Dec. 26-27 The Desert

Weather: The weather has been the same each day.  Not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky.  The temperature is in the low 50’s in the morning, rising to the mid 60’s in the afternoon and falling to the mid 40’s at night.  There is no wind and the sun is very bright.

Practice of Islam: Today is Friday, the holy day in Islam.  But it is practiced differently depending on where you live and who you work for.  If you work for yourself you take Fridays off and work the other 6 days.  On Friday you dress in white, go to the Mosque in the morning, have a nice couscous lunch and then either visit friends or they visit you.  If you work for the government or industry you have our typical work week, being off on Saturday and Sunday.  You are given an hour off at midday on Friday to go to pray at the Mosque.

Police presence: There is not much of a military presence other than in main tourist areas in major cities, those because of the past history of terrorism.  In the countryside there are 2 gendarmes before the entrance of each town.  You stop; they briefly look at you and your car and then wave you on to enter the city.  Some cars are pulled aside but the reason was unclear.

Race: As we move south the skin color of the people darkens-the Arabs and Berbers.  We now also see blacks from Mali.  They were originally brought here by the Arabs as slaves in the 15^th century.  It appears that there is the same racial disparities in opportunities and health that we have experienced in the States.

Ksars: I remember in my French class in high school the phrase “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose “the more things change, the more they are the same”.  This is apt in describing the ksars, high walled gated communities dating from the 11^th century.  Inside are houses, community areas for weddings, bath houses.  It seemed very much like the gated communities that are found in many of our suburbs.

Olives and Dates: Olives are harvested in November and Dates in October.   Unlike in the U.S. where olive oil prices can vary enormously, our guide says that there is little price differential.  The olives pressed early yield less oil but of better quality but the price is only about $7/kg vs $5/kg for the late harvested olives which had a higher yield of lower quality oil.  Dates, however, have markedly different prices depending on their shape and size.  The large plump ones can cost $25/kg and the smaller ones $2.  He explains that it is not so much the taste but the larger ones are what you give guests. The olives and dates are really good tasting.

Building houses: In the villages you see a lot of unfinished houses.  It was explained to us that you do not borrow money to build a house, if fact, borrowing with interest is against the Muslim religion.  So a person will save enough money to start building a house and when the money runs out the building stops.  The person works hard and saves and then the building can continue.  One is given by the government up to 7 years to complete a house.

Cell towers: They are everywhere placed on any high area as phone service is primarily cellular and TV is by satellite dishes that sprout from the most meager residence in the villages, but not the countryside.

Jinn: There is the mythology around the genies or Jinn that derives from the Quran (Koran).  Although the belief in Jinn is more in the countryside it is quite widespread.  Before one eats, one blesses God so the Jinn do not eat part of your food.  They are as numerous as people and often stand on one’s left shoulder and may be 100 m. tall.  There are good and bad Jinn.  While this is taken very seriously there are also jokes.  Our guide told us one: Aladdin rubs on his lamp and the Genie appears.   Aladdin asks for a villa to which the Genie replies “do you think I would live in a lamp if I could conjure up a villa”.

The desert: You may think of the desert as endless expanses of flat sand, like an unending beach.  It is not so.  Instead the winds build up dunes so it is more like the undulating waves of the ocean with some dunes hundreds of feet high.  We rode on camels for about an hour into the desert.  Riding a camel is like riding a horse but it is more gentle and swaying.  It is quite pleasant.  We watched the sun set from a high dune and some boys had brought a snowboard and were sandboarding down the dune.  The sunset was nice but not spectacular but the stars were wonderful away from the lights.  We slept in a tent and took or meals on the dunes.  Dinner was multicourse with a potato and vegetable soup, followed by a tomato and green pepper mezze that you dipped the thick bread into.  The main courses were couscous with chicken, raisons and vegetables (carrots, celery, squash) and a lamb dish with prunes.  Before dinner sweet Moroccan tea with mint leaves was served with black and green olives and peanuts.  The ending to dinner was a bowl of fruit-oranges with their stems of many varieties, apples and bananas.

Why I write blogs on vacation: I was asked this by one reader.  “This is supposed to be a time of relaxation, why spend it writing”.  For me, the sharing of experiences and new knowledge and pictures is a way of bringing my friends and family with me.  I am also an inveterate teacher and I cannot help but share my new knowledge.