Wandering through “the happy valley”

The gite was beautiful,
IMG_2003
as were the surroundings,
P1020954 P1020961and we were a little slow to get started the next morning.

Ahmed arrived with a mule for Jeremy to ride,
SONY DSC
and we set off,
P1020966 SONY DSC
past irrigation gates, sheep grazing around an oven built into the ground,

P1020965
shepherds with their sheep,
P1020985 P1020987or riding off into the far distance,
P1020968
houses with fruit trees blooming like a puff of smoke from an invisible chimney,
P1020977 P1030014
children playing, women washing clothes,
SONY DSC
chicken on rooftops that look like fields,
SONY DSC SONY DSC
baby burros and bee boxes,
SONY DSC SONY DSC
spring blooms,
SONY DSC
and who knows what all else?

SONY DSC
James asked if he could photograph a bunch of boys we met along the road, and then he showed them the photo and a video as well.  When we saw that they had an old board with Qur’anic verses written on both sides–just as we had seen in the Nejjarine fondouq in Fès–we asked if they would read it to us, and they did!

Here’s the link to the video on Vimeo:
Boys reciting the Qur’an
SONY DSC

Brahim and Ahmed wanted to stop for lunch at about 11:30, but we had just had breakfast at 9, so we wanted to push on.  Later, when we stopped for lunch, we understood the timing better: they had brought the ubiquitous pressure-cooker and tea kettle and proceeded to make first tea and then a bit of a feast while we lay about.
P1030016 SONY DSC
SONY DSC
All very imperial luxury: we didn’t quite know what to do with ourselves.  Then Ahmed needed to go off to the souq across the river,
SONY DSC
so we set off with Brahim to climb up to one of the ribats on the mountain-tops through the valley. But first there was quite a lengthy walk back along the valley floor, over the creek, past the sheep, the drying laundry, the stork…
P1030031 P1030026P1030020 P1030037P1030030 P1030023

The ribat was still occupied by a single elderly guardian, set up as a quasi-museum as to how life there used to be lived.
P1030041 P1030072
SONY DSC
The central living space included a gas stove with the necessary kettle, a kerosene lamp, food basket, an old couscousier…
P1030053 P1030052 SONY DSC
plus a hand mill, with a water-bag and some long underwear hanging from the wall.P1030048 P1030051
The “rooms” were a little claustrophobic, to say the least, but the corridor seemed to wind around forever, and you could climb this “ladder”
SONY DSC SONY DSC SONY DSC

and find yourself on the roof looking over the amazing valley.P1030061

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Brahim took a picture for us, then Jeremy wanted to take a photo of Brahim…P1030063P1030071SONY DSC

On the way out, Jeremy experimented with what it would feel like to be on guard duty, sleeping by the door.
SONY DSC

Then we climbed back down the mountain to meet up with Ahmed and the mule
P1030088 P1030090
and take the long walk back along the valley floor to the gite.

SONY DSC SONY DSC
It’s a little hard to see in the photos, but these depressions in the rock are dinosaur footprints (Jeremy’s crouching in one footprint).SONY DSC P1030096I like the way the dinosaurs seem to have stepped off the rock into thin air.

We also passed some women spinning, using something like a drop spindle without the drop–a spindle spun on the ground.
Screen Shot 2014-05-12 at 9.56.22 AM
When they saw how fascinated I was (and we tried to explain that I spin with a wheel but can’t work a drop spindle), they let me take a video of the process (screenshot above).

The evening light was quite magical, even if we were tired.SONY DSC SONY DSCJeremy was drooping, so I got up on the mule and he fell asleep leaning back against me, but he woke up in time for a triumphal return to the gite, leading the mule himself.
SONY DSC SONY DSC

And after all this, Brahim fixed us tea and supper and a warm fire.  Such an extravagant experience, all around.
P1030102 IMG_2012