Taroudant with Elinor & Barry and Happy Anniversary to Jason and Jennifer - 17 years!!

Elinor and Barry couldn't sleep in again and were up by 5:30a.m. this morning. We all got rolling, a lot slower than Barry and Elinor and at about 9:30a.m. we left for Taroudant. I had walked over to the Minibrauheim for bread, but they weren't open. I hoped that we would be able to find bread in Taroudant like we had the last time we were there.

Off we went. Aziz rented a car for us so we could go in two cars. I knew this would be an experience for Barry driving in Morocco, but with the many places he has worked and been, that it probably wouldn't be a problem at all. Vanessa and Robby started in their car and the other boys were with Jason and me. It was a wonderful drive. There weren't any problems, minus one traffic stop by a policeman who just reminded us of the speed we should be going(we weren't even speeding, he was just stopping each and every car coming down the road--this is Morocco!) The guy with all the goats was there again with even more goats now. Since we had been there, we found out that this is this man's full time job. There are post cards with this man's goats on the card, and pictures of them all over Morocco. People stop, take pictures with the goats, pay the man whatever they want and then drive on. Elinor was so funny. She refused to even touch one of the goats! We got some more really cute pictures and the boys loved holding the babies.

As we were driving into the city of Taroudant, Jason looked at his watch to see what time it was and started to laugh. I didn't know what he was laughing at. He showed me his watch and I just gasped. His watch has the time and well as the date--there I saw 3/21. I couldn't believe I had forgotten our Anniversary! I was so glad he had realized it. We have been married 17 years and I was quite thrilled that coming to Taroudant was how we were going to be spending this day. This was one of my favorite places. I can't really explain why, I just like the city, it's ethnic feel and the wide variety of "characters" that we found here, the last time we had come.

We arrived in Taroudant and drove around the outer city walls hoping to run into RedOne again. Jason was sure he would still be there with his horse and carriage, but no luck. Jason finally decided on a gate to enter and into the city we went. A "parking attendant" showed us where to park and we both pulled in. This is when the Moroccan miracle happened again. Jason got out of the car and up rushed a very slight young man, with terrible looking teeth, but a huge smile! He grabbed Jason's hand and started shaking it like crazy. He immediately started introducing himself as RedOne's brother--Mustaffa!! He recognized us from before. We could not believe it! I honestly feel like we are watched over, every single place we have ever been in Morocco. There were very specific places we wanted to take Barry and Elinor and we knew there was no way we would find them without someone who knew Taroudant. Once again, prayers were answered and here was our guide.

Into the city we went, a different way than we had been before and it was really fantastic. This city is much more ethnic--Agadir is more westernized, kind-of, and not as ancient (Agadir was knocked down in the early 1960s by a huge earthquake, so it was all rebuilt then). Elinor immediately declared that she loved it more than Agadir! We wound through the aisles in the souk and saw so many great booths. These aisles are much more narrow and items are hanging down above your head, everywhere. I think, because there are so fewer tourist that come here, the shopkeepers here do not pull or call to you to ask you to come into their little stores. It's a much more pleasant way to look at things and explore. As Mustaffa led us to the different areas in the souk, we went through the meat and fish area. The flies were thicker and more numerous than any other place I've ever seen. The smells were absolutely horrific. I was laughing so hard because Elinor was grunting and groaning at each new smell that impacted her sense of smell. Robby described it as disgusting; Will said it was really, yucky and stinky; Reggie said it smelled like poo; Vanessa said that the terrible smell defies any description of stinkiness that she could describe; Mitchell said it smelled like a sewer and the only way he made it through was finding a peppermint leaf and holding up in front of his nose. Jason said to imagine dozens and dozens of fish locked in a dark, hot box for several days, set in the hot sun and then opening it up. In other words, it was not our favorite aisle to have walked down.

Vanessa was bugged out of her mind. She got an extraordinary amount of looks, calls, whistles, etc. and of course, hated it. She was whining her head off, until I told her that if she were ugly, this wouldn't be a problem. She better appreciate it for the craziness that it is and know that it won't last forever. She grinned, but stayed very close to me or Grandma Ellie.

We wound throughout the souk and finally arrived at the Berber essential oils shop where they make the essential oils right there from the argon tree and fresh herbs.
Elinor was fascinated by it and got a few bottles. It was very fun. I asked Mustaffa about RedOne. Mustaffa spoke very good English, actually much better than RedOne, and he told me that RedOne was now working for an Italian man who owned 50 horses as a groomer and stable boy of some kind. He then told me that the government of Morocco has decided that they do not want Taroudant to have so many horse carriages. They will keep the 10 best horses and everyone else is out of business. Once again, I was so grateful that, in America, the government does not abstractly decide who can have a business and who cannot. Who can provide a service and who cannot--it depends upon the economy and the services provided. If there are people who will pay for your service, your business can survive and thrive.

