Aug. 13 – After saying our “till later”s to Chris & Al, Julie, & Phil, and “see you in a few days” to Adil & Kate (they were off to Agadir for the real honeymoon – we tried to go with them but they just wouldn’t have us, I don’t know why?? Heehee…) J3 was off to the train station for the 4 ½ hour ride to Fes. Adil’s friend Omar, now an Irvine, CA resident, has a family place in Fes and insisted we stay at his place for free. His Moroccan hospitality wouldn’t have it any other way and who were we to complain?!
We had pretty comfy seats in first class and there was one empty seat next to us which was occupied twice, briefly, by 2 different helpful and informative “tourist office employees” who left shortly after finding out that we had our accommodations sorted already.
Upon arrival in Fes, we taxied to the rendezvous point, Palais Jamai (5 star hotel with the really fancy looking pool in the Fes photos) to meet Mohammed, the full-time house staff, so he could take us to Omar’s place. While we waited, we splurged on an 12 USD chicken club sandwich and it was worth every penny! Mohammed stays at their place in the medina while it’s being remodeled into a riad. It’s the typical old-style home- a large rectangular, 3-story building with a large courtyard in the middle. He fixed up one room for us, beautifully I might add, for our 3 night stay. Mo is Berber (a region in Morocco) and speaks no English so he brought his neighbor, Ismael with him to pick us up. Ismael speaks Spanish and almost no English so it was up to Jason and Ismael to sort things out en Espanol.
We left the bags in our room finally and went straight next door to Ismael’s riad and relaxed on the roof terrace overlooking the vast medina- an amazing view indeed. We had dinner there and spent lots of quality time speaking Arabic/Berber/Spanish with our new friends, and then off to bed.
Aug. 14- After brekky w/Mo, we headed out thru the medina with Mo and Ali, who is one of the construction guys working on the riad. Ali speaks some English, which is probably why he came along. Mohammad & Ali was easy for us to remember (think boxing!). However, our buddies couldn’t get their mouths to form Jason and JJ any closer than “Janeson” or “Jackson” and “Jane-Jane”.
We wandered thru the areas of the medina tourists rarely see (unless severely lost of course). The guys took us through Ali’s neighborhood, through shops working on lumber, metalworks, leather, and even went to a local pool hall. We were led in straight to the back, through all the male-only crowd to a back area with nothing around but a Spice Girls and Michael Jordan poster (at least 15ft off the ground, I might add). We were told this place was formerly a French prison and then led to another area (briskly- maybe because police were around and tourists aren’t allowed? Maybe women aren't allowed? We never found out) where we were shown the owner’s small-time flower water bottling business. It looked very sketchy (and probably is illegal) but what’s the big deal with a little flower water, eh? He had a huge vat full of empty Heineken bottles, and crates full of the same bottles full of flower scented water, which we splashed all over our clothes and heads as a natural cologne (it was extremely hot and we WERE a little sticky). Ali wanted us to drink some (to freshen up your insides), but that’s where we drew the line, so he had to drink alone.
It was in the billiards/video game/flower water production facility/prison that we came up with a few nicknames for ourselves and our friends…Ali became “the machine” because he was the guy who got things done- construction, tour guide, flower water promoter, etc. Jason said he wanted to go back & help w/construction on the riad, and JJ quickly volunteered to supervise from our room at the top of the riad. Hence her new nickname, “El Capitan”. Mohammad seems to work tirelessly 24hrs a day, and would continually check that we were ok, so he was very tired at all times, esp. during our long walks through the medina. He soon became known as “Sleepy”. Jason never got a nickname…I’m sure the readers can think of a few, right?
We wandered for several hours more in the crazy medina- more twists and turns through more than 1400 different streets/alleys. Fes’ medina is bigger and more difficult to keep your bearings than Marrakesh, and just as insanely busy and hectic.
