Midnight Bus to Marrakesh

If any Peace Corps staff read this they will know that I violated the rule against traveling after dark. But honestly, if you have to commit 12 hours to a souk bus ride, wouldn’t you rather give up the night?—when there is at least a tiny chance of sleeping through part of it? The rule is for safety purposes, and young women or women traveling alone should definitely obey it, but my Moroccan traveling companion and I are both “mature” women who are relatively safe from harassment when traveling together. Since we were hauling several bags of carpets to Marche Maroc craft fair, it only made sense to take the only bus going all the way from REK to Marrakesh.

The bus ride itself was bearable except for the constant coughing and sneezing from the person behind me without any attempt to cover nose or mouth. I rode most of the way with my face buried in my coat. The nearly unbearable part was the four hours spent in a cold bus station, which, like bus stations the world over, was populated with the homeless and mentally ill. At 4 am we were treated to a song and dance routine from a man who appeared to be unnaturally animated. Later, when my traveling companion went to pray, I was approached twice by toothless men whom I couldn’t understand. A third stopped and spat at my feet. When he reached out as if to grab my arm, I jumped up and yelled “go away from me!”. Three young men kindly grabbed him and steered him away. In only 10 minutes alone, I became a firm believer in the no–travel-after-dark rule. Never again.

In Marrakesh, it was colder than I had hoped, but after the first day, the sun came out and warmed our bones. The craft tents were set up in what at first seemed an ideal location next to the main square where all the snake charmers and other tourist entertainers congregate. Plus, it was the weekend of the Marrakesh Marathon which brought an international crowd.

Although well located, the park (dubbed “pee park” by a PCV) was ringed by horse drawn carriages which cut the tents off from view of the tourists passing in the street beyond and created unpleasant odors. Even though we didn’t get the hoped-for tourist crowds, there was a steady stream of locals who did buy things. My counterpart made travel expenses plus some so it was not a bust. We are all awaiting final sales figures to compare to previous markets.

Since Morocco is discontinuing Peace Corps Small Business Development after our group leaves this fall, it’s not clear whether the artisans will continue these fairs without us. We will have at least two more this year and thankfully they are much closer to home.

The Food Network Comes to Town

In my considerable daydreaming, I never imagined that an English television network would come to our little town. But they did. Jenny Morris , the “Giggling Gourmet” celebrity chef from South Africa is starring in several segments on Moroccan food for the Food Network EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). One of the segments is on the making and cooking of couscous, a staple Moroccan food. Thanks to our connection with Gail of Fes Food, Cooperative Eljawda , a couscous and bread cooperative in Ribat El Kheir, was chosen for the filming. I think I was more excited than the women, possibly because they have never seen the show and don’t realize how widely distributed it is.

First, the co-op women were filmed making couscous from scratch—rolling, rubbing, and sieving, through three different sized baskets to produce progressively smaller uniform grains. This is an arduous process that is rarely done today outside of rural North Africa. Most couscous is now made by machine. Since it takes days to dry, the following cooking segment was filmed with couscous already dried.

Jenny then set up on the ridge trail overlooking the valley to do her cooking segment where she made a sweet couscous dish (using my cloves!). We were extremely lucky to have a bright sunny day for the filming, and the snowcapped mountains made a dramatic backdrop. The co-op women were then brought in to taste the finished product. I missed this part since it had already gone dark and the final filming was done inside a house, so I will have to wait to see their reaction on (someone’s) TV.

A week later the film crew was back to do a segment on traditional olive oil pressing with the large stone horse-driven grinder. Jenny then made a salad with the olive oil in a dressing which Habib, the mill owner, and Doug were filmed tasting. I had to be away at a craft fair so I also missed this segment and will have to wait to see it. Who knows what will make it through the editing process and actually appear on the Food Network, but the film crew has promised us a DVD of the show.

The actual filming was a rather tedious process with many stops and starts and redos. Mostly we had to sit and wait and watch since our work of dealing with the logistics and with the local bureaucracy had already been done.