Our Last Full Day

So today is our last full day in Morocco. Tomorrow, we hang out in the morning a little and then make our way to the airport for Egypt! It was a great day! We are up in the Northern part of Morocco in and around Rabat and Meknes. We actually stayed the night in Rabat and got to meet Mustapha’s wife Hiat and older daughter. All very, very nice people. It is a little funny because we actually ate with them at a Pizza Hut! Rabat is Morocco’s capitol so it has places like that. It was an exciting dinner because we got pizza, ice cubes and straws! Things we all take for granted. You can also add toilet paper to that list. I have trained myself to have some sort of paper on me at all times now. : ) There’s nothing worse than finishing up and then realizing you have no toilet paper! I don’t think I mentioned this before, but many times you will have to pay a lady in the bathroom a duram or two to use the douche (as they call toilet in French). By the way, French is spoken A LOT in Morocco.
We got to meet the Ag attaché , Michael Fey and the US Ambassador of Morocco today. He is the guy that represent our president in Morocco. It was a very unique and interesting opportunity. I mean not everyone gets to meet the US Ambassador of Morocco! We had to stand up when he entered into the room. Plus, we remained standing as he help himself to lemon aide and banana bread. Which pay the way, I have never tasted lemon aide so deliciously good in my life! We just sat around in Michael Fey’s beautiful home and chatted and listened to him talk. We all were very impressed and had a great morning.
So then we were off with another bus drive through the countryside. We could see green stuff this time! Also, for a lot of our trip we say the coast or fields of grapes, sunflowers, and various other flowers. We were told that this part of Morocco is very much similar to Mediterranean areas of Spain. So when we finally made it to our destination we arrived at a small farm. Much to our surprise there was a big Berber tent set-up. But wait! It gets much better. We actually got to eat our lunch in that Berber tent! It was sort of a surreal experience lounging in the tent with pillows and rugs after rugs after rugs covering the ground and part of the back. I have said it again and again but Moroccans have some of the best hospitality. They are so very kind. So we took off our shoes, which is a Moroccan custom and went to sit down in the tent. We had a man come around and pour water for us to wash our hands, and then we were served mint tea! Next came lamb shish kabobs! Very delicious!! Next came something I wasn’t expecting! We were served TWO whole lambs for us to gobble up. We just ate with our right hands, using the bread to tear off pieces of lamb. It was very good. Then we were served a huge heaping platter couscous. It was actually the first I had tried. It kind of reminds me of rice. It also had carrots, potatoes, beans and squash in it. Of course this was quite tasty as well. After all of this, in perfect Moroccan tradition, we had fruit. We had watermelon and honeydew. At this point were about to bust! Just a little side note, Moroccans feed their guests way more than enough food. They actually want there to be a lot of leftovers. It just shows prosperity and is proper when entertaining guests.

After the Berber tent meal, we walk around the farm and saw their cattle and lamb that they just let roam around to graze. The tents are set up so that the people can see their animals for miles and miles. They can also see when others are approaching. After all the excitement it was time to load back up in the bus.
They next part of the trip was a trip to a winery. I have never been to a winery before so it was pretty interesting. We also got to do a little taste testing at the end. They were all very tasting. I would have bought some but they didn’t have any for sell. Just trust that it was good. : )
So tonight was our farewell dinner! I just want to throw this in. I am sitting in Cairo right now and I really miss our last night in Morocco. We were lucky enough to be invited over to Mustapha and Hiat’s home for dinner and fun. It was just fun to hang out and relax with some amazing people. We also got to meet Mustapha’s younger son and daughter. When the younger son came in, he went around and gave all of us kisses on both sides of our cheeks. I think some of us were caught off guard, even though we had seen this greeting before! : ) Then we made fun at Ashley for saying his cheeks were soft. Just for some background his son is probably in our middle school age group or younger.

We had another amazing meal and along with that, good conversation. I had what I thought was fish at the time. Unfortunately, I later found out it was sheep brains. Shame on you tricky people. : ) Hey, but I am still here. Another thing that was pretty exciting was getting our henna done! Mustapha had invited a lady to his house to do our henna. She did an amazing job. She was very fast and very detailed. I really like looking at my henna. : ) At the end of the night we had a champagne toast to friends we came to Morocco to be friends with and all the amazing thing we had just learned.

I will definitely miss listening to Kurt and Mustapha talk about anything and everything from Morocco to life in general. They have a wealth of knowledge and it is all very interesting. Plus, they were just really genuinely nice people to hang out with. We will all miss them.

The Traveling Bogart,

Kasie