FES 23 March Wednesday.
Woke up to the sounds of very interesting bird calls. There were multiple ones and its hard for me to describe but it was beautiful.
Also waking up to the fact that I have to scramble to alter my plans. The bus is pretty much the only option for my path and the schedule is not working out to my favor.
I can skip the cave, and not loose any money. I mention cause I will need to take an overnight bus tomorrow to get to my desert excursion. That means the room I booked for tomorrow is getting paid for even though I'll be on the bus and see the town for 20 minutes at 1:30am. At least it was cheap.
Since the internet sucks here and at every hostel in Morocco it's hard to work out some of the details and everyone gives you conflicting information. So after breakfast at the hostel I hired a guide to walk me and a young Korean girl who is studying in London around the old medina and give us the Fez treatment. It was very informative and it was everything you read about and see in films and documentaries.
Some highlights- we were able to see inside some of the mosques. Not go inside, but we could look in when the doors were open before prayers. The mosques are not very elaborate inside compared to the outside in most cases. We passed donkeys ( I call them Trumps) and kids running and playing. Stalls have all kinds of things. Lots of leather, weaved products, metal, wood, spices, nuts, pastries, little convenience stalls with bottled water, candy, napkin packs, and whatever else. You pass by little doorways and you can see inside little spaces where people are tailoring clothes, fabricating some item, dry cleaners, or butchers including camel meat- you know it's camel meat cause they hang the head of the Camel right there to prove it. egg sellers, chicken hawkers, like live chickens, candle stick makers, and whatever else you can think of.
There are lots of parts of the old medina being renovated. He took us to a tannery but they weren't actually tanning, their spot was being renovated. And I felt like we were rushed through. I was a little disappointed so I didn't buy anything.
Korean girl wanted to get argon oil so we went to the women's cooperative to see them "making the oil" and try some. She bought some oil, I got a harisa spice blend.
We also went to a weaver, saw them making a carpet, and I got a scarf (not the blue one in the photo). There are areas of the old medina that focus on specific crafts. The metal working area was cool hearing all the different clangs happening simultaneously.
None of the places he brought us allowed haggling, which was kinda boring.
The alleys are real narrow in a lot of places. Although they do a clean up every morning before sunrise, by noon when we went out there was plenty of trash on the streets.
After we went to a spot for lunch then Korean girl was off to the airport.
I relaxed at the hostel for a bit, then went out to the bus station to get the info from the source. I indeed need to take an overnight bus tomorrow. Oh well, it's only $20, and Morocco has been so under-budget so far I'm ok with loosing it.
So now I was ready to attempt the medina myself. I had been warned about it being really confusing, but even though the sun was already down I found a good starting point and made my way back and forth just fine. I picked up a sandwich, then some cookies and brought them to a cafe by the gate and drank coffee while watching people go by. My name really is Ali Baba. I don't like the "40 thieves" connection, but it's cool that I'm well known in Morocco. Most people do not have beards here, or if someone does have facial hair it's not as bushy. So I stick out a little.
Then later back at the hostel I got an email that looks like I may be able to make the cave after all. We'll see what happens. I keep losing wifi, it takes hours to sit here trying to connect just to work out a few plans.
Tisba Allacha
Ciao
