SB 2010- leather, ceramics, and spices - OH MY!

FES, MOROCCO!

hello. how about that ride in? in reference to the 5 + hour train ride in (we watched the hangover on our ride). thankfully we made it to the hostel and were able to shower and the crash. we needed a good night's sleep for our next day.

today was very eventful. we woke around 8:45 and got ready and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. they had 2 little yogurts waiting on us a bread basket...then they brought out the crepes! but not the european variety that we have been gowing fond of, but some type of fluffy cornmeal variety (yay! lil coco can eat something - she is gluten intolerant). we requested a large stack of them tomorrow morning (i will let you know if they follow through).

we met abdul, our tour guide/taxi driver (he helped us get to our hostel the previous night and mentioned that he did tours too and was very friendly and helpful) at 10:30. and we were off! one thing that i immediately love about fes is the abundance of stray cats! they are soooo cute, and they are everywhere. so our first stop of the day was to experience the local tea. it is a mixture of mint leaves and green tea. you place the fresh tea leaves in a glass and then add boiling water and a little sugar and you have a local treat. very refreshing.

kittens!

the traditional moroccan tea.
i bought some to bring back to america,
one of these most unusual teas i have ever tasted.

how cute is the little tea room?

then we made our way to the famous tannery of fes. SO COOL. you can watch the men transform the hides into the leather pieces. the smell was a little unbearable - they use pigeon...uh...poop to open the pores of the skin (making a more pliable and a softer product). when they are soft enough they are added to the colored liquid vats, to (obviously) be dyed. the dye is 'all natural,' and made from various plant sources (saffron, poppy, indigo, mint, etc). after being dried in the sun they are made into BEAUTIFUL goods. here are my purchases! :)

stop 1 - pigeon poop!

stop 2 - visiting the wheel

stop 3 - dye vats

my new boots! leather and weaving.
see you in america! miss you already...

my poufs! aren't they so cute?!

lil coco, our mtv friend (no seriously he worked with road rules when they came to the tannery back in the day), and i posing after our leather purchases.

our friend at the tannery liked us so much we even got a complimentary wallet. when we were through smelling all the awful smells of the tannery we headed across the street to the pharmacy and got a lesson in aromatherapy and spices (which was a basically being re-schooled in most of my health food store knowledge). we did learn about the process of argan oil pressing. argan oil (aka moroccan oil) can either be used as a cosmetic item or to cook with. first lets start with where it comes from...the argan tree! duh. it grows in the dessert and goats eat the little 'pods' off the trees and then poop (yea, these moroccans love animal extremities) and the women come behind them and get the pits. this pit houses the seed that provides all the nutritional goodness. if the oil is going to be used for cosmetic purposes the oil is extracted when the seed is still raw, but if it will be used for cooking the seed it roasted first. the cooking oil smells DELICIOUS.

pictures of the pods, pits and seeds.

traditional method for extracting argan oil.
by hand!

when we were finished buying our new spices and essential oils, our guide took us to a rug co-op. this was a interesting experience. at first everyone was very helpful and informative. explaining that the operation was government run and provided jobs for widowed and abused women. australia is even kind enough to donate wool (they have some of the best wool in the world) for the woman to weave.

some finished products.

visiting one of the workshops and watching the women work. lil coco even got in on the action and added a couple knots! berber (aka moroccan) rugs are special and different because the off a 'summer' and 'winter' rug (it is like a '2 for 1 special). one side of the rug, the side that they work on, is plush and then the bottom or the summer side has all the tight little knots that are tight like needle point.

look at her go. she's a natural.

after our tour was when the 'pitch' started. the main guy (i guess in america he would be equivalent to a manager) wanted to show us some of the rugs and was telling us stories of american students who would come to visit, fall in love with the rugs, buy a couple for them and maybe their family and then sell one in the states and make a lot of money. i was skeptical from the beginning of the story, and i knew it was down hill when he asked us to pick out the rugs 'we wanted.' i did not plan on buying rugs! i guess i didn't plan on buying pouf's either, and i did. so we went along with the charade. saying we like this one, i don't like the color on that one, etc. etc. soon it was out of hand. he had pulled aside antique berber rugs that were 33,000 MAD (or 4,000 USD). WHAT?! i can't afford that. i understand and respect that they are an original work of art and will only get better over time, but seriously what kind of person thinks a college student (american or not) will drop that kind of bank on rug...that you walk on.

soon he (the manager person) was harassing us/pressuring us to buy rugs. i thought maybe i could afford a beautiful silk one, but it was still out of my price range - which was i only interested in things that were free after my trip to the tannery. this did not appease our non-friend. he kept trying to barter. i even blatantly told him, 'no, i can not afford this type of investment on my dependent/non-existent salary.' and this guy WOULD NOT TAKE 'NO!' FOR AN ANSWER. he was persistent and annoying as anything. after what felt like an hour of telling him no over and over, and accidentally agreeing to buy the 2 rugs twice (he kept saying name a price, i would aim REAL low and then eventually he would say 'ok.') we were FREE! (and i would like to make a note that i was not the only person being harassed. he would bother one of us about buying the rugs and then keep moving down the line. over and over and over.)and it was 4:00PM. abdul asked if we were hungry yet, and we had not realized it but we were. next stop best lunch EVER.

already planning a 'rug shopping' trip, later in life (like after i have a career),
so i can actually buy one! (or two)

abdul took us to this great little local place. check out this amazing spread. all these vegetables and crazy sauces for the first course. my favorite was mixing the lentils and some spicy peppery spread on the bread. yummmmmm.

where do you start?

enjoying the main course, lemon & olive tajine chicken with a side of cous cous. the cous cous was amazing, totally different texture than in the states. it was very fluffy and tasted like corn? and i liked it!

yum dessert. and they brought a little moroccan coconut cookie.

after a relaxing meal with friendly staff we were back on the tour. we stopped at a textile place that made traditional moroccan scarves. of course we bought stuff. i got a short sleeved olive green cotton shirt with white embroidery. totally tory burch-esque. and a new scarf, that is 'in-style' with this summer's trend : SAFARI.

abdul then took us to a driver and he took us out to the pottery factory. our guide quickly walked us through the process. first the raw material is brought in and then added to water creating a 'clay.'

the raw material. pre- h2o.

the wet clay is then taken to the wheel to be shaped. the pottery wheels are powered by the artisan. when he is happy with his creation it is set aside to dry for a few days. once it was air dried it would be sent to the kiln for its first round of firing.

some little bowls drying and waiting to be sent to the kiln.

once it was fired the first time it would be ready to glazing. fes is famed for their white and blue pottery. the glaze is a purple color and then changes to royal blue once it is fired one final time. then it is in the shop ready for me to buy :) i didn't go too crazy, i got a teapot for myself, this cool plate/tray and a storage container for tea and a couple goodies for other people. they are surprises!

while we were shopping around the ceramics, we made friends with our guide(not abdul, this was a new one - mohammad). he was very nice. and then when we were checking out i made friends with one of the other workers. having friends is nice. i saved 250 MAD and then got a free vase, hand painted tile and a jelly server. woop woop! and lil coco and i managed to score dinner dates (they asked us to go to dinner with them, and obviously we declined), shocker.

dinner was at 8:30 - which was entirely too early. remember we ate that 1000000 course lunch at 5:00. but it was good. i tried to eat it, but i wasn't hungry. i guess ill find out how expensive the meal was friday night - when we pay our tab! so far so good in fes. tomorrow we are traveling around the outside of fes.