Last week in Imlil

REALLY crazy that I am writing what is probably going to be my last abroad post for a while… I have tried to live up my last week in Imlil as best as possible. Here’s the general summary-

Monday- Got back from Marrakech mid day.  I was lucky with the taxis~~ I think I (finally…) have it down… a little too late though.  Anyway when I got home I worked on the grant that I have been doing for EFA and kind of just relaxed.  I was still in a shopping mood from Marrakech and still had some things to get, so I took a trip to town.  Imlil is more expensive than RAK, which I was noooot expecting.  I went to “shop” without any money on purpose.  I wanted to see prices and think about things.  I only have a very small amount of cash left (no ATMS in Imlil) I have to save some of it to pay Rachid and get back to Marrakech.  A car from the Kasbah is 700 dirhams (outrageous) but there are other options.  I spoke to Rachid and Lahcen, and they both know taxi drivers who would bring me to the airport for less money (Rachid’s friend is 350 and Lahcen’s is 200… I knew I liked Lahecen).  Even if those don’t work out then I can go to the taxi stand and get one and pay for all of six of the places in the cab (~240 dirhams) and maybe give him extra money to have him bring me straight to the airport instead of changing taxis in Marrakech.  ANYWAY I figured that I needed to keep at least 400 dirhams to sort everything out, which only left me with ~200 for the rest of the gifts and food for the week… tight budget, but not impossible.  I saw my one friend who gives me a tashleheit word-a-day when I walk up to the Kasbah, but his prices were really steep in terms of what I was looking for… I felt bad, but knew I would not be buying anything from him.

The other guys at the bigger shop in the center of town scooped me in as I was poking at windows.  They brought me upstairs and showed me rugs (eventhough I told them I was not interested…).  Long story short I looked at a TON of rugs, and finally they found one that got me.  It is basically a runner, but when I asked how much it would be he said 1000 dirhams and I gasped out loud “absolutely not- no way, but thank you”.  They said they could literally cut it in half (better for me & my luggage) which would also cut the price in half… I said that 500 was still too much, but they were pretty set on their offer.  I said I would think about it, but they were pretty forceful. One brother was better than the other, but unfortunately I was dealing with the worse one.  I went back downstairs to look at the poufs (things that I actually needed).  The nice brother said that he would sell me two poufs and the rug for 700 dirhams… tempting.  I said I had no money (I didn’t) and that I would come back… They were reluctant to let me leave, but finally they did.

Then I met Lahcen and we bought veggies in town.  I also saw a family from the pool on Saturday and Sunday.  Funny, and I should have been friendly to them because I could have gotten a free & comfortable ride to Imlil (maybe).  They didn’t recognize me though.  I told Lahcen and he thought it was funny- especially because we both agreed that the child was annoying.

Then I went home and had a DELIGHTFUL dinner.  I was really crazy about deciding about the rug.  I told them that I had USD so they said they would take them instead of dirhams.  I also told them that I was going to Asni tomorrow (to meet Latifa & see the EFA house), where there is an ATM, so I said that I would take out cash if need be.  I spent a lot of time thinking about this deal and decided that I would give them the 47 USD that I had, and add the last 200 dirham that I had (~65 USD).  Then I decided that was too much, so I decided 100 dirham was the FINAL OFFER.  I wouldn’t get cash in Asni and I wouldn’t buy anything from them if they did not accept my offer.  My window shopping turned out to be a bad idea because now every shopkeeper in Imlil wants the “little money” that I have.  I went home a different route after veggie shopping because I wanted to avoid them. 

I met these two girls on my other route home.  They were really friendly and nice, but I really just wanted to go home.  They invited me to walk with them to the waterfall and I said “ooo that sounds great, but I have work to do- maybe tomorrow?” and they said “what time?” haha… oi. 

I made it home and did some more work THEN made my delicious dinner.  I had the leftovers from Café de la Poste, with some green beans and onions that I bought with Lahcen.  I was VERY happy.  The potatoes were better than Friday night… So good.

Tuesday I met with Latifa in Asni.  It is a bigger town than Imlil, but it really wasn’t anything special.  I was lucky to get a taxi driver who was going to Marrakech to drop me off at Asni… very lucky.  I got there early and walked around a little, but there was not a lot to see. Here are the pictures of nothing…

Latifa at EFA house

Terrace of EFA house- it was really REALLY nice, and I definitely could have stayed there as a volunteer, but taking the tour & interviewing past volunteers made me very thankful for the situation that I found myself in this summer... 

