Berber Shuffle

August 8

In my last blog- I meant to say ‘couscous’ instead of ‘kouskous’… oops.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ doctor is cutting off my toenail tomorrow! First and foremost, I have another major foot injury- this is the worst one. Hiking in Africa made each foot's big toenail go into my skin. BOTH of my big toes are infected and ingrown. I cannot walk normal!! They are both red and inflamed and gross. Gross white stuff started coming out of both wounds and everyone steps on my feet. This morning someone stepped on my toe and it basically exploded. I decided to go to the doctor today (who is the doctor for the Pittsburgh Steelers) and she cut around each big toenail, drained it, bled everywhere, and STUFFED cotton under it, I can't describe the pain I am in right now. I was screaming, there has never been worse pain. My toes are severely infected and tomorrow she is cutting off part of my right foots big toenail. I have to get a shot on the top of my foot numbing my toe because it will be so bad. I have been in excruciating pain and can’t do anything about it.

Anyways, back to Berber…

Today we had a wonderful 6 am wake up call! Breakfast was served by the pool and was quite an interesting buffet. The only thing that looked decent enough to eat was these greasy tortilla bread things; I had about 5 covered in honey, what a great breakfast :) We hoped on 3 vans (holding about 10 people each) and started the hour-long drive to the base of the Atlas Mountains. Let me talk about the terrain- there were rolling hills with green bushes randomly spread out, fields with crops, some plateaus, tall trees randomly in desert parts, cactus, and just really unique landscapes- sometimes I thought I was in Odessa, but with more green. There would be valleys full of sheep and little mud brick houses next to fields of cactus and sand; oh and 4-wheeler rental places everywhere! Half way, we stopped in a small village at a shop and loaded up on snacks and water, which was super cheap! I bought 3 big water bottles, chips and cookies, and some band aids all for about 40 Dirham ($5)! We made it to the base of the mountain range and unloaded the vans. We were standing in a field next to a few adobe houses while little children were running up to us and donkeys were everywhere! I put sunscreen on, put essentials in my backpack, and put everything else on a packing mule! We loaded the donkeys too and then started our 3-hour hike to the first Berber village. It was cloudy and cool at 10:30am and we knew it would get much sunnier and hot! We walked down a steep hill passing houses with children and women peeking out of the windows. They didn’t come out but a few men were out waving at us. Once we got down in the valley the terrain changed to dry, cracked mud filled with bamboo and corn stalks. We walked up and down some more hills as the donkeys and mules began to pass us. There were locals on top of our luggage, on top on the donkeys. They would sing songs to us as they passed, clap, and make noises with sticks. It was really fun each time they passed us! The wonderful thing about this hike was the pace- we weren’t in a rush to get anywhere and the weather was perfect. We could stop if we wanted, sit and take a break, and take pictures whenever. It wasn’t rushed at all which was so nice. Most of the time SAS trips are rushed and fast-paced, but that is completely opposite of this trip. It was not SASsy at all! Haha.
We stopped under some trees for lunch, not knowing what to expect. I knew we had a personal chef hiking and staying with us but I wasn’t sure what kind of food they could serve us that was fresh after traveling on the hike with us. Surprisingly, this trip provided the best food EVER. The donkeys were let loose and were just chillin’ in the field eating hay while we laid out big mats to sit on, with bed cushions around the edges to sit on. We took off our shoes and all gathered around several mats. The guides brought us metal pots of mint tea. This mint tea was INCREDIBLE. It was so minty and natural tasting! They gave us sugar from their sugar canes to add to the steaming hot tea. Even thought it was nearly 90F outside, hot tea has never tasted so good! A few of us fell asleep under some trees for about 30 minutes then lunch was ready! We were served massive trays piled with sliced tomatoes, cucumber, olives, bell peppers onions, and oranges lining the sides. There were loaves of fresh bread along with bowls full of white rice. There was also this lemon zest sauce that I put on everything! We all got metal plates and loaded them up! It was DELICIOUS!

