TRAVELS ACROSS MOROCCO.. our field trip to a PC volunteer's house in souther Morocco..

Me in Meknes, waiting for the train..

Overall the experience was superb. I was thankful for a break from the routine of classes and technical training. In fact, I commented to a friend this afternoon that I feel the most healthy, happy and full of energy since arriving in country over five weeks ago. To gain a realistic picture of the field trip, an itinerary would probably be a helpful place to start.

DAY ONE

Three groups traveled together via taxi to Meknes and then caught the 9:51AM train to Marakesh. We arrived in time for Lftor at a local restaurant, spent the evening exploring the city, souk and a fabulous Indian restaurant, before retiring to Sindi Sud, the Peace Corps hotel in Marakesh. Laura facilitated a price and product comparison excursion and was constantly functioning as a dictionary to our ever-expanding vocabulary.

DAY TWO

Jesse and I woke at 4AM to listen to the chorus of chanters call the devout to prayer. We watched a giant moon set on the horizon and ran back to bed, shivering. We breakfasted at a nearby café before grabbing a petit taxi and headed to the Mahata (grand taxi station). Laura haggled a good rate to take the four of us – Lindsay, Juliana, Laura and I – all the way to Agadir/Tefroute and we climbed in. The scenery was beautiful; the taxi was not… we suffered TWO flat tires on that stretch. Shortly before Lftor we were dropped off along the road, and walked into Ain Chaib on foot, suitcases in tow. Laura lives with a Moroccan family in a compound, so we met all of these sweet, hospitable people, shared Lftor and played Frisbee together. The three of us set up camp in the salon on the far side of the courtyard, after admiring Laura’s cozy room.

DAY THREE

We rested from our travels, made breakfast (as the family was fasting) and looked through the Peace Corps cookbook, hunting for the perfect dinner. We made a shopping list and took off on a 5-kilometer hike across dirt fields to Huwar, the big city neighboring Ain Chaib. On the way, we met with the local “FBI” (as they called themselves), and then gendarmes, giving them pertinent personal information. In Huwar, we strolled through the massive souk. Laura negotiated prices, we made our purchases, and hiked back. We shared our Mexican fare with the family for the second dinner and laughed and laughed.

DAY FOUR

We again developed a meal plan and headed out of the compound. It was Monday, so we visited the Nedi where Laura works. She conversed with them for a while and we observed for over an hour. She would come discuss problems with us or explain what was going on, while we greeted everyone and discussed product development ideas. Again we hiked into Huwar, but this time Laura took us to several fabric stores where the Nedi purchases materials. Then we went to her aerobics class, shopped at the souk, and headed home. The kitchen was a favorite hangout, with coffee and oranges to satiated us while we cooked. That evening the family experienced bineen Indian fare.

DAY FIVE

Tuesday we woke early, packed a backpack and took a taxi into Agadir. We intended to meet the delegate and visited the Artisana. One of the Artisana managers answered many questions for us, in informal interview style. Laura pointed out where the PC hotels were, and the central square where the Music Festival is held. We walked about the city and then ... we went to teh beach. Yes, we put our bikinis on and lounged in the sun. A waiter came up and asked what we wanted .. we ordered squid, basil/tomatoes/mozzarella. I marched to the bar in my bathing suit and ordered a Sex on the Beach... I had to pinch myself to remember I was still in Morocco. The land where you have to cover every inch of skin. We soaked in the warm sun, splashed about in the waves and finally pulled ourselves away. Then it was a trek across town to the Marjane (like a Target or Super Wal-Mart) where I scoped out pricing on household items for future reference. We headed back home exhausted but happy.

DAY SIX (Teaching Laura how to Swing Dance)

We packed up and left town early, wishing goodbye to a few sisters and children that got up to see us off again. My last memory of Ain Chaib was all the little schoolgirls following us down the main road out of town laughing and waving and calling after us. They were adorable. We took taxi’s back to Marakesh from Agadir, bidding Laura goodbye, and met up with Elbert’s group for lunch and more exploring of the city. Many of us studied language and debated long about which transportation option to take in the morning, trains or taxis. Elbert introduced us to yet another scenic restaurant overlooking a town square.

DAY SEVEN

Cebele’s group decided to take a direct taxi and did not meet up with us in Marakesh. We finally decided to all travel via taxi across the countryside. It was a long, wearying day, but we had many stunning views and happy memories to humor us.

The trip provided ample opportunity for learning. Several notable areas included traveling, geography, living in a small village, witnessing a volunteer’s life in a small village (and her ability to maintain a sense of self), steps of preparing a meal, visting the nedi where she works, the artisana in Agadir, and the post office.

We traveled via taxis a majority of the time, but realized that there are many ways to reach most destinations in Morocco. On the way to Agadir we took a train, on the way back we took taxis – three one day, three the next. Each mode of transportation has its own pros and cons. The buses (we heard), are not as reliable and stop more frequently. The trains (my preferred form of transportation) take a little bit longer but are much more comfortable, allowing us to walk around, use the restroom when needed, and access our luggage. They are also a bit cheaper, it seems. The taxis’ the most commonly used form offers a much more direct route, and allow more control over when and where we are going, but are usually rather uncomfortable and we cannot stop at our discretion. Laura was instrumental in helping us learn when and how a taxi driver can cheat “tourists” and what we should expect to pay. There was a rather extensive discussion in Marakesh, weighing our different options; determining the preferred mode of transport. We realized this was something we would face throughout our service in Morocco.

