Blogs from Meknès-Tafilalet, Morocco, Africa - page 9

The road you should take...... A journey to Morocco takes most people to the bigger cities of Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, and Marrakesh among others. This is all well and good, but there is so much more to this country than just the large cities. This statement is true of most countries of course, but the emphasis here is on the magical countryside of Morocco, where there is so much to take in with limited time. In our case, it really helps to have a wonderful guide who is very familiar with the entire country and it’s history. It is even more helpful as he also does the driving, freeing us up to take in all the beauty. The perfect plan….. Casablanca and Rabat are both on the Atlantic coast and rather close to one another. We ... read more

Wednesday 30th - the end of Ramadan! Eid El Fitr This ceremony, as its name indicates, celebrates the breaking of the fast at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. In Morocco, Eid El Fitr is celebrated by getting up early in the morning. Men go to the mosque for the prayers of that day. As for women, they prepare the special breakfast for Eid El Fitr which is constituted of typical Moroccan pancakes such as Baghrir and Melwi. After the prayers, the family gathers around the table to indulge in a copious breakfast. It is also a time when families visit each other and chat around cookies and mint tea. Children are dressed in new clothes and adults in traditional outfits. The holiday of Eid El Fitr lasts only one day. Today seemed like ... read more

Saturday 27th - day twenty-six We had breakfast with Zak's parents today - the German boys have left Azrou. It was nice as we had not eaten with them for a few days. And the atmosphere was nice for a change also even with the 3 boys there. No arguments or heated discussions. Well today or I should say tonite is Laylat al-Qadr - Night of Power - special day in the Ramadan calendar. See paragraph below for explanation of what this is. We are having dinner with Zak's parents also. Chicken couscous is on the menu, looking forward to this also as we have not had couscous during Ramadan. So we made our way down to the new city for our dinner appointment at 2am. The couscous was absolutely delicious!!! I was so happy that ... read more

Wednesday 17th - day sixteen Zak took the french couch surfers into the forest today for a short walk. They wanted to see monkeys in the wild and they did. I stayed home. They left later in the day. Thursday 18th - day seventeen It's official! I'm turning into a hibernating bear! Each day I sleep longer and eat less. A lot of food is not necessary when the only physical thing I do is get out of bed, shower, catch a taxi to Zak's parents for breakfast, walk the short distance to the cafe, drink coffee for a few hours then return home and eat again only to sleep the day away again. That's the cycle of routine I have now fallen into. Friday 19th - day eighteen Tonight as we sat in the cafe, ... read more

Friday 12th - day eleven Same routine, nothing to report. Why does orange come out pink? I remembered a little story I can tell you about to bulk out this non event day a little. Remember the other day when I told you about the flash hail storm we had and I mentioned that I had just put in a load of washing, and then I got drenched closing the wooden shutters to prevent the window panes from being broken by the hail? Well since I was so wet from the rain anyway, I decided to go and have a hot shower. In the little blue room is also the water outlet for the washing machine so as I stood there shampooing my hair I was suddenly startled by a burst of water being emptied into ... read more