Morocco Day 5

Chicken and Cumin

We had a goodnight’s sleep, an almost too cold of one as the only thing on the bed was a sheet. But I’ll take that over sweating any day!

We had decided last night that we wanted to take a walk through the old village before breakfast. Our hostess had said it was fine so we headed out about 8:00 AM. A few minutes in to the walk, we came across a woman maybe 70 years old who stopped when we greeted her. She returned the greeting but of course, I could not understand and before I could even try to apologize somehow, Jenny responded and the two of them had a short exchange in Arabic. I literally had chills and the biggest grin on my face. It was one of the purest sweetest moments I have experienced in any of our trips! I’m literally still grinning thinking about it!!

We headed out, making it unscathed through another checkpoint and started west. We were literally only 20 minutes outside of Tata before the scenery began eliciting audible, “Wows.” The mountains, more visible today though not perfectly clear, were stunning. The geological features really stood out with all the striations and folding that clearly took place.

Following the GPS, we were directed to turn left down a much smaller roadway. I immediately had some concerns about the road we were on and pulled over to double check the paper map I had purchased as the backup to a technological failure. It seemed correct so we soldiered on. A few miles later we encountered an area where parts of the road were completely washed out and then sections so undercut by erosion that, while marked by small rocks not to drive over it, I was feeling quite surprised this was the best way between Point A and d point B. I voiced my concerns but Billy felt certain we were were on the right track, and besides we had full cell coverage.

I was feeling very uneasy about it until we rounded a bend and there were two cars pulled to the side with three Westerners standing around. I stopped to ask if all was OK. They responded yes and then I asked them if this was the road to Tafraoute. They assured me it was and that they were also headed there. I let them know how happy I was to hear that and that I was glad to know they were now behind us so they could save us if anything happened! From there on out I relaxed quite a bit and honestly, if I had not have passed them, the drive would have been totally different because we did not pass a single anything for the next hour or so.

The drive though was spectacular – with a capital S. The lack of guardrails in some spots kept me on my toes all the while fighting myself to keep my eyes on the road and not the majestic landscape surrounding us. We hit an elevation of about 6500’ and were surprised at just how far off in the distance we could see.

The only stop I had really wanted to make was at a place called Le Maison Traditionale, a small museum, if you will, that shows what life in a traditional village home was like.

We parked the car at the end of the road, right in front of the cemetery and next to the mosque. Muslim cemeteries are quite unique in that they typically have no headstone but will leave a broken piece of pottery in its place.

The owner of the museum, Mustafah, spoke very good English and welcomed us in. The home had been in his family for generations, but had been running as a museum now for forty years. We entered the 400 year old building on the ground level where the livestock was kept – usually a donkey, a cow, and some goats. There was also the working area where the grinding stones were found to create flour from wheat or barley and oil from argan nuts.

The second floor housed a kitchen in the middle with a chute in the corner that dumped straight into the animal pen below to feed the livestock the vegetable shavings. The kitchen was elevated up one two-foot high step to keep the toddlers safe from entering.

The halls surrounding the central kitchen were for sleeping. There was a separate room for children to sleep- girls to one side, boys to the other and grandmother in the middle. Mustafah mentioned that previous generations had ten plus children but today it is more like four, when I said, “or one,” he was surprised Jenny was an only child. He started to giggle a bit and inquired , “You know what we call the girl when she is the only daughter of a foreign family that has money? Chicken and Cumin!” We all had a good laugh – instead of calling Jenny Cheechie, I could start calling her C&C!!!

The third floor was reserved for guests who come to visit. Musafah invited us in, welcomed us to sit and prepared us some tea. He also dressed Jenny in a stunning blue kaftan and played a few of the traditional instruments he had (he also played an American banjo and did a mean rendition of “Oh! Susanna”).

We reached our hotel for the next two nights – a lovely newly built inn by a French couple. We were surprised by the pool, thrilled we could get a cold beer and pleased with the accommodations (though the A/C is not working).

We had a delicious tagine for dinner, this time beef with peas, haricot vert, zucchini and fresh artichoke hearts. Billy absolutely loved it, it was Jenny’s least favorite, and I placed it somewhere in the middle.

It is nice to know we have a second night here. It will fulfill its intended purpose to give us a small break from the constant moving and allow us an unhurried opportunity to see the stunning landscape surrounding us!

Today was Eid al-Fitr, the last day of Ramadan and the breaking of the fast. At dinner, Billy said to the waitress, “Your fast is over now, you got to eat and be happy.” She quickly responded with a big smile on her face, “I was happy before too…”

Eid is set to the sighting of the new moon and tonight was a picture perfect example (taken by Jenny out of her bedroom window).