No Regrets!

On our way to Fès, we drive through some rolling hills before pulling off the road for a quick stop. Perched atop one of these rolling hills were historical Roman ruins in a place called Volubilis. We stepped out of the van into the blazing sun, 102° F and humid. We composed ourselves in the shade of a tree screaming with crickets as our guide explained to us how the ruins are all that remain of a larger city of 15,000 people that existed sometime around the 1st century. We were shown well-preserved mosaics in the floors of former residences and some columns and arches that are still standing.

Then back in the bus, where the AC is for shit. It’s really hot out here, and sitting in the back seat, we’re dripping with sweat and some of the bumps have a little bit of extra bounce. This is not luxury transportation. It’s also nearly impossible to blog. All we can do is hold on and do our best to stay cool by drinking the luke-warm water that we brought along with us.

We stopped in a tiny village called M’Haya for a community lunch of chicken tijane. This is one of the stops that G Adventures includes in its Planeterra initiative. It’s their way of supporting selected communities with tourist revenue.

We’ve been learning some Arabic along the way. Here are some key phrases:

• salam alekem – hello, how are you?
• alekem salam – hello, how are you? (in response)
• labas – fine/good (also in response)
• sabachir – good morning
• sabakh anoor – morning of light (in response)
• shukran – thank you
• yalla – let’s go
• souk – market
• medina – old town
• sahara – desert (don’t need to say Sahara desert, because that’s redundant)

After our community lunch, we hopped back on the bus and rolled into Fès a few minutes later. Like Casablanca, I expected Fès to be a small town, but it’s a real city. Feels just like Casablanca but smaller. It was 111° F when we arrived, the high temperature for our trip so far. The very pretty Mounia Hotel welcomed us with ornate mosaics and carvings in the lobby. One of the services the hotel conveniently offers is massage and hammam, and most of us made a booking for those tomorrow.

We headed to a restaurant called Palais la Medina for a group dinner. Another magnificent interior greeted us. The attention to detail on the walls and ceilings of all these buildings is incredible. I had a good lamb tagine for dinner, much better than the gross one I had yesterday. As we ate, there was constant entertainment, with men playing traditional music on the stage, drummers parading around tables, and a belly dancer. That’s when the entertainment really began.

I was selected by the belly dancer to join her on stage. I am not a good dancer, but to a chorus of applause and hoots and howls, I shook my little tush and had some fun with it. A few minutes later, Lindsay was called up to do the same, and she really put on a show. Then a magic show from the Moroccan Richard Petty. I was called up to the stage to help with a card trick, which I admit was pretty good. Then a waiter came by and told us we were needed for something special. We joined a few other selected tourists in a back room, where they prepped us with clothing for a traditional Moroccan wedding ceremony. I got a fez hat on my head, but it was Lindsay got the royal treatment as the bride. At the right moment, they paraded us through the restaurant and onto the stage, where we did some traditional singing and dancing for the crowd. A memorable evening.

This morning, we headed out for an extended tour of the Fès medina. It’s the highlight of this city, more historic and much more impressive than the medina in Casablanca. Winding our way through a maze of very narrow alleys, we learned about the history of Fès and its medina. Fès is the oldest city in Morocco, founded in 789 by a sultan named Idris I, and the medina has grown in successive stages since then. We poked into a doorway to taste some traditional Moroccan pastries and then through another tiny doorway to see a bakery that has been in operation for centuries.

Among things we saw were a severed camel head, plates of bovine feet, and chicks dyed unnatural colors to be more sellable. We stopped at a handmade ceramic factory, where we walked through the process of how ceramics and mosaics are created. We were herded through each step of the process and watched some of the craftsmen in action, but it turned into a sales pitch pretty quickly as we were whisked into the giant shop at the end and “helpers” followed you around to give you the “best deal” on whatever you looked at. This would become a familiar theme, as the same process repeated when we visited a leather tannery and again when we stopped for a weaving and textile demonstration.

As we walked through the medina, I was tempted to take pictures of all of the interesting faces on traditional Muslim men and women, but our guide asked us not to. I was curious about this and asked what the real reason was, and he said that in traditional Islam, it is forbidden to capture the likeness of a person, whether it’s a painting or a photograph. That’s why traditional Muslim art never features people, and photography is forbidden by the most traditional Muslims.

For lunch, we again walked through another random doorway and into a magnificent room. Our chicken pastilla lunch was was sweet and fantastic. It was, of course, served with hot mint tea in little glasses, truly ubiquitous around here.

The temperature today in Fès was 102° F, but weaving through the alleys of the medina all day kept us cool.

Back at the hotel, it was time for our massages. My massage was mediocre, and I don’t like being wiped down with scratchy paper towels at the end. Oh well, it was about worth what I paid for it.

We didn’t have a group dinner scheduled this evening, so I took Mohamed’s advice and went to a smoothie place around the corner from our hotel. Mohamed had been talking up a “zaza” smoothie, which is made with an avocado base. Skeptical but intrigued, I ordered one. It was absolutely fantastic! Piled high with fruit and nuts, and the avocado base must be mixed or whipped with simple syrup, because the whole thing was filling and refreshing. Lindsay and I sat outside and people-watched as I slurped it down. That outdoor cafe was the first place we’ve seen women sitting amongst the men.

Tomorrow morning, we head out of Fès. We’ve been told that it will be a long driving day, 9 hours, but we’re going somewhere very exciting: the Sahara. Growing up, I always looked at the world map and wondered what it would be like to actually be there, how hot it really is, and what the sand would feel like between my toes. And I’ll be there tomorrow.