After the tour and interview we ran errands (for Latifa).  She invited me to her house (after telling me how hard it is to get a cab…) and I felt really bad, but I was not sure exactly what we would do there, and I was VERY anxious to get a cab going back to Imlil (I also only had 10 dirhams because that’s all it is supposed to cost, but it would be much more expensive from her house).  I think she understood my worry, so she didn’t push the invite.  Errands took a while though- she didn’t even get that much the shopkeepers were just pretty lazy (she said “tired”).   I got a cab right away (because Latifa helped).  We said our good-byes and I was on my way.  I sat next to a woman who had a mole on her face with a hair coming out of it (but had a BIG smile).  She had her arm around me the entire time… it was very hot in the cab, so her armpit was very wet on my body—so excited to do laundry (I bet my mom is too…). 

I got back from Asni and the rug shopkeepers were very excited to see me.  I didn’t lie to them (they were worried that there would be no cash in the ATM, but there was), I just told them that I did not get cash, so I had to go home and count my money and I’d be back.  They gave me an hour and said that they would take “English things too”.  That gave me an idea.  I looked around my room for things that I was going to leave anyway, and brought them three items.  1-my shampoo & conditioner 2- a girls’ sweater and 3-an army jacket.  Erica from the trek left extra clothes with me, but there is NO way that I could bring everything back, so I decided to “donate” them to the shop keeper.  Not sure if this is haram (forbidden) or not, but I think she will never find out… inshaallah…  I also did not bring a single dirham with me.  I decided to give them only 45 USD and the “English stuff” final offer.   My plan of attack was to pretend that my friend (Lahcen)’s mother makes boucherouite (the style of rug that I wanted) rugs and I did not need to buy from the store because she offered to make one for me and ship it (90% true- I just didn't ask Lahcen about this yet).  I was also going to say that I got a better offer for the poufs at a different store, so I did not need to buy these things from him- basically pretending that I was doing him a favor… It was HARD.  Also I found the “English things” that he wanted kind of weird… he GRABBED the shampoo & conditioner- totally loved it.  He took the sweater for his wife, and then tried on the (female military) jacket FOR HIMSELF! It looked a little silly, but of course I was like “omg that looks GREAT it fits perfectly [it did] blah blah” It was really weird, but whatever worked! It was actually the hardest bargaining I’ve had to do here, but I DID IT!! There were raised voices (me), phone calls to the boucherouite weaver (him), and only one unhappy camper (him) in the end.  I literally skipped all the way back to the house- I was so so happy & DONE WITH SHOPPING.  Two poufs and a perfect rug for my room in the Diva Den (what I call the house that I am living in next year…) for 47 USD, AND I got rid of some extra junk… very happy girl.  The rest of the day I was just happy.  I also made a creation for dinner.  I used some PB and tomatoes and pureed them together in an attempt to make a tomato/pb curry sauce… not really effective and produced WAY too much, but I obviously ate it anyway…

Wednesday

MESSY ROOM!

I woke up early every day this week… I am not sure why.  Wednesday I woek up early (probably because I was anxious to pack…) and I started to pack because I realized that there is no way that I will be able to fit everything into my two suitcases.  I accumulated SO MUCH STUFF the past 3 months, starting to re-think the rug/pouf purchases & Marrakech shopping spree… I googled “how to fit everything into your suitcase” or something, and they told me to roll all of my clothes up.  I then remembered a FB picture that little Ali McKeigue posted when she was packing up to leave Denmark, and she did the rolling method too, SO I decided to try it out… It worked MARVELOUSLY and I got essentially all of my clothes into my smaller suitcase~~ mash’allaaaaah!!!!! S/O to al-pal & google for helping me with that!!  Once I did that, I was a little less nervous about packing, so I went up to the Kasbah to do work.  Lahchen invited me to break the fast with the Kasbah on Wednesday, but I kind of forgot that he told me to fast, so I ate real breakfast and a luna bar… When I saw him he asked if I was fasting, and it was only then that I remembered.  WOOPS.  He said that I could still come break the fast with them at 7:30 (earlier and earlier every day!!).  I was excited and left the Kasbah early to shower.  Going up to the Kasbah twice in one day is TOUGH, but I made the trip because I like those guys.  I was almost late, but was not. 

