Family Visit to Ouarzazate, March 20, 2010

Our first weekend “OFF” was March 20-21. This meant after our Saturday morning sessions, we were allowed to travel to Ouarzazate or another town in the region overnight if we wanted. Weekends are generally meant to be spent with host family but sometimes it’s good to get away and be surrounded by English speaking friends. I nevertheless decided to stay with my family. Brahim and I were invited to visit his sister Fatima’s family in Ouarzazate. Her husband, Goubrahim, is the director of a middle school and they live with their 4 children in a house on the school grounds. We had a really nice time. Gou drove us around town with his two lovely daughters, Mayma and Houda who are each in high school. Houda is actually deaf and mute but is able to go to a special school. She will graduate next year!

Ouarzazate has been dubbed as the Hollywood of Africa, as many films have been filmed in the region; the first big movie being Lawrence of Arabia decades ago. We visited the Museum of Cinematography, which displays many of the studios used for films such as Apocalypse, Nativity, and many Egyptian and Christian films. There were the chariots used in Lawrence of Arabia, and a collection of all the filming machines and cameras used back in the 60s. It also turns out my host dad was an extra in Gladiator. Gladiator and Babel were both filmed in Ait Ben Haddou and Tamdahkte, the two villages on either side of our CBT. They’re each about 3 km away and I run to Tamdahkte every morning.

After the museum, we walked around Ouarzazate’s center square and the souk as night fell. We drank a “panache”, which in Morocco means mixed fruit smoothie. It was probably one of the most delicious beverages I’ve ever had. The drink consisted of 3 layers: strawberry, avocado, and orange. I never imagined avocado would be a good mix with other fruit, but I stand corrected.

The plan had been for Brahim and I to head back to Asfalou that day, but Fatima insisted we stay the night and all go back to Asfalou together in the morning. So we spent the evening at the kitchen table, Fatima serving us cup after cup of tea as Goubrahim gave me a detailed account of Morocco’s history and the Berbers. Then I amused the family as I read aloud my Tashlhit assignments; putting together sentences about my daily activities.

We returned to Asfalou around 11 am on Sunday. I helped Najat and her neighbor, Fatima (I have come to the conclusion that 75% of the women in Morocco are named Fatima) get water. The water taps have been cut for weeks now and everyone’s reserves are gone. We walked to the irrigation stream and hauled several buckets of murky water for the donkey, sheep, and cow, then more brown water for the house toilets. After, we went to the well for “clean” water. As the weeks go by, the irrigation ditch water is getting less brown (or maybe my perception of clear water has just changed with time), so I go fetch a couple buckets every morning after my run to take a bucket shower and wash my clothes.

That afternoon, the women decided to dress me up like a Berber bride with Najat’s clothes. They pulled out shimmering fabrics from a suitcase stowed deep in her closet and made me put them on, wrapped my head in a traditional head scarf with tassels, and finished with make-up: black eyeliner, penciled eyebrows, rouge, lipstick… the whole spiel. I felt pretty ridiculous, especially when they made me go outside to take pictures.

In the evening, Brahim and I went for a walk in the fields and up the hill overlooking the village. We then went to visit Cara’s host family. Her host father is Brahim’s cousin. Cara had gone with the others to Ouarzazate and was not back yet so I drank tea with her parents and learned how to weave a rug until her return. Cara’s host mother makes rugs out of recycled clothes and rags cut into strips. It’s definitely not the fine work of a Kashmiri silk rug, but it looks nice and I love the recycling concept. Maybe I’ll get myself a loom at post and make rugs in my spare time.