We cleaned everything up, flicked tics off of the mats (they were everywhere), and loaded the donkeys again! We had about 1 more hour to get to the villages, and it was a hard, steep hike. We went through valleys, over hills, crossed dry rivers, and went up some steep, slippery slopes. When we would walk down steep slopes, we would have to shuffle sideways to get down and it was pretty funny. The tour guide called it the ‘Berber Shuffle’ haha, so it stuck the whole rest of the trip! Every time we were in a bind somewhere, we would say ‘just do the Berber shuffle’! Haha. We stopped in an abandoned village that was filled with working wells. We soaked our hats in ice-cold water straight from underground! It was so natural and clear, but we didn’t drink it since our immune system isn’t used to it. The guides drank it but advised us not to; it was so tempting but not worth getting sick! Some more donkeys passed us and one had my bag! I kid of felt bad for the donkeys carrying all of our stuff, but that’s what they were for and they were used to it. The guide said these donkeys carry groceries up to the villages daily because there is no way a car or truck can get to them, crazy!

After hiking further and walking through a few more villages, we arrived to the one we were staying in! There was one small dirt road that went through the village, lined with mud brick houses. There were no plants, no color, no nothing, just secret doors the led to people’s homes. We turned one corner and went through a big metal gate, covered in pink flowers. Inside was a dirt courtyard with red walls and blue windows and doors. We walked into a house with an outdoor patio in the middle, splitting off into 4 big rooms. In the center of this place, there were plastic and wooden tables and chairs. There was a small bathroom (hole in the floor with a door) and one sink with a broken mirror cemented into the wall! In each of the rooms were foam mattresses covered in colored sheets (no comforters or blankets) and old dusty pillows. While we were picking beds ad dusting them off, a tiny black kitten came in and greeted us! It was the cutest little kitten and kept meowing and trying to cuddle! It looked pretty clean and the guide said it was their pet, so I gave it a scratch behind the ears. I usually don’t pet any animals out here but it was just so tempting and cute!! Once we all got situated, we were served more mint tea as we sat in the courtyard and relaxed after hiking in the hot heat. The locals started to prepare dinner and a lot of the guys helped them cook. We headed out through the big gate and we wandered into a farm. There were donkeys, cows, chickens, bunnies, and turkeys! There were baby turkeys everywhere and they would follow us as we fed them bread crumbs- so precious! A few of us decided to walk around the village and explore past the farm. We walked down a pathway that was lined by trees and vines. Behind the tree line were open fields full of fig trees and sheep! While I was looking at the vines full of honeysuckle, I saw a HUGE, bright green chameleon!!! I remember in 3rd grade I did a report on chameleons and fell in love with them. I also remember reading a book by Eric Carl about a chameleon. Ever since I was little I have always wanted to see one in the wild instead of in a zoo or something. I can’t believe I found a wild chameleon in Africa!!! What a crazy memory that made! There were several more chameleons on these bushes and boy they were fast! I took several pictures but most are blurry. I touched a few but I wasn’t fast enough to catch them. There was a black trash bag stuck in the bushes and on it was a black chameleon! Ahhhh it was amazing. I still can’t believe that the day came where I found wild chameleons, I never thought it would happen! Throughout this summer I haven’t seen much ‘wildlife’ because we have been in cities, so I loved this aspect of this trip. We saw all sorts of wild birds, some sort of wild dog, cobras, monkeys, etc! I loved it.