Unfortunately, “domage fromage” as Lahcen says,  I brought my camera, but forgot my battery… I took mental images though.  There were A LOT of croissants & bread at the table.  It was not a break fast for guests at the Kasbah- just the workers, so it wasn’t quite “Kasbah quality”… it’s hard to explain, but it wasn’t DELICIOUS, it was just delicious- if that makes sense? We did not have harira… we had the cream of wheat soup, which I like just as much.  I ate SO much shebekiya they thought I was crazy.  Also when they were clearing it away I snatched an extra piece.  They ALL stopped in the middle to pray. It was amazing- they just threw a sheet down (we were upstairs outside) and all prayed together.  I didn’t stare, but it looked really cool.  Some people who were staying at the hotel were staring because I was sitting at the table and they were all praying- I probably would have been staring too.  After they prayed it was back to busness… SO MUCH food- hard boiled eggs and kiri (which I like much more than vache qui rit…) and baguettes.  Pain au choclate (I got the non-chocolate half though).  Fresh carrot juice (kind of weird) and delicious mango & pineapple juice (the bottled juice here is much better than back home…).  It was total overload.  Once we were done, everyone started to talk about tajine and they seemed to be joking that a tajine was coming out, which is why I grabbed the extra cookie, but THEN a tajine magically appeared.  They call Brahim (one of the cook)’s brother Tajine, so I really thought they were joking about him, but nope- we shared huge meat tajine… It is really hard to break fast when you didn’t fast during the day… I was REALLY stuffed at the end.  I joked that I was going to roll down to my house, but I think the joke got lost in translation…

Here are some pix that I took of my friends at the Kasbah on Thursday... 

the cooks!

Lahcen in the office

I was a liiiittle nervous to go up to the Kasbah right before sunset because the path between the Kasbah and my house is very steep and the woods- it’s worse than the walk through town.. I brought my flashlight and gave myself a pep-talk while I was walking there.  I also paid very close attention to the path that I took so I would remember it when I returned in the pitch black… Luckily there were not a lot of guests at the Kasbah, so Lahcen could leave earlier than normal.  He walked me back, which was great, but it still was not easy… We talked a lot about the Kasbah and the people running it.  I feel really bad for the workers there, Lahcen especially.  They really are SO underappreciated, it’s INSANE.  I feel terrible, soooo...

 IF any of you wants an AMAZING mountain vacation (essentially what I have been doing for the past ~5 weeks…) I HIGHLY suggest coming to Imlil.  I will put you in touch with Lahcen and he will show you a great time.  

He had to cut the conversation short because he had to go pray again… I went upstairs to the roof to digest and look at the stars.  It was particularly starry Wednesday night, which was amazing.  I really cannot believe how quickly the time passed… I went back downstairs and continued to pack.  This is the most prepared for a trip I have ever been in my entire life—changed woman…. But really I have trip anxiety and I NEEDED everything to fit into my bag.  (as of 9:22 pm Thursday, Aug 9^th- I am essentially done packing and EVERYTHING FITS!!!!).

Thursday was a LOT of running around.  I really cannot remember the last time I felt this pressed for time- it was DEFINITELY back in the States, and probably Fall semester.  It was kind of exhilarating, but I will for sure miss the laid-back Moroccan lifestyle.  Part of the pace of my day can be contributed to my first coffee in WEEKS.  I ran out of espresso maybe 2 weeks ago (maybe more), so I just stopped having coffee- really different affect on your body after you haven’t had it for a while….

I said all of the good-byes that I needed to (except for Rachid & Lahcen bc they will carry my luggage to a taxi for me tomorrow morning).  I did a lot of (unintentional) exploring.  I HAD to avoid the two souvenir shops on the way to the Kasbah because I promised that I would buy things from them, but I just couldn’t, so I had to take the back route to the Kasbah.  It is thorny, but I was happy that I knew how to get there that way.  Finally on the last walk down from the Kasbah, Lahcen nicely explained the situation, so there in no bad blood- thank goodness.  I ran into the two girls that I met the other day.  I forgot to mention that they called me VERY late one night and texted too, and they also knocked on my door one evening.  Today they went to the house when I wasn't there, and Rachid called me- he was very confused... haha.  In trying to avoid the shop owners, I ran into the girls & told them that I would come visit in an hour or so, but I didn't :(  

I had my last solo dinner on the roof (leftovers, but FRESH PASTA), and finished packing.  I checked my flight luggage policy, and I thiiiink I can only check one bag on the plane, so I have to pay for one.  Also- at least ONE of my bags are over the weight limit- I am SURE of it, so there is another charge, but who cares!!! I am coming home!!!!! This is not going to be my last blog post.  I will be doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on the plane ride back, and I will do one last post sometime next week.  

SEE YOU SOON!