So the next day the original plan was to get straight back on the bus and drive to our next destination which was 7 hours away (supposedly we were going to tour Fes on our way back). But the powers that be decided that traveling all day was a little much so we were going to spend some time in Fes that morning. (As you will see, it’s a good thing we got some sort of touristy activity in!) So we did the tour of the city. We saw some golden doors to the king’s residence there and had our pictures taken with the guards, who very graciously tolerant of us. Then we walked around more of the city. It was bigger of course and much more urban than Chefchaouen, but it still had just as much poverty. It was really interesting though to walk around those very narrow roads in between tan walls (not blue here!) and interrupted by little holes in which people made a living with shops selling one specific type of thing. They were seriously like little closets, most of the time it looked like the person had to climb over the counter to stand in it. They sold everything…shoes (some looked like they had been worn), flowers, bread, nuts and spices, cleaning supplies, clothes…we even saw one of the enclaves filled to the brim with stacks of dusty cassette tapes. A lot of the time there were a lot of the same thing being sold on the same street…I heard that the people didn’t really care about trying to compete though; they were just concerned with trying to make enough to eat that day. It wasn’t always pleasant though. We poked our head in this place where they had like a million sheep hides they were gathering cotton from. Walking into it was definitely a very smelly, strange experience.
We soon found out that we would be taken to a lot of touristy places where they would try to sell us something in the end. They were still pretty interesting though and they didn’t normally pressure us to buy something unless we started bargaining, in which case you could be stuck! One place was where they made things out of leather. The main store overlooked the area where they dyed everything. We could see all these big holes with dye and men working down below, so that was pretty cool. We took pictures and one young guy working saw all us girls (there were actually only 4 guys on the trip total!) and started flexing his muscles and doing pushups across the hole for the camera. It was funny!
There was also a weaving place where they had a lot of traditional clothes and scarves used for turbans. They would put them on our heads for us like they wear them so that was fun. Then we went to a place with like a million beautiful, hand-woven, very expensive rugs. It was cool to see them and drink the tea that they gave us. We also got to go up on the roof there, which had a good view, and see some ladies actually doing the weaving!
I think that’s about all we did in Fes. So after that it was off to Erfoud for lunch. We still supposedly had a 7 hour drive ahead of us which was going to put us there even later than the normal late lunch we have in Spain. Or so we thought. We started driving and at about 12:30 or so (I think we were less than an hour outside of Fes) the bus started letting out a lot of smoke. So we had to pull over to the side of the road. Apparently, the bus was having some grave problems and going even like 15 minutes to the next city would not be a good idea. So we were stranded….in the African wilderness. We had to jump out of our burning bus and face lions—luckily the elephants gave us refuge and there were a few trees we could climb during the stampede. Hehe just kidding. (Totally had you going right??) No it was interesting because it didn’t really feel like we were in Africa. We hadn’t really seen any jungle or even the Sahara yet and all the people looked more Arabic than African. So fortunately for us we weren’t driving through they jungle, although we did see a turtle and some sheep. It was just some countryside with a small mountain and a little house with a donkey across the road. We did all get out and hang out in the grassy area by the bus. Some of us practiced our Sevillanas (traditional Seville dances kind of like flamenco), others read or played games. Ester called back to Spain and had people contacting the agency to get another bus. They said they would have one on the way and there within 40 minutes. That did not happen. Upon calling back, they told us it had left already and they could not communicate with it but it should only be like ten minutes. We heard this same line over and over again, seeing as we were there for about six hours. Yup, 6 hours. Apparently in Morocco it is more important to tell people what they want to hear to try to keep them happy rather than tell the truth. God is good though, there were trees and bushes nearby providing for good restrooms (if we had driven a couple miles more there would have been nothing!), and some mentioned that that was actually preferable to the ceramic holes. We did get hungry but luckily most of us had snacks with us. Some people started getting frustrated with the situation but overall everyone was pretty relaxed and just enjoyed hanging out—understanding that this is a third-world country and we can’t expect it to be the same. So finally at 5 something the first little van came (they didn’t have another bus the same size so they had to do a van and a bus). There was much rejoicing. Eventually people decided to go on and fit as many as possible in that on head to the next town for lunch. The rest of us waited for the other bus. Not to long later, after having watched other charter buses drive by all afternoon, ours finally arrived! There was much more rejoicing! So we got to a hotel in the next town and ate a much anticipated “lunch” at around 6:30pm. Phew.
After that we were going to take the same bus and van to Erfoud, but to no avail. Somehow it wasn’t licensed to go that far or something. So we sat at the hotel and Michael, Ester, and Muhammad took our orders for beer, wine, and mint tea while they figured out what to do. Hehe it was funny when they offered the second round and we knew they were just trying to keep us happy for as long as possible!
After thinking we were going to have to stay in a hotel there or back in Fes that night they finally found a way to take three vans and said that if we were willing to drive really late we could go on and go to Erfoud and not loose so much time in the Sahara the next day. We voted yes and piled into these van-bus things. We ended up having to sit in them without moving for a while though because it turns out that one of the drivers didn’t have his license and had to go get it. At that point we weren’t surprised. I think it was close to 11pm when we finally left.
Although I can’t tell you how happy I was to finally be moving, I have to say that driving that late at night in the middle of who knows where in Morocco was a little scary for me. It was so dark and we had gone a different route than the other two vans and we were just winding through mountains in the middle of no where in the middle of the night in Africa—not the safest place in the world. Ester was in our van though and it was all fine of course. Luckily someone let me have some of their Dramamine and I slept a little. We stopped for one bathroom stop (one of those rest stops we saw a lot of there with pork in the form of a full skinned pig hanging right in front of you) and a lady was standing in front of the restrooms. She let some people go in but when she realized how many of us there were she started yelling at Muhammed. He argued back but ended up angrily giving her money out of his own wallet so we could use her holes in the floor. Crazy.
We finally got to the hotel at 4:30 in the morning. And of course this was the nicest hotel we would be in during the whole trip! We only got to enjoy a few precious hours of sleep in those amazing beds. It was just really pretty and spacious and had a pool shaped like Africa!
Anyway, so that was that day. What an adventure! Hehe. Sorry I don’t have pictures this time, I am at the center and I don’t have my laptop with me but I wanted to go on and post this. Until next time!
