Lahsen had mentioned a couple of times that we would be going to a marriage, but i assumed it was a tourist exhibition - NOT!
it was his family's village in the desert and it was incredible -
oh but first i have to report 1 small thing - when we came out of the Villa Zagora to get into the vehicle, there in the back seat were OUR SUITCASES!!!
i think my jaw must have hit the ground cause i was in complete disbelief, while Kelly was screaming in delight - then we punched Lahsen a couple of times because he had conspired with Fazia at Journeys Beyond to make sure that nobody told us that he had them
and he had indeed earned the right to see our faces in person, because the story of how they came to be there was a very long and winding road - we had received a note from turkish airlines that there were 'similar luggages' in marrakech, with a photo that had hardly anything to do with ours - so we asked them for more photos and details (which we never got) - but based on that sketchy clue, lahsen arranged with 1 of the other drivers from journey beyond, naim, to go to marrakech airport to see what he could find out - naim would have gotten nowhere (lahsen had faxed our passport and baggage tag info, but we weren't sure if that would give the airport all the bureaucratic authorization to talk with anyone else), but he found another berber guy at marrakech airport who said 'oh yeah, there have been 4 bags here from turkish airlines for a few days now!' - naim got the bags and then lahsen paid a bus driver 200 dirhams/20 euros to allow the unaccompanied bags on a bus, where lahsen waited on the side of the road at 4am with a signal of flashing headlights so the bus would stop in the middle of the highway and the bags could be transferred to lahsen's 4x4 - and then voila there they were in the morning!!
we will never know the whole story, but i think what happened is that the bags did come on the next day's flight from chicago - and the guy we talked with at istanbul airport at 5:30am did forward them in accordance with the itinerary we gave him that said we'd be in marrakech - all great except nobody bothered to tell us, or to update their system, so all phone calls and emails kept getting a response of 'no information' - very maddening but very turkish too...
OK so now back to the main story - after another long hot dusty ride (with the A/C cranked, but there's only so much it can do when it is SO hot outside), we were in Lahsen's village, where his wife and kids (15-year-old gorgeous daughter, and 12-year-old funny son) climbed in and we truly realized that we were going to a family for-real Berber wedding! next thing you know we are going with Lahsen's wife Aisha (who thankfully and amazingly speaks some English) into the women's room to sit on pillows against the wall with about 50 other women and girls and little boys - of course we were served tea and some pasta-like dish and then sat back in amazement at what was happening to us - the 2 brides were in the corner of the room (they combine weddings to save money and there were actually something like 18 weddings going on at the same time) wearing large red wool headdresses that actually looked more like something from Thailand or Laos, with their faces covered by sheer orange veils
we met Aisha's mother and many other relatives (i think everyone there was somehow related - Lahsen and Aisha are cousins) - many of the women gave us traditional Berber greetings where they kiss the back of their hand then reach to kiss the back of your hand and then again kiss their hand - there were several teenage girls who were desperate to talk with us, but my extremely limited French was dying in the heat - some of the women were playing hand drums and later in the afternoon many of the (mostly younger) women danced - a lot of their moves were so much like something you see in nightclubs in america, except that they tightened a scarf around their rear ends to show off the shake
at 1 point Aisha took us to her uncle's house to get Berber dresses (ankle-length silk tunics, with silver belts at the waist) and that was the only time we were allowed to take photos
we went back to the festivities and were persuaded to dance - then tried to leave, but Aisha very firmly told us that this was simply not done and that we had to stay for some food (tagine) - it was all incredibly wonderful and the experience of a lifetime - i do feel bad that i was so hot and tired by the end, especially that i was not able to chat with the teenage girls hanging on to us (and their dancing was GREAT) as much as they wanted to
at the end (for us, not for the village - the feast probably went on until dawn), we got back into the 4x4 and headed for the dunes - and that's another fantastic story
