I’m writing mid-afternoon on July 10, just a little less than 48 hours after arriving by train to Meknes. It’s been so bloomin’ great to hang with Jason and Carmen and their three chillins’ Dara, Lydia & Luke. We’ve kept pretty busy, so I haven’t had time to write or get online. Jason and Carmen’s family (plus a summer helper of theirs named Amanda – she fits right in and has been a welcome addition) are staying with Nat and Rod and me in a riad (large old-fashioned traditional Moroccan multi-floored house) a couple blocks away from Meknes’ medina (old city). We’ll all stay here another couple nights, then re-locate to their apartment, which is spacious enough to host all of us and will allow much easier and more frequent Internet access.
Besides just enjoying re-uniting with such cherished friends over a number of Moroccan foods (seriously good stuff), we’ve spent time exploring some of Meknes’ notable sites: We rambled in the dry heat for a couple hours through the souq (street market), and wandered around what’s left from Meknes’ heyday – 300 hundred years ago when Sultan Moulay Ismail ruled with ferocity and great success. He built enormous palaces using captured white slaves from Europe and colonial American ships. Most have crumbled but parts are being re-excavated so we dug around there and then went to his mausoleum.
Today we learned how to cook several traditional Moroccan dishes from a talented young Moroccan woman, and later tonight we’re going to explore and picnic near Volubilis – Roman ruins some two thousand years old.
Here’s a quick smattering of photos. In the first, Nat, Rod, Jason and Carmen play a simple carnival-type game in which they tried to maneuver a ring on the end of a strong onto a plastic soda bottle. I’ve got some video of it that I’ll post when i can.
Here we are sitting down to enjoy the authentic Moroccan noon meal we’d prepared earlier today.
Every chance I get, I talk to Luke about American football. (-:
