Thurs, Aug. 4- Arrive at Mama Fatima's house (Adil's mother) and meet Mama, the staff (some very nice ladies that work & live in the house), and our new travel buddies- Kate's parents Phil & Julie, and Kate's longtime friend Chris and her husband Al.
We quickly headed to King Hassan II Mosque, built 12 years ago, and named after the King who had the mosque built. It's the 3rd largest in the world, after the famous and religiously important mosques in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia. It is one centimeter shorter than the Mecca mosque, out of respect. An amazing combination of mosaics, titanium and plaster carved facades, dark cedar, marble, and other materials all from Morocco, except Venetian glass chandeliers and two small white marble columns where the "imam" or prayer leader, sits. Those are from the Carrara region in Italy (about as famous as Venetian glass).
The mosque (as all huge endeavors) has a few bits of controversy/interesting coffee talk. It is located literally over the ocean. They poured concrete and brought in rocks to fill the void underneath and be part of the foundation. Supposedly the columns are eroding due to waves & tides, and there's a nice little battle between the construction company and the insurance co. Constr. put in a claim a few years ago, and the ins. co. conveniently piled up the red tape and dragged things out past the 10 year warranty period. Also, the mosque cost Morocco about $800 million, if you believe the estimates. The king put up 1/4 of it, and the rest was "donated" by the Moroccan citizens. Our Moroccan contacts tell us there was a little pressure to donate. Let's leave it at that.
Internet time out, TO BE CONTINUED.
Continued. Back to Mama's house for a late lunch of salads, fried fish, and grilled chicken- grilled on Mama's new gas grill which Adil brought over from the US and assembled in Morocco. They are apparently very pricey in Morocco, and not very common either, especially to the customs agent who interrogated Adil for a few minutes until he voluntarily ripped open the box to cut the conversation as short as possible.
Later that night, we experienced our first hammam, or Turkish style bath. This is where you enter (boys & girls separate), strip down to your undies, and go through a three-part bathing/cleansing process. First, the sauna room where you just relax and sweat out all that tension, as well as lube up with a special soap that looks sort of like a molasses and wax mix. Then off to the scrubbing table, where a man or woman takes a luffa-type glove (some tenderfoots like J3 may choose to call it an SOS pad) and scrubs you down- with authority! You literally lose a few layers of dry skin & dirt, which balls up into nice little glue/pencil eraser balls all over your body. Careful to keep your eyes closed and not to breathe in to quickly- sweaty dirt balls don't taste that great. After a few rounds of scrubbing, you go to the bath area where you can shower off or sit at a large bowl/tub and wash yourself one last time, using a small bowl to scoop the water and rinse your freshly tenderized body.
Dinner back at Mama's was after 10pm, which we thought was late compared to us westerners. Little did we know what was in store for us in the next few days. Dinner was what would become standard fare- although never getting boring at all, and always delicious, or "ladeed" in Moroccan. Moroccan soup served with the traditional honey/sesame/pastry curly cues, Chicken, and Moroccan sausages. We then went out for a quick nightcap (or a "cold one" as Adil calls it) and to meet up with Adil's friend Omar, who lives in Irvine, CA (except for the ONE MONTH he spends back home in Casablanca!). The girls had a fun wine experience with the waiter. You see, a 1/2 liter bottle of wine costs 90 Dirhams (around $10). A 3/4 liter bottle costs 200 D. It took about 5 different people and 15 minutes for us to realize that this bar is using that "new math" that the rest of the world apparently hasn't heard of. We opted for two 1/2 liter bottles (pretty smart, huh?). The boys and Julie had Casablanca beer, a local brand which is actually very good.
We slept in the Grand Salon, or the main living room of the house. It's a huge room with built-in couches all around the perimeter, with elaborately embroidered cushions & pillows. The floor is marble, and the walls are accented with a combo of mosaic tiles & carved plaster designs, really detailed and beautiful. This is the standard traditional design in a Moroccan home, promoting togetherness and comfort. There are large round tables brought in and this is where we eat usually as well. You can see it in the photos in the blog (the room in which the wedding took place). J3, Chris & Al slept randomly on the couches in bliss. Oh yes, did we mention the three chandeliers and the ceiling?
Fri, Aug. 5- Brekky downstairs in yet another room almost as big and ornamented to the gills as upstairs. It's more of a casual area where the family and staff hang out together often, plus it's adjacent to the kitchen. Had pancake bread with honey & jam, boiled eggs with salt & cumin for dipping, coffee, and tea. Went and checked into the Rania Hotel nearby, our home-away-from-home for the next 2 days. This is so we could get away from the wedding festivities if we just couldn't handle staying up until dawn with the rest of the family. If any of us didn't believe this reasoning, we were about to become believers.
After getting our hotel rooms sorted out, we went back quickly to Mama's for lunch. Couscous w/lamb & veggies, all served in one huge bowl. We poured broth over the top (to help the cous stick together) & dug in. The typical Moroccan way of eating is with your right hand (the left was used for other things in the old days), so some of us chose to try it out. You literally take a bunch of couscous & meat & veggies in your hand, try to ball it up, and stuff it into your mouth. It's great fun, and you get to eat like a kid and not get into trouble! It also helps with the togetherness thing, since you're all eating from the same dish in a very intimate way. Back to the Rania for a nap. We were going to need our rest for "The Wedding, Part 1- Henna night" later tonight.
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