Morocco - Marzouga and Fes

I love Marzouga. The haunting desert. Lawrence, oh Lawrence where the heck are youuuuuu??? I guess I have to trek to Arabia on a camel to find him.

I leave Marzouga at 7 at night on the Superbus. Now I wouldn't call it a Super anything. We load onto the bus and there is an unstable man on the bus. (I'm being quite kind here) and he seems to want to sit near us. I keep moving. I don't need this type of experience - not on an overnight bus. I put my earplugs in and my eyeshades (best purchase I made on this trip) and try to sleep. Now, I awake at one stop because I'm cold and come to the realization that I might have been sleeping with my mouth open....hope I wasn't making sucking noises during my sleep. How embarrasing. Oh, I suppose the fact that I might not ever see these people again, reassures me.

I fall asleep again and then wake up in Fez at 5am. I sleepily stagger out of the bus and retrieve my backpack. Damn this is heavy, I mumble to myself. Fez is under a deep fog. It is a damp cold. Didn't I tell you us Prairie girls don't do the damp well? I walk into the Railway station and settle down. I will wait for the rest of the city to wake up before I race off to find a place to sleep. I am flipping a coin to see whether I will get a place in the Auberge or whether I should go to the medina? HMMMM?

At about 8 am I am starting to get hungry and want something substantial. I get kitted out and walk, oh, I think - that way. What difference will it make? I just head off in the direction I think will be the right one.

Now my first thought is the Auberge and I was told that it was booked up. The weekends seem to be a time that fill up with Moroccans doing their own travelling. Oh, well, I just head off and have breakfast somewhere. I have cooked eggs and bread and tea. I finally try to communicate after breakfast and that doesn't get anywhere.

I have to change my perspective. Most young moroccans don't travel and so would not know where a auberge or inn is in their town. So why am I surprised? I start to walk and decide to enter a car rental agency. Don't ask me why. There is a older man in who owns the company who takes me to the HI hostel, in his words, just a quick 5 minute walk. Okay, quick when you aren't hauling a 20 kg backpack and front pack. I get to the auberge and thank him profusely. I know that it is full. But phone anyways and the guy on duty comes out to speak to me. I ask if he knows another place. He does.

I end up at a place that is less than desirable for me. I check in and then head to the medina. I already have a young man in tow. No thanks. I tell him that I want to go to the medina. That gets rid of him and I head down the street. I come to a bus stop. Now, there's an idea. I ask the men standing there. Medina? I point to the bus stop sign that has all the bus numbers on it. They reply yes. I wait. They wait. They wave me onto the bus and away we go. I'm at the medina in about 5 minutes. I head in.

Now I find the medina's very intimidating because I totally lose my sense of direction in them. You can't even find a landmark and keep it in sight. So I venture very cautiously. Up and then back and then up another route and then back. I get some attention, as there are young touts trying to get you into their place of business or to a restaurant. I opt for something cool, it's like a tapioca drink. Then after about an hour and a half (I'm not a great shopper by any means) I decide to head back to the hotel. I get in and then want to get something to eat.

Food: I love the food here. Tajine of any kind with almost any type of ingredients. Couscous with any type of meat. Croissants with chocolate...who couldn't feel they are in heaven in the morning??? Cafe au lait, or tea du menthe... or fresh orange juice anytime? I have to say that I haven't had the opportunity to duplicate the lovely warm croissants that Firas would get at the bakery around the corner from his place and we would have mint tea, FRESH orange juice and eat freshly baked croissants...mmmmmmm!!! But this comes a close second!

I finally come back from the medina and I have a text from my young German friend Jan. He is telling me he is in Rabat and that if I want I can contact a guy he met on the train. His name is Ali. I figure, why not.

I thank Jan, and then wish him a safe journey onwards. I text Ali, and I get an almost instant response. I ask him if he could direct me to a proper hotel. I'm definitely not liking the one I'm in. He does. The Al Fath hotel. I know it, as I've walked by it several times. He asks if he can meet me. It's 8 pm, I say okay. He comes to my hotel...the Volubis.

We go right next door to talk a bit. He says that he is working, but he will pick me up after work tomorrow at 1345 and we can go take a tour of the city. I say okay.

Seems harmless enough.... (okay do you hear the music??? you know the music you hear in horror films?) (not that bad, but close....)

I get myself moved into the new/old hotel and then have something to eat. I then meet up with Ali. He is in his 50's by my estimate. Now the conversation turns after we have toured the medina and we sit to have some tea (berber whiskey) and he starts to use me as his psychotherapist. ME! LOL. Anyways there appears to be way more information that he feels that I should be part of. I just uh huh my way through most of the conversation and just zone out.

We agree to meet the next day. I say just for coffee. He texts me and asks if I want to go to a hot springs.

Now I haven't told you that it has been freezing cold. Yeah, I know ya'll are feeling REALLY sorry for me....naught. But there is no heat here. It's like being in a tomb. You can't even go to the internet cafe's to warm up. Now what did Ali say? He said that if he found a warm heart he could live anywhere...in Canada. HUH? Where did that come from? Definitely not in my warm heart.

