Morocco, October 2022

COLOURS, CULTURE & CUISINE

Finally, after more than 2 years of covid-restricted travel we were SO EXCITED for our Empty Nest Adventures to begin again. Yes, post covid, we found ourselves empty-nesters ONCE AGAIN. Despite many rebounds, this time it feels like it might stick, with Eric & Marie now married, Ian moving to downtown Toronto, and Gillian living in Ottawa.

During lockdown, we happily explored closer to home with bike adventures in the GTA along the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail, the Veloroute des Bleuets in Northern Quebec, and the Kettle Valley Rail Trail in the Okanagan Valley, BC. (#AdventuresWhereYouAre).

But I won’t lie, we were really excited to be able to get on a plane once again destined for far away places - and a one month “celebratory” trip to Morocco seemed like just the thing. In 2022, Peter and I both turned 60, we both retired (although Peter went right back to work when we got home, so I’m not sure he completely understands the concept), and I successfully completed my first (and last) half ironman to "celebrate my half life.” Thankfully, the full week of recovery I gave myself post triathlon was just enough time to begin our adventure healthy and strong.

We were totally looking forward to stepping into the unknown, the unfamiliar, and the exotic world of Northern Africa – and OMG, Morocco did not disappoint. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the colours, the food, the people, the experiences! It was all a WOW! Here are a few of the oh so many highlights of our trip:

- Our accommodations throughout Morocco were typically beautiful, opulent riads. These are traditional family homes that are now run as small, reasonably priced inns, with 2-3 floors and only 12-20 guests in total. With inner courtyards, lots of plants, and water features, they were peaceful oases away from the hustle & bustle of the busy markets. On one of our guided tours, we learned that these homes were traditionally built looking inward, with no direct visibility or windows to the outside world. This generally was to protect the women from unwanted male curiosity. Many of the outer doors had 2 knockers on them - one that the men used and one that the women used. Each knockers had a different sound so the person inside the home would know if it was a male or female visitor - and could react appropriately. Seems a bit unusual from a North American perspective, but I did get the impression that Morocco was one of the more moderate and modern Muslim countries. For example, a man is allowed to marry more than one woman ONLY if the first wife gives him permission :)

- 99% of the population in Morocco is Muslim, and there were “call to prayer” 5 times a day, broadcast over loudspeakers everywhere - cities, towns, countryside. While there wasn’t a mass exodus to get to the mosque, many locals did drop what they were doing to spend a few minutes in prayer, while others continued to serve the tourists. Very cool to hear (although I could have done without the 5am rendition), despite the individual mosques typically being out of sync with each other's broadcast.

- Daily life happens in the medinas, the old part of a town or city. The old cities were typically protected by ancient walls, and you could only enter through gates, called Babs. The blue gate in Fes is one of the more famous gates.

- The narrow labyrinth of streets of the medinas were often car-free, but we did have to watch out for the motorcycles, bicycles, donkeys, juice sellers, and of course all the people meandering about. The magical fun and colourful chaos within the medina happens at the souks. These are the traditional Arabic markets that sell everything from tagine pots, ceramics, carpets, leather goods, lanterns, herbs, spices, paintings, textiles, etc. We, of course, did pick up a few trinkets along the way (pashmina, wool hat, rose soap, argan oil, silver bracelet, musical clapper, and an Aladdin lamp (such a tourist!).

- We also bought a traditional Berber rug, made of camel hair & lambs wool, that thankfully after we lugged it all the way home, looks great in our living room! That was such a fun experience as they served us tea, then laid out rug after rug after rug - while they explained all of the symbolism & secret messages the women traditionally weaved into the rugs. When we found the one we liked, we negotiated the price with these expert negotiators, as we were told it would be insulting if you didn't. We ended at 60% off the original asking price and everyone seemed happy. Not sure if we could have purchased the same thing at home via Wayfair, but where is the fun in that?!?

- Not much English is spoken in the souks, but we were able to get by with our limited French. "Pas maintenant" (not now) or 'peut etre demain" (maybe tomorrow) was usually enough to get the street vendors to leave us alone. Only once did we fall for the "I'd like to walk with you so I can practice my English" scam. Based on that statement, and our repeated assertion that we were not going to pay him, we trustingly followed this friendly "guide" to shops owned by his cousin, brother, uncle, father, friend (they all know a guy). Actually, we had no choice but to follow him because we were lost in the maze within about 5 minutes. Despite us asking him repeatedly to take us back to where we first met, it took him over two hours in the hot afternoon sun to do so ... and you guessed it, can we please pay for his "service?" Nope! No harm done, but lesson learned. Fool me once!

- One thing that totally surprised us was how vastly different the landscape was as we travelled around Morocco. We were very naively expecting a lot of sand and hadn't really considered much else. However we encountered mountains (the High Atlas, Mid-Atlas, and Low Atlas Mountains), valleys (Ziz Valley), gorges (Dades and Todgha gorges), rugged Atlantic seaside towns with thriving fishing ports (Essouira), small traditional villages (Taradant, Bhahil Village, Midelt), bustling modern cities (Marrakech, Fes), ancient UNESCO kasbahs made of mud & straw (Ait Ben Haddou), palmeries, and abundant agricultural land ...

... and of course LOTS of sand!!!!

- One of top highlights of the trip was "glamping" in a luxury tent, equipped with a king size bed and private bathroom, in the Sahara Desert. This experience included riding the camels, sand boarding on the dunes, watching the amazing sunset, and singing with the local Berbers (Moroccan indigenous people) at the campfire at night. Freaking AWESOME!

