different types of the crafts that local Moroccans still create by hand. Our first stop was at a fabric shop where men use old looms and a combination of silk, cotton, and wool to create clothing, scarves, table clothes, and other fabric goods of the most vibrant and rich colors imaginable.
One of the best parts of having a guided tour through the Medina was that at each stop, we had a short introduction to the craft by the shop owner, and an explanation of the goods and how they are created and used. This made everything we were seeing much more meaningful because it all had a back story. At the fabric shop, we were able to try on some of the outfits that are worn by typical Moroccans every day, and two guys from our program even purchased their own!
Our second stop was at a tannery where all sorts of leather goods are handmade by local Moroccans.
While the goods were buttery soft and created into the most intricate works I have ever seen, visiting the tannery was also possibly the saddest part of our day at the Medina. The smell for starters was disgusting. It was the pungent smell that burns your nostrils as you inhale and leaves a sour taste in your mouth even after you try to swallow to get rid of it. If I ever ate raw meat, I imagine that's what it would taste like. I found out later that I wasn't too far from the true root of the smell- it was a combination of the raw animal skins that were being dyed before being turned into leather goods, and the animal urine that was used to create the dyes. From the tannery we could overlook the place where the dying was taking place.
The white basins in the far back of the picture are filled with limestone and water in order to soften the rawhide. The darker basins in the forefront of the picture are filled with dyes which the rawhide is soaked in after it has been softened by the limestone. The men dyed the huge rawhides by stomping on the hides in the basins with their bare legs. The men who worked at this horrid, smelly, and dirty job earned about the equivalent of 5 Euro per day (less than $7 USD).
After the tannery we went to a carpet shop. All the carpets that we were shown were incredibly expensive (most over $1,000) and all were handmade. The owner of the shop explained that the carpets are made with a special type of knot so that they are reversible. He said that the more dull side is typically placed face-up during the winter months, and the more vibrant side is up during the summer months. He even had one girl lay down on one of the rugs to feel its softness, and told us that the rugs are even perfect for "natural sport" which definitely got a good laugh. As with about 75% of places that we went to in Morocco, we were served sweet mint tea which you know was good because I even liked it! It is called by the locals "Moroccan whiskey."
The craft in the Medina that required the most skill was undoubtedly the jewelry and plates created in the metal-working shop. We met one man who used a needle and that he hit lightly with a hammer to create the most intricate designs on bronze plates, among other jewelry. In this store I was able to find a Hamsa hand charm for my charm bracelet which was the souvenir that I wanted most from Morocco.
For lunch we went to a restaurant located deep inside the Medina where we were served several typical Moroccan dishes, including the one that I wanted to try most- couscous. First we were served various vegetable dishes, including olives, tomato substances, cucumbers, and curried carrots. Of course the people I was sitting with loved the fact that they sat with me because there was more food for them, as I didn't eat any of this first course. Our main course was couscous. Couscous is kind of like rice but each individual piece of couscous is maybe a quarter of the size of a grain of rice. This couscous was sweet, with chicken and dates and raisins. I think I would have preferred it if it was spicy instead of sweet, but I still ate a little portion.
We had two more stops after lunch- the pharmacy and the pottery shops. The pharmacy was definitely my favorite of all the places in the Medina that we visited. This wasn't a typical pharmacy like we think of in the US. This pharmacy sold natural oils and perfumes, natural lotions, face creams and masks, cosmetics, and spices. We got to sample most of the products which was neat. I ended up purchasing Moroccan oil and a clay face mask. The most popular item for girls to purchase was undoubtedly the lipstick that the pharmacy had- it was green, made from Henna, but showed up different shades of pink depending on the individual's skin tone. It was the coolest thing!
The pottery area was located outside the Medina. Many years ago, the kilns use to cook and harden the pottery actually started a fire in the Medina and as a result they decided to move the entire operation a little ways outside the marketplace. As with everything in the Medina, the beautiful ceramic pieces were all created by hand. Some of the boys in our program even jumped into the pool where they mix the clay for the ceramic pieces!
That night we went to see a typical Moroccan show in a restaurant in another area of Fes. The show consisted of many elements of Moroccan culture- belly dancing, drums, singing, and lots of dancing. At the end of the show they even got all the Americans up and dancing! It was so much fun, even though we were exhausted after our long day.