Considering we traveled from northern Morocco to the southern coast, we saw a vast expanse of the countryside. I was very pleased to see so much of the country through train and taxi windows. The mountain ranges were spectacular, the desert lakes dazzling; the coast soothing. The myths about goats climbing in trees and camels wandering through frenzied city streets became reality. I spent much time imagining myself in many different situations. A tiny rural village near the coast or a sprawling mountain village, and in the end decided that I could be happy under many different circumstances here. It was just delightful to see what I had only known from maps and the Lonely Planet.

Laura lives in a small village, with a family, and it was insightful to see how she operated in the family structure and engaged in local culture. It became clear that there were both advantages and drawbacks to living with a Moroccan family. On one hand she had a much more fulfilling home life with sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews, a family to dine with, to protect her, to continue language practice, etc., but we also learned that with that comes the need to take great pains in protecting a family’s reputation in the community. This can be quite constricting in some ways and the family did place rules on some things she could or could not engage in, and somewhat hampered her AIDS community work. In addition, she explained to us, while introducing us to her best friend – who was also her counterpart and tutor – that the roles of family, friends and work were all very integrated, sometimes to a point of frustration. There was little distinction.

In training we have had many sessions regarding cultural integration, but Laura (thankfully) modeled a healthy balance between integration and maintaining a healthy sense of self. She weighed cultural norms and determined for herself where her boundaries would be, and what activities or actions were not suited to her, such as drinking sweet mint tea or wearing the traditional headscarf. She set healthy, but strong boundaries for herself and the family, which, in the end it seems, contributed to her ability to continue living happily with a family and still preserve her own space and life. She demonstrated this to us beautifully with simple things such as cooking an American dinner and then sharing it with the family alongside the normal Lftor fare.

We learned how to go about preparing a meal with limited resources. After reading through the Peace Corps cookbook, we developed a shopping list appropriate for a Moroccan souk and hiked into Huwar to make our purchases. Lo has worked hard developing intentional relationships with certain vendors to build trust and fair pricing at the souk. It seemed like a good strategy. The kitchen in Laura’s house had a camp-stove, rudimentary knives and other cooking utensils, but we made do and made some fabulous guacamole and fajitas one night, Palak Paneer another.

The visit to the nedi was eye-opening. The building was fairly nice and there were dozens of donated sewing machines. When we entered, we greeted the president and administrative ladies, working privately in the front office (with not much apparent work actually occurring). The main room facilitated a class-type setup, with a teacher at the front desk, but once we greeted everyone and sat down we were quite confused as to what was actually taking place. There was no class in session that we could see, just a bunch of ladies chatting, with one or two knitting here or there. Laura explained that they often just came and chatted all afternoon, producing few crafts, and indeed saw little reason to do so. Once in a while someone would approach the front and ask the teacher how to make a certain type of crochet. At one point, Laura helped one lady sell some crafts at a fair and the lady had realized that she could have actually made more money if she was working more consistently when at the nedi. That was progress. Most of the ladies did not understand the incentive of making money. Many brought potential new ideas they had created to Laura, to experiment with, so there was some form of product development occurring, but we could see how the situation presented many challenges for a volunteer. Also there was a high level of mistrust between the ladies and the president. The building and machines were donated, yet a certain percentage of each sold product still had to be given to the president for unknown purposes. The nedi, instead of facilitating their goals, was in a frustrated state. The ladies, last year during voting for positions, were unfortunately too intimidated to vote the older president out of her position of authority. In addition, the many sewing machines they owned were not all appropriate to their needs, but to exchange them, they were required to reconnect with the NGO in France that had provided them and obtain permission for exchange. The visit was definitely insightful to the many challenges and opportunities of a given project.

The day we traveled to Agadir we visited the artisana and had a lengthy conversation with one of the administration officials. He explained how the artisana boasted crafts from all across Morocco, from artisans that lacked the infrastructure to sell their own art. They labeled crafts based on origination of the tradition, not of the actual location it was produced. Originally they center displayed the goods and then divided up any remaining profits at the end of the year, by percentage of sales, among the artisans. However, the artisana was doing so well that they were able to pay the artisans upfront for their goods, and then still divide up additional profits at the end of the year.

One afternoon, wandering through Huwar, we stopped at they Post Office. Laura explained the process of establishing a post office box or similar situation for receiving mail, based on location. She was trying to obtain her mandat, but there was an incredible line (or lack thereof) in the post office. She went around to the backside and demonstrated how connections can make a world of difference in this country. One of the employees was a friend who had learned early on that she lived in his village. He usually treated her with special kindness and came back to look on the shelves for her mandat (which still had not arrived). It was a good lesson in networking for all of us.

(This was adapted from a Field Trip Report submitted to Peace Corps.)