- Our cooking course in Fes was another surprising & amazingly authentic highlight. We spent 6 hours with our guide Souad, her Mother Emah, and her sister-in-law Dunea. Their limited English and our non-existent Arabic made for a very interesting class. We started with a trip to the market to buy all fresh ingredients (some things a bit TOO fresh for my liking) for our traditional Moroccan feast. We then went to Dunea's home(!!) and together, in her tiny kitchen, we chopped, sliced, peeled, boiled, cut, juiced, kneaded, grilled, steamed, and pressure cooked to create a traditional Moroccan meal. This included a Moroccan salad, a beet smoothie, vegetarian side dishes of eggplant, roasted peppers, carrots and sweet potatoes, homemade bread (that we had to walk through the medina to bake in the community ovens), and lamb tagine with apricots & prunes. The magic elixir of fresh ingredient & spices, including cumin, ginger, turmeric, garlic, saffron, preserved lemons, and ras el hanout made for an incredible aromatic and savoury feast. We've tried to recreate this at home, and although great, its still not quite the same. It might be because I didn't take very accurate notes (no English = no recipes handed out) and/or because our hosts measured by feel/experience/and love and not measuring cups & spoons. :)

- The afternoon we spent in Bhahil Village with the group of females, ranging in age from 8 to 80, was truly special. We sat on thin mats outside of their cozy cave homes chatted about our lives, families & jobs, and laughed & gossiped through the kind translation of Kamal, our guest house owner/host. While we sat, we watched these women intricately hand make beautiful silk buttons used on traditional garments - and they laughed at us when we offered to help. This is an incredible cottage industry allowing these women to earn money and a bit of independence. When I saw the teenage daughter roll her eyes at Mom, I knew that despite the language & cultural barriers, we are all much more alike than different. One of the women, Latifa, invited us into her cave to share a tea together - and I genuinely felt like I had made a new friend that day. Truly special!

There were so many highlights of the trip that I could go on forever. From:

• the goats up in the argan trees eating the seeds (used to make argan oil). Interestingly, argan trees used to grow across north Africa, but now only grow in southwest Morocco. The trees are so rare that they have been placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

• the kind seagulls in the busy, pungent fishing market who wished me "good luck" (why does everyone but me know that getting sh**t upon by a bird is considered good luck?!?)

• .the donkey ride through the palmerie, where we picked & ate fresh dates from the palm trees

• the beautiful, rocky Monkey Fingers hike in the Dades Gorge, where we encountered women washing their clothes in the river, collecting alfalfa from their tiny plots of farm land, and carrying massive baskets on their backs containing the day's harvest - while the men prepared meat on the riverbed rocks for the upcoming festival of Muhammad.

• the guided tour of Bhahil Village with the VERY passionate Kamal, the one man force of nature who's mission is to get this beautiful, traditional, out of the way village, with its suspicious of change villagers, on the map.

• the peaceful Yves St Laurent gardens (he loved it so much he bought the gardens) in the middle of a very busy Marrakech, including his Love Gallery exhibition - featuring 20+ years of his annual, hand painted Christmas cards to family & friends.

• the stay in the 11th century Kasbah Tebi accommodations in the "old" part of Ait Ben Haddou rather than the 17th century "new" part of town across the river. Featuring no electricity, dinner & room lights by candlelight, roosters crowing at 3am, pigeons cooing all night, and a donkey sleeping just outside of our door. Strange yes, but such a cool experience!

• the visit to Atlas Studios in Ouarazazate (Moroccan Hollywood), where such classic movies as Ben Hur, Cleopatra, Aladdin, Kingdom of Heaven and more recent hits, Prison Break and Game of Thrones were all shot.

• the pungent Chouara Tannery in Fes, where the colourful dyes for leather goods are produced using pigeon droppings - and where they give you mint to cover your nose while you tour the place. A few minutes there, watching the men work so hard in the large, wet vats will ensure you never complain about your own job again!

• the gorgeous "blue city" of Chefchaouen, where the building are all painted blue (no clear or consistent story on why that is) and where an amateur photographer like me was in heaven.

• and of course, the "much too authentic" hammam scrub. When we asked our riad manager to book us the hammam spa we found on Google, he said no, you don’t want that one, you want the authentic one. Sure, why not! He walked us through the medina to a very unassuming place where the locals go weekly for what could only be described as “maintenance,” and definitely not the “indulgent spa” we had imagined. A separate place for men and women, we were both met with our personal “scrubbers.” Mine was mostly naked, and she asked that I do more or less the same, so that she could thoroughly & aggressively exfoliate my entire body!!!!!, Ouch, ouch, and more ouch! No music, no candles, no lightly scented massage oil, but she did finish by gently washing my hair and rinsing me ALL OVER with warm water - all while I sat on a mat on the floor and tried not to be too embarrassed!! While I did enjoy the authenticity of the experience and I had the soft, smooth skin of a newborn baby when it was done, we DID NOT go back several more times during our vacation for the prescribed weekly maintenance schedule :)

- The biggest highlight of all , however, was meeting and getting to know so many wonderful Moroccan people. Their warm smiles, colourful personalities, and genuine desire to welcome us to their country, was truly appreciated and will not be readily forgotten.

To end, a couple of wise (or otherwise) Moroccan proverbs (I'll let you interpret them as you will, because I mostly can't explain them) ...

• "The tongue has no bones"

• "You can't catch two frogs with one hand"

• "You should think 1,000 times before using scissors"

• "If you have to beg, beg the rich people" (I think that means dream big)

• "If your friend is honey, don't like him"

But, my favourite, and one I can understand & relate to:

• "Never say I regret, always say I learned"

Thank you Morocco. Until next time!!! شكرا لك يا مغرب. حتى

To see a highlight reel of the many incredible COLOURS, CULTURE & CUISINE that we encountered while in Morocco, check out this video. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it!!