So once we made it to the main part of the village, women and children were everywhere. It was so strange not seeing any men, and we never really saw any until it was late at night. Our guide (who is a Berber) told us that the women stay in the village and do all of the work, while the children go to a small village school. The women, cook, clean the house, work in the fields, do the laundry, and do everything. The men go out into Marrakech for their jobs. He also said the men usually do not say they are Berbers because they are seen as second class. He said that he still tells people he is a Berber because he is not ashamed of his village, unlike most of its inhabitants. Berber also has 3 dialects, additional to speaking Arabic! We walked into a little hole in the wall where a local kid was selling snack and drinks so we stocked up on bottled water. We couldn’t buy too much because they need it for the village and the donkeys can only bring up a certain amount each week. In the village, there was a little boy by a well washing clothes, and some other women washing clothes in a bucket with scrubbers singing beautiful songs and harmonizing! It was so beautiful. The second they see a camera they shake their heads, so we respected them and didn’t take pictures or videos. We walked past a pretty blue painted wooden door with an Australian Sheppard and a little boy sleeping in front. I took some pictures and then we continued walking. On the way back, it started to rain and we had our cameras so we started running back. On the run back, we stopped by the same blue door, ducking under a small ledge until the rain stopped. Directly behind the door that we were leaning on, several women were peeking through and it made me jump when I heard someone breathing and staring through the cracks of the wood! We felt bad for intruding and standing in front of their door so we started to walk into the rain to find somewhere else. When we were walking away, the women came out of their house and were waving at us to come inside! This was the perfect opportunity to interact with the people and see how they live. Annie, Lauren, Kelly and I walked inside and there was the little boy and his dog! It was the perfect scenario. There was a grandmother, a mother, and her two kids- a 15-year-old girl and her 9-year-old son. Walking in, there was a courtyard with plants. To one side I peeked into a room and saw shelves with pots and pans and a small sink. There were no doors and some of the rooms had roofs. The grandmother led us into a small, cool room that had beautiful rugs along the floor and many pillows. Keep in mind that we don’t speak ANY Berber and they speak NO English. Lauren knew a little French and we could communicate slightly with the daughter who had learned French in school. What we got out of the broken French was that this was her home with her mother, grandmother, and brother, and the dad worked in Marrakech. The little girl was MARRIED and had a picture of her husband, who I think was about 18. They still practice arranged marriages and it was crazy seeing this young girl with a wedding ring on and a husband who she never sees. The mother came into the room with coffee and sugar cubes. She also brought these little biscuits and nuts that were toasted and delicious! I think the room we were in was where they sleep, but I’m still not sure. There was a small TV surrounded by flowers and a picture of the dad and son. It was so interesting being inside their home and being served coffee in their bedroom! What a crazy experience. The daughter put the TV on their music channel. It was like MTV but it was playing music videos in Arabic. We sat and didn’t talk much, but it was still easy to make hand signals and tell by expressions that they were happy for us to visit and we re surely thankful that they let us in! When we left, we hugged and said bye to the family. The daughter and son came with us and walked us into a pasture full of fig trees. The little boy would climb the trees and pick the ripest figs! We sat in the field and ate so many, feeding the peelings to their pet sheep that the dog was herding! It was an amazing experience that I will definitely not forget!!

We strolled back down the alleys and saw some more chameleons (!!!) and headed back into our little courtyard. When we got back, dinner was ready! We had plates full of couscous, carrots, tomatoes, and many other cooked vegetables! We also had this delicious soup that I have no idea what it was; I think potato and beans. Along with all of this deliciousness, we had more lemon zest sauce with fresh bread! For dessert- mint tea and melons! Mmmm. There was a small hamam (sauna/bath) inside the courtyard so we all went and took baths by pouring buckets of hot water over us and then we sat in the sauna. This little room had a fire underneath that was making the room super hot and almost burning our feet! The floor was covered in beautiful blue and green tiles with little windows where the sunlight came in. It was very relaxing!

After cleaning up and hanging out. We wandered some more through the village. One lady led us up some steps to her roof where her children were playing and she was making dinner over a fire. The lady and little girl brought out henna and started decorating our hands! I got ‘bliss’ written in Arabic on my wrist from the little girl. The mother was illiterate and could only make designs. She wasn’t very good at it, and it turned out to be pretty funny. Casey asked for a dragon and 10 minutes later there was a huge blob on her ankle! Haha we had to act like it was beautiful... When we went back, we wiped it off with wet wipes and it made a huge orange stain on her ankle haha, it was so funny! We all decided to move our mattresses to the rooftop to sleep.
We laid them all out and star gazed while drinking more mint tea and eating little butter biscuits! I saw so many shooting stars and the Milky Way looked like a giant cloud! We told ghost stories then we all fell asleep pretty quickly!!