We headed back to the riad for a late lunch, made by Saiid “Le Cocine” or “The Chef”. Saiid was the other construction worker around when we arrived, and younger than our other two buddies. He had prepared a nice chicken tajine for the five of us while we were out, and it was as tasty as the best restaurants in town!
After a nap, we wanted to venture out on the town at night so, with Mo to tow, we jumped into a “Petit Taxi” (a little red cheap taxi) to Bab Baoujloud, a small area inside once of the medina gates with a few cafes/restaurants, and we enjoyed some sweet honey twists and a coke & sprite. Yes, we’ve kept up our unusually crazy night lifestyle!
Aug. 15 – We had to fight off Mo from being our guide again today since we were sure he had better things to do that tour us around. He reluctantly stayed behind (like a puppy watching his owner drive off) and we taxied into the “new town” of Fes for some travel admin. We later found out that it’s not so much that Mo feels the need to make sure we’re OK and having a good time, but he’s normally bored so when people come in, that gives him an excuse to go out.
So, our first stop was the supermarket to find some ziplock baggies for the spices we purchased so we could send them home. There were no zip lock baggies to be found in this town. So, with that, we mailed the spices anyway – and that was an experience in itself at the post office. There was one counter with just a mass of people waiting and whoever could push their was up to the front and catch eyes with the ONE girl processing orders was the lucky one. Add into the mix that we were the only ones who spoke English in there and imagine the chaos! Afterward getting out of there without going crazy, we were fully deserving of a big tasty beef burger and that’s what we got! Big Tastys at McDonalds! The next thing on the admin list was to find some internet and that proved to be quite difficult as well. When we did finally find it, it was the fastest we’ve seen in Morocco – but still with a French keyboard so we weren’t there too long. Next stop train station to buy our tickets back to Casablanca for the next day.
Admin. complete and Petit taxi to Bab Boufloud to start our slow trek through the medina back to our home. Wandered the streets, saw a tannery, jumped out of the way of all the horses and donkeys coming through the narrow walkways carrying stuff like water, fruit, empty bottles, etc. We finally found some playing cards (that was difficult!) and ended up at Palais Jamai to sit in actual air conditioning for about an hour (it was HOT and sticky in Fes, just like Houston in August). We sat in the hotel lobby enjoying the view and playing rummy (JJ is currently up around 800 points...but J has 5 countries & 2 months left for a big comeback).
That night we had dinner on the terrace next door again with Ismael, Mo, Atmane, and Habib. Atmane is a young guy who speaks about 8 languages and is a desert trek guide in the Atlas mountains. Habib is the “father” of the house and is a really funny old man, always smiling, dancing, and chatting away in Moroccan. He even dragged JJ up to dance with him for a bit. When Atmane wasn’t around, JJ/Jason traded English words for Moroccan and Berber words with Mo and Habib. We were sure to teach Mo how to request an “air conditioner”, for future reference.
Aug. 16 – Through the medina again with Mo, this time looking for an ATM. We were warned by a few people that we might get stopped for walking with Mo as the tourist police might think that he’s a “faux guide” trying to take our money for showing us around. “…just say you’re staying with his family if that comes up.” OK, no problem. It wasn’t until we were at the ATM that the tourist police jumped Mo and got his story in Moroccan. Then they asked us and we told them what we were told to say...you know, the truth! Apparently, Mo has not updated his ID with his Fes address and it still says he lives in the Berber region. So, Mo told the cops that he came with us from Casablanca for one day, we said he lived in Fes and we've been here 3 days. Needless to say, our stories didn’t match and that almost got Mo into more trouble! After some pleading with the guys, they let him go but said they would be looking out for him. We almost got Mo arrested!! In retrospect, we probably should have planned that one thru a little better.
Later that day we were off on our train to Cas. in first class, as recommended, but we’ve been told to just go see 2nd class, just a walk through. So, JJ tried to go see it and couldn’t even get there! They were piled in there so much that they were spilling out between trains and even into the first class car! Yikes!
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