We went next to the museum-like shop with all the fancy items and then to the Tuareg Rug shop. It had moved because of all the rain that happened in February--their other shop was flooded and closed up. The huge man that we met before was not there this time. He was out in the Sahara taking care of his parents. His brothers were there this time and they were fantastic in their explanations of the stories these rugs tell. By this time, everyone was starving. We'd been going like crazy and all the kids started taking the snacks out of the backpack and eating. Elinor was not pleased at all with Jason for not finding something to eat. We took a while longer in the rug shop and Jason and I got our Anniversary present for each other--the most beautiful Berber rug EVER!! It was made by the three wives of a very famous Berber man, he's like a Berber king, and his wives are from 3 totally different tribes or clans. One wife was perfect in weaving. The second wife was perfect in embroidery and the third wife was perfect in knotting wool - it's called something else, but I can't remember the term he used. They are very famous for the beautiful work that they do.

After this, Mustaffa showed us where all the bread in Taroudant is made. The women come in from their villages, make the dough, raise it, bake it and then take it to the vendors to sell. This place could fall into the category of what you would call--TMI---Too Much Information!! This "bakery" was down a dusty, dirty, cluttered alley way where there were several women begging for money and then to a dark, fly infested, horribly dirty room where there was dough raising on a dirty, wooden shelf or "counter-top" and then cooked in a fireplace thing. All of us knew then, we would not be buying ANY bread in Taroudant. We were pretty worn out by this time and Barry was anxious to go out to Tiout--the Oasis. So we found our car again, paid Mustaffa for all his help and time and thanked him many times. We stopped at a little gas station and got drinks for everyone and then headed out to the oasis.

When we arrived in Tiout, it was a different situation. Before, we arrived at near dusk, this time it was the middle of the afternoon and many people were out and about. As we drove into the city and toward the oasis, I didn't see any local "tour guides" and thought we would go there ourselves this time. As we got deeper into the city, along came an old man on a motorcycle. He knocked on our window as he squeezed past us and the house right next to us and gave the wave of "follow me" and off we went--Jason and I just looked at each other and smiled. Every one's a guide in Morocco! :} He led us up to the Kasba--an ancient castle-like building high on the hill above the city (which we couldn't go to last time because it was closed), so we could over look the oasis. It was great! I got some pictures with our guy--the poor guy was missing an eye and was as nice as could be! He offered to take us on a tour of the oasis on the back of their donkey's, but Reggie and Mitchell are so allergic to horses, we just didn't dare.

We then walked through the oasis and I had the boys pass out candy to the children and adults we met along the way. We made everyone, very happy! The women even let me take pictures of them. It was neat. When we left, we drove through the city and stopped each time we saw little children and gave them pieces of candy. Barry was not thrilled with us, he thought we were teaching them to beg, but we looked at it like if we could give these little, precious children something to smile about, it was worth it. They are taught to beg from their parents, we just wanted to make them happy.

The drive home was faster than usual and we later found out that it drove Elinor crazy--she thought we were going over 100 mph, but in actuality, our top speed was 60mph and was typically around 40mph. It's just that there are so many people on the roads, along with the fact that they are soooooo narrow. Another thing that I noticed was how many crops were now being harvested, which were tiny when we had come before in January--beans, peas, oranges, wheat, etc. The fields were very organized and full of women doing all the work. I sure hope these women's hubsands are working somewhere and not just casually hanging out in town with the other men. We saw lots of trucks filled to the brim with ladies in their scarves and wraps--some with 24 women standing in the back of the trucks as they zoomed down the roads. It was crazy!!

Elinor has been very worried about eating any food that isn't from her suitcase, like cup-of-soups, etc. or from McDonald's, so when she found out that dinner tonight would be from Aziz and his Mother, who made us dinner, she went right in and ate a cup-of-soup and bread. That was safe and familiar and she was really hungry. Aziz, Miriam and baby Jade came to our apartment at about 8:30p.m. We asked them if we could have a blessing on the food and although they were quiet during the prayer, they seemed to try to ignore the fact that it was going on. From what I can understand about the Muslim religion, only the priests are allowed to pray and those prayers are set in stone. The people bow, etc., but they do not say "their" own prayers, so I don't really know how it was received. I hope that it was positive. It was a delicious dinner of beef and chicken, which I am learning to cook tomorrow, with Aziz's family. The kids would only eat the bread. They weren't fed too well today, but they surprisingly complained very little. Neither Aziz, Miriam or Jason used utensils. Aziz said that fingers are cleaner than utensils. He said he had worked in Four Season Hotels in Florida and to trust him that clean hands are much more clean and reliable than any utensils found in restaurants. Scary!! This really grossed out Elinor. I used half fingers and half utensils, Barry was all utensils and Elinor didn't touch it. She was full from her soup.

We all got to bed late, but had had a very fun day.