Aaaagggghhhhh!!! That's how I felt the entire time in Marrakech. It is crazy town! It was so hot when we were there, and the market is insane- the shop keeps HOUND you, make you haggle your hardest, are quite rude, and the entire time you are swarmed by people and nearly getting run over by vehicles. I think it was perhaps amplified due to the decline in tourism there. I did not enjoy it, but man is there cool stuff! Beautiful mirrors, hand sewn wall hangings, leather products, ceramics, metal work, and and and! I wish I could have went nuts, but I already had to pay an arm to ship the stuff I did get, and the ceramics of course all broke :( The market also had loads of entertainers- snake charmers, monkeys (so sad), henna tattoo artists...The food was delicious! Tajime (?) is yummy yummy. We stayed at an adorable little hostel, with lots of color (vibrant color all over the city- I really loved all of the bright color).
Since the city was too much for us, and we didnt have enough time for the Sahara, we decided to do a trek in the Atlas mountains. We drove out of the city, then did a brief camel ride, drove more, then hopped on mules. It was a long day, but with beautiful scenery, and a fantastic lunch- we stopped and swam at a swimming hole, then ate a huge delicious lunch, and took a siesta, magical. One of our guides was the father of the household that we stayed at in a Berber village. His daughter prepared a lovely couscous over the fire that took three hours to make for dinner. We were served delish tea, and played with the youngest daughter once we were shooed away from the kitchen. The village was built tightly together with houses made by hand with stone, and roofs of wood, plastic and clay. The hills were lined with terraces of crop and grazing land. Since there is snow in the winter, they spend the summer stocking up supplies to last them through the winter, as they are house bound for much of it. The men in the family always stay in the house- when they marry, they build on a room for themselves and their wives. At the house that we stayed at, there was the grandma, the mother and father, they had eleven children (average amt for a Berber couple), but four daughters had married and moved to their husbands home, and one son was married with a child living there as well- it was a houseful, but only at night when everyone came in from working. All of the farming is done by hand. Men work the fields and herd the goats (7am-7pm they herd the goats for feeding everyday). The women harvest the vegetables, get the firewood, cook, take the cows out to graze, and milk the cows. The goats, cows and chickens are used for trade when supplies are needed from the nearest town (a few hours by mule). To harvest the grain, 6 mules are tied to a stick in the middle, and they walk them around and around, then they sift the seeds by hand with a piece of brush and tossing it in the air to sort out the grass- I'm not sure I really understand the process, but it was a lot of work. The school of the village is always a good distance walk away, this is so the children are not distracted by the livestock noise or people. The children are taught to speak Arabic and French.
For three days in August all of the villages come together to celebrate Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. They celebrate on the day of her death. The people roast goats, make music, and get down village style :) Our guide nicknamed Anna Fatima Couscous and me Ayisha. My mule's name was Krikicha, and he was extremely well trained to voice commands; it was impressive.
The villagers all live a very simple but hard life. They were very welcoming to us, and I was so appreciative of them sharing their way of life with us.
There are Arganouz trees that are native to, an only grow in, Morocco, mostly the southern part. I thought I was losing it when I saw goats in the trees- they climb up into the trees, and eat the rinds off of the nuts growing in it. In June/July, the people gather the nuts, dry them out, crack off the outer rind, feed it to the animals, split open the shell inside of that and use it for firewood, take out the almond looking nut and roast it, put them into a mulching device that is turned by hand, knead the goo that comes out into a patty (2hrs), let the patty sit, then squeeze the oil out of the patty- whew, Arganouz oil! Anna and I bought a face mask and some delicious Arganouz butter- bit expensive, but they earned it with all of that work.
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