Lahsen picked us up at the riad to start our journey into the real Morocco - Fazia from Journey Beyond mentioned that we had booked a more 'rustic' itinerary than most people do (at Alan's excellent suggestion - this meant that we skipped Fez and Rabat in favor of more time in and around the rural interior - would like to have seen Fez, so that will have to be on the next Morocco trip!)
we stopped at Carrefour (a wellknown French grocery chain) for more clothes and necessities, but the clothing selection was a bit bare (imagine trying to buy a wardrobe at Safeway) - we did find the almost-hidden corner of the store where large signs announce the sale of alcohol and bought 2 bottles of wine - we wound up going to a sporting goods store to find T-shirts and bras (i spent abour $45 on an Adidas T-shirt - i would NEVER do that at home, but we had the feeling that our bags might be lost for a while longer, and we were not going to have another chance to buy things with a written receipt, which we needed for insurance - the guy at Turkish Airlines baggage service also warned us that receipts had to be in Roman alphabet, i.e. not in Arabic)
on the road with our local guide Omar for the Ourika Valley - this is a popular daytrip from Marrakech, because you're now in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains (i.e. COOLER) and getting some village feel - there are cherry and apple trees on the banks of the Ourika River - while taking a (for me) short hike with Omar, we climbed over an 'adventure bridge' (Omar's description) - this was something you might find in Nepal and if you have any fear of heights or extremely dodgy bridges, you would back away in a hurry - sporadic planks spanning rebar that looks like it may have been in place a bit too long - it was only about 25 feet long and the fall would not have killed you (probably caused some injury though as the river below was pretty rocky and shallow) but it was still something to raise your heartbeat considerably - definitely a sense of accomplishment once we all got over in one piece!
before the hike we had lunch with an older Berber couple and this was a big mistake - the mistake being that no other tagine could touch this lady's cooking! it was SO delicious that we truly were spoiled for the rest of our time in Morocco - unlike most other tagines we had (and you really cannot avoid them), this was made of beef not chicken, with flavorful cous cous veggies raisins and olives - oh so good! our chef spoke no other language than Berber so all conversation with her went through Omar and Lahsen, who joined us for lunch - before entering the immaculate colorful guest dining room, we washed our hands Moroccan-style - a silver-colored pitcher of water is held by your host or a friend while you hold your hands over a tray to catch the water, then a towel is held out for you to dry them off - this is especially necessary since true Moroccan dining is all with the hands (it is actually OK to touch some food with your left hand, e.g. to break off a piece of bread for scooping)
after eating a LOT of food (juicy extra-sweet oranges for dessert) came dress-up time - the lady pulled out beautiful silky Berber dresses plus headscarves (the way she put them on, which i'm sure is true Berber, was very close-fitting and heavy and hot) and we had a lesson in proper tea-making - all in all fun, BIG FUN
we went to a Berber museum in the village of Tafza, Ecomusée Berbere de l’Ourika - very very interesting with a short explanation in English by the museum curator of the designs of Berber rugs and door lintels (rich people have carved wood, which is very scarce in the desert - poor people make do with stone) - we were so interested in the exhibits that finally Omar had to come get us to remind us we still had the hike ahead and we wanted to finish that before sunset
we then started the hike and i punked out after about an hour while Kelly continued on with Omar - they could see me huffing and puffing up the hill (although cooler than Marrakech, that is really only relative) to the fabulous Kasbah Bab Ourika hotel while they explored more of the valley - the village was preparing for a large wedding that night (so large that instead of killing a sheep, they had killed a cow! - maybe some of this cow had been in our lunch?) and we could already hear the music, although festivities really didn't getting going until after dark (and then went on until dawn - not very conducive to sleep, but we guests were after all invited to participate - but i could not face the walk it would have entailed coming back up the hill)
the terrace of the hotel has an incredible view of the valley and the snow-covered High Atlas, and this would be an extremely pleasant place to stay for a few days - the manager (originally from New Zealand) was very sympathetic to our luggage-less plight and the hotel did a laundry for us free of charge - she was very funny when we were about to leave and i asked her about the little fluffy white dog i had seen scampering behind her - 'who is the woofer?' - she said mock-indignantly (at least i think she was kidding) 'that is not a woofer - that is my son!' he came right over to be admired properly, and did make me miss jake a bit (since the 'non-woofer' was almost as cute - OK probably equally as cute)
last note - just before we sadly left (departure slightly spoiled by the fact that the doorman would not allow Lahsen inside!) we got an email from Turkish Airlines as follows - so the mystery deepens!
Dear Madam,
In checkıng the system,we have found some sımılar baggages whıch are kept ın Casablanca AT/AIR MAROC.
we contacted wıth our Casablanca Statıon to take an actıon.
The needfull documents would be helpfull to fınd your baggages.
We hope,you wıll never encounter thıs kınd of problems agaın.