So we head to the hot springs. Now here they are segregated. So off I go to the women's side and I honestly have never in all my life seen so many naked women. Now the harems do come to mind. It was just a lot of women and a well, honestly can I say this without sounding wrong...breasts! Holy, Holy cow! There is hardly any room anywhere. The nice thing is that for some odd reason I am immediately identified as the foreigner. (Could be that I'm the white one here) One women with a small boy latches onto me and takes care of me while I am there. She scrubs me...yes, that is very common and not unusual. She and a few other girls just take me under their wing. I am enjoyng myself in a very self conscious way. It's very community oriented. I leave with the woman and her son, and Ali is there also, of course. We head to a place to shower. Yes, now a different shower. Not a hammam, and it's nice and warm and it allows me to get the sulfer off my skin.

However, I am wet and it is getting quite cold outside. Now heating here, remember? We head off to a cafe, which Ali says is heated. It's not. I tell him that I am chilled and after having tea, we leave. He is romancing me. I get the feeling the men here are quite used to that, only I'm not leading him on. I tell him I just want to be friends. It's like he is deaf.

The next day Ali has planned that we will go to Ifrane. Okay. We meet the next morning. We head out and the weather is wet. I thought I was prepared. We are going to see some monkeys that are in the mountains. I look over at the clouds and say "If that was Calgary, I would say that those clouds are snow." We continue and as we head into the Atlas...it starts to snow. We get to where the monkeys are and there is 4 inches of wet snow. I can see the monkey tracks but they won't come out for me, as there are some wild dogs and they are hanging around. I am invited into a Berber hut to buy something. I am not a great shopper by any means, but I don't like the fact that Ali keeps almost instisting that I buy something. I won't buy something unless I really like it. And that didn't happen on this day. So back to the car we go. Now, the snow is pretty consistent.

Of course we have to have some food. How about a tajine? Of course! We stop at a place that Ali knows which is way overpriced. My spidey sense is starting to tingle....

We get back into car and the snow is accumulating fast. Now it becomes quite clear that Ali hasn't driven in the snow before. so here I am teaching him how to drive in the snow. Okay, I say leave lots of room between vehicles. Ah, that would mean approximately one meter as opposed to the usual 3 cms. I tell him lots of room, and remember to breathe. He is literally white knuckling it and I'm kinda...well, laughing! Yee Haa! Anyways after sliding a bit and me telling him that he doesn't have winter tires on and that might make him stopping a problem. He is really is having a tough time getting the hang of it. Finally we get over the pass and move into wetter weather...and to Ali's relief.

We head to his cottage, a flat he has in Ifrane that he has rented to a friend who is from France. He says that he would like me to pay him before we meet his friend. I pull out my money and then we head inside to his cold flat. The French guy is already half cut when we get there and because he isn't ready we wait and wait. Ali and he converse in French which I can pick up when I really listen.

I then understand why Ali is bringing us all together. A German, Jan, to keep his German sharp, me a Canadian, to keep his English sharp and Francios to keep his French sharp. I call him on it. And he is surprised that I've figured it out.

I'm getting rusty, in my old age. I've obviously been out of the game for a while....I don't know if I even want to GET in the game. Too much energy for nothing!

Now I see the exchange of money between both him and Francios and I figure he's doing okay with all of us. I'm still not quite seeing the light. But when we head back to the hotel with Francios in tow and I am dropped off at the hotel, I should really listen to my spidey sense. I have a very good one.

We agree to meet the next day and we go to Volubis and Meknes. Ali's overtures to me are making me quite uncomfortable. I tell him I'm not interested in a man that wants it all and won't risk anything. He is living at home, although he says he is separated from his wife. He has three girls. He wants to find a woman and then will get the divorce.
I tell him that that doesn't work for me. I am not interested in him. He then tries to hold my hand.

I am exhausted from this attitude. I get dropped off somewhere downtown after paying him for the gas again....you know we have to talk business. Was this before or after the marriage proposal. Ah, it's too intense for me. I leave him and walk around for a bit to clear my mind. Yeah, it's clear that I'm leaving in the morning. I am walking back to the hotel when I am accosted by the OTHER Ali. He grabs my hand and won't let go. I tell him I have to go to the bathroom. He won't let go. I have to wrench my hand away. Flip. Up to the hotel I go and then when I think the coast is clearI head to the internet cafe. Doesn't he find me there. I then just smile and continue typing. He leaves. Thank goodness. I finish and I head back to the hotel when I see him talking to a friend. I smile and pass him. I almost get into the hotel. He yells at me. When he gets to the hotel he says "Why didn't you buy anything from my friend."

What the hell???????

I look at him and say "Because I didn't want to."

I turn and walk into the hotel. I go up to my room and look at the train schedule.

I'll be leaving for Marrakesh on the 7 am train.......