Fes... {Part II}

The third tour of the day brought us to this tannery where we were literally taken through the very beginning of the process of getting you all your fine leather goods, hence the stack of very awful, nay, putrid smelling pelts.

This is where they wash, dry, and dye the leather.

This building was just of hundreds in this city of many tanneries. It was about 5 stories of any type of leather good you can imagine. Belts, purses, wallets, poufs, shoes, jewelry, jackets…boy or boy did they have jackets! Sebastian went home with this gem, tailor-made.  Anything you want you can get tailored to fit like a glove in just a couple of hours. 

These two pouting because they couldn't leave with those boots.

This pic brings us to lunch…finally! We entered this tunnel which took us through the old medina to a riad where we had the best tagine imaginable.

our little corner and spread

exiting the tunnel

After lunch we were ready to get our souk on… as we entered the medina we stopped at this Quran school for little ones, really little ones. It was so cute, they were singing the Quran when we walked in and took a break to talk to us. 

John got to show of his literacy in Arabic of which the teacher was super impressed.

One of the fundamentals of this culture that I adore is how everyone is a friend to them. Once they've learned your name, you are a friend for life. Beckham can attest to this.

Weavers Cooperative

THIS PLACE WAS AMAZING!!!

rugs from wall to wall to wall...

they did everything but sing and dance apart from their fire retardant demonstration

Listen, rug buying is serious business… this guy downed like 3 Fantas and spilled at least 2, we felt almost obligated to buy a rug then.

I will always cherish these pictures… these woman, some from Berber tribes put all of their talent into these rugs and shared their skills with our kids.

She made a friend, as always...

Ok, loved, loved, loved this part of the day… final tour: spices and oils. Just when I thought I couldn't go on, we entered this shop. They had every kind of lotion, potion, cream, powder, you name it. Pick an ailment, any ailment, they've got the cure. We even got demonstrated on… and oh boy, they are not shy. We got stuff stuck up our noses for sinus issues, creams and oils put on our hair and skin… the owner even did my eyeliner with the kohl in the pot with the stick applicator, it was awesome. 

As if the trip wasn't cool enough, we walked out to our car to end the day and head home, just in time to see this bride carried off by the groomsmen to her reception. So beautiful…Besaha !

2013 Trunk or Treat…part 1

  This year we brought trunk or treating to Morocco… boy did we ever!!! We put together a hodge podge of any Halloween decor we could get our hands on, asked everyone invited to bring a dish to share, and decorate their vehicle for the trunk or treat portion of the night, and paid a cotton candy guy last minute to do his thang. These expats, and some locals, came dressed and ready to partay. It was legendary, this party was attended by people who heard about it from as far as a couple of cities away. The kids had a blast and ate more candy than should be legal to consume, but we did it and it was worth all the effort just to see the looks on their faces. Photo credit to Kelly from Pulling the Plug on Facebook!!!

This year we went with the superhero theme, with the exception of one little sassy girl who wanted to be a Disney princess, so she chose Jasmine, which was actually quite fitting being that we live in Morocco. 

2013 Trunk or treat…part 2 (iPad pics)

finally, a new lens

 Before we made our move to Morocco I was a day dreaming about all of the cool places and people I'd get to photograph…well, as luck would have it my lens crapped out, for lack of a better word. I was so bummed, but my 50 got me through it, however, traveling and trying to take pics of landscape and architecture does not work well with a 50…so began my research to find a new lens. Well, everything technological in Morocco is about 10xs  what it's worth… and then I discovered Derb Ghalef. It's a part of town that has anything and everything you can think of… acres and acres of just random stuff. Electronics, clothes, furniture, food… it's like a flea market on steroids, like flea market / mercado / black market / souk.  We were told by friends to be careful what you buy there because there are lots of knock offs, yada yada yada.  I found a camera shop almost immediately after we arrived and spotted this lens.  I asked to try it out and was amazed instantly at the quality of images… I played the "yeah, I'm not impressed, it's kind of grainy" bit, and he bought it, let me have it for a steal.  The only willing subject to test it out on was this girl (not by choice) she's a good sport though. I absolutely love it and now I can take pics of mosques without having to go across the street. Now if I can just convince John that I need a new camera for my lens, hint hint...