This blog is an overview of our adventure in Morocco. Few captions as provided as there will be future, more detailed blogs planned. This is a long show as our sojourn was13 days & it contains some of what I think are my best photographs highlighting our adventure.
Sit back, relax, preferably at a larger than iPhone screen, with a nice cup of tea, or coffee, or a beer…& enjoy.
Our trip was planned by Alison Nolting of the Africa Adventure Company in concert with Youssef Jamal, who was to be our guide. Alison questioned us in advance about our preferences, etc. The accommodations Alison selected for us were spectacular. The arrangement of Youssef as our guide & Farid as our driver was wonderful. They had never met before but from the start, they worked together seamlessly. Like most Moroccans, they each spoke several languages. In school, the students learn Arabic, French, English, Berber & so on.
Youssef & Farid.
Farid was a warm, likeable person, an experienced skillful driver, with a degree in English literature. He intuitively knew when I would like to take a photograph & sometimes stopped to suggest one. I sat in the “shotgun” seat facilitating my abilities to take photographs.
During many of our drives, some that were most of the day we stopped for WC’s. food or coffee.
We encountered rain, rainbows, snow & a sand storm but mostly blue skies & clear roads. The roads were far better than what I drove on in my 1978 visit to Morocco.
Youssef was a warm, highly educated, knowledgeable, historian, tolerant, family man, gifted theologian, musician, patient teacher, who knew karate …
…& was a skillful raconteur with a good sense of humor. We had several days with long drives & all four of us were never bored as the conversations revolved around history, theology, art, sports, family, agriculture & on & on. Naima & Ali (Naomi & Marty) would wake up in the middle of the night thinking of questions that we had for Youssef.
When talking with us, he looked us in the eyes, shifting his gaze back & forth. He said that this was a hard skill to learn as culturally when in conversation, he was taught to look below the eyes, like about here.
That’s a custom made license holder. It’s a hard to earn license that he cherishes. In Meknes, a police officer asked to see his license. Youssef said that the officer was new & would never accost him again.
Youssef knew folks wherever we were. I bought an inlaid wooden tray in a shop. He hadn’t led us in there but was soon in deep conversation with the owner. Later he mentioned that he hadn’t seen the fellow in quite a while & had finished off a conversation that had been cut short back then. All Youssef’s contacts eased the way for us like this colleague who made sure that we didn’t get lost in the Fez medina. I was a special problem as I often tarried behind to obtain a photo.
On my visit to Morocco in 1978, it took me several days to be comfortable photographing there. This time, with a smaller & now digital camera, it was easier. One still had to be circumspect & respectful as for many reasons some folks do not want to be photographed.
Sometimes they requested to be photographed as with this painter in Rabat.
Or they might want to be paid for having their photo taken, as this man with his donkey.
Most often engaging with Moroccans resulted in a fine photo & an often delightful conversation with no strings attached.
Men did not appear to be wearing as many Fes caps (although there were plenty for sale to the tourists). Those are the red ones with a tassel on top. I didn’t see men in knit caps with pom poms like in this 1978 photo of a wool market in Marrakech. Men were wearing many more baseball style caps now.
On this current visit, I had brought along & wore a knit cap that I bought in 1978 Marrakech. It was a “hit.” People recognized it as Berber, woolen & not made like that any longer! Who knew?
Many of the following photos, or variations of them, will appear with captions in future blogs. Those blogs will be shorter than this one.
