Susannah's host family's house is amazing, and you would never know from the outside which is a simple and elegant door. Or how large it is. But it is still nothing compared to how wonderful and kind her host family are, sharing their home and feeding me, even lending me things for the Hamam.
Overlooking Fez from the hike.
Genna and I went to a fabric factory with Susannah, hidden in the back alley of a medina. Actually, it seems all roads in the Medina are back alleys.__
(Written 12:16 AM June 30th 2009)
One of the unique features of the architecture here in Morocco is that the beauty is inner beauty. Susannah shared her family with Genna and I for meals and place to go, a home away from home, while in Fez. From the outside of the building, one would never imagine the splendid beauty of the house. The door is ornate, but there are no windows.
My hotel is not like this, and the windows overlooking the street let in a cool breeze, and the noise. So, I didn't sleep that well before our hike up the mountain (if you are reading this susannah, please comment with the name of the mountain!) Susannah, Genna and Brian (Bryan?) met me just as I was coming out of the hotel. She helped me negotiate things, and then we were off. We walked from the Medina into the foothills, and up the mountain - until we ran out of water. There was a tremendous amount of loose gravel that our shoes did not get along well with. A few slips, falls, and we settled for the great views of the false peak.
I didn't have breakfast so I was very hugnry when we returned 4 hours later for lunch. A camelburger seemed like the perfect filler. It's flavor was suprisingly not surprising, it sort of fit my expectations - or at least didn't stray far. It had the smell of camel minus all the bad smells that I have previously associated with camels. I am not sure I would have it again, but it was a good experience. Susannah also had one and Genna had the Couscous. Apparently, Couscous is traditionally only made on fridays. The restaurant we ate at is a little joint hidden down a dark alley. It's neat in that it has a diverse following. Lots of expatriots, lots of Moroccans, lots of mixes. It's a really comfortable cafe, and reminded me of some of my favorite places in Peru. I hope to get breakfast there in the morning.
But that wasn't the highlight of the day.
No, the highlight was the Hamam. The world knows of the turkish bath, and other cultural bathhouses. The moroccan bath house however is one that is unfortunately overlooked, or perhaps, fortunately, a well guarded secret. Hamam's are traditionally the opportunity for women to leave their house and meet with other women... while washing.
It's not your every day bath though.
We arrived, and the girls went to the right. I went left, and was told to strip to my boxers. A masseuse then led me down to the Hamam. It was a beautifully tiled room with marble slabs (they actually reminded me of an autopsy room) to lay on while being bathed, cold baths, and a large steam room. I was told to shower, then I was covered in Gausson, and other stuff, steamed for a while. After which I was rubbed down with a coarse glove called a K'iss to exfoliate.
Forget about personal space. I was then rinsed, and sent back into the steam room. More washing while I sat there and just enjoyed as I was scrubbed from head to foot. During the process, he would stretch my body in ways I didn't realize was previously possible. He cracked many of my bones, like a chiropractor, and massaged my leg and torso muscles. more showering, soaping, shampoo. At the end, I was led to a cold bath, and then a quiet room to nap. It was luxurious, my 1 hour and 45 minutes at the costly price of about 12 dollars. Less luxurious Hamam's, which I read about, sans masseuse, are about 10 dirhams, which is about 1 dollar and some change.
After our "spa" treatment, which in the winter is the weekly bathing method, we went for fez fruit salad. Delicious. It's an avocado smoothie, with lots of nuts and other delicious things. It was so good. And Susannah's host sister came along which was fun as well.
It brought me back to the shakes I made while my mouth was wired shut, and the fond memories of putting avocado in everything that I blended to keep up my weight. In Morocco, to tell someone they look thinner or that they lost some weight does not connotate the same as it does in America. People worry that they are sick or something to that nature. So, there was a running joke about shaping thighs through eating or some form of exercise.
During afternoon snack, we decided to go for more, and we were off for pizza. Susannah's host mom offered to make a special exception and prepare couscous for Genna since we leave in the morning, and she still hadn't had proper couscous.
Needless to say, it was an amazing meal. But we aren't there yet.
After returning to the house, Susannah and I went out to make some calls to the U.S. to cancel my plane ticket for Hong Kong, she let me use her computer and I did some skyping - but the calls kept failing. I had been waiting to decide what to do with the ticket, and realized that the flight left tomorrow afternoon. I ended up having to call my mom to hold the line when I would get disconnected, which happened frequently. The conference call was somewhat effective, and gave me a chance to chat with her a bit - but it was her taking control of the situation that created the solution. In the end, she handled it and emailed me the results.
We arrived back with perfect timing, and dinner was served. Ariel and her father, Brian (Bryan?) joined us, and we all shared in the wonderful meal. There was also real coca cola, as in, made with real sugar, not aspertane - which is infinitely better.
After dinner I returned to my hotel so as not to get locked out, as the policy remains unclear at this point.
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