LYNN’S SPAIN/MOROCCO
JOURNAL
Day 11, Sunday, May 19
Ait M’Hamed
Today was hiking day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. In the morning, Kadooj sent over mint tea and bread for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed north to various other neighborhoods around Corinna’s house. The house that belonged to Chifoor’s grandfather—either a granary or a house—is all in ruins. We also went by a granary with a mean dog—these are to house all the wheat and barley we saw growing in wavy fields of green.
Ruin’s of Chiffor’s Grandfather’s House
But the height of the morning hike was visiting Corinna’s friend Zahara—with 3 children, the last one on her back and somewhat sickly. She herself is sick—diarrhea—cannot afford to go to Azilal. She of course invited us in for mint tea—but she also served egg and a special nut dish usually reserved for feasts and parties. A mixture of walnuts, peanuts, almonds, wheat, sugar—about the consistency of brown sugar but darker and not as heavy. As we left, Zahara greatly admired my trip wedding ring—bought at the De Anza crafts fair. Corinna had earlier admired it—it has the phases of the moon on it. On impulse, I gave it to her—it fit on her baby finger. She was so happy—but she also showed much pleasure in her face before that. She promised to make me a rug like Corinna’s—I was overwhelmed. She is a special friend of Corinna’s. Corinna had told me earlier that it was the custom to give away what is admired.
Meeting
Zahara
By the time we came back, the family had eaten their tajine lunch, but they had saved some for us. We rested and bathed after lunch—set up Corinna’s sun bath—only we used hot water instead of waiting for the sun to heat up the water in the bag. We hung the bag in the latrine—it worked great. I can’t believe she went for almost two years with no shower system—this sun bath only recently came from a volunteer who went home.
After our rest, we went for a hike in another direction, this time to see the various water sources, many of them improved through Corinna’s work. There was a huge compound that looked like an American Indian dwelling. Fields of red poppies everywhere, fields of green wheat waving in the breeze—late afternoon is a great time for a hike. At the end of our hike, there was a cave to explore (we forgot to bring the flashlight!) and an old granary to clamber around. I climbed to the top of the granary—someone had tried to plant a small garden up there—but the seedlings were all wilted despite the watering can nearby. The ruined granary was very near a modern-day school.
In the evening, Corinna made her specialty: veggie burgers made out of lentils, rice, flour, onions. We had real burgers: patties on bread with raw onions and tomatoes, embellished with catsup and mustard from MacDonalds in Sevilla! I had started saving things for I normally would have thrown away—on the hope that it would be appreciated. It was a super day—saw a lot of the surrounding countryside, met Corinna’s friends, saw the fruit of her labor, went to bed clean, feasted on tajine and veggie burgers. Life is good.
Big differences between our Peace Corps experience and hers—more, much more, fresh water for us, much more fresh vegetables/fruit for her. Her water has to be hauled up by donkey from a well down the hill. Part of her rental contract includes as much water as needed. We never had to worry about that—it fell from the sky! Corinna is in excellent shape: lean, great skin, good shape. Comes from the diet and from walking everywhere. I sleep like a baby on her cement floor cushioned by a ponge and a blanket—unlike Philip with the bony hips. Her water system is quite primitive—she washes everything (dishes, clothes, herself) in a plastic basin which she fills from her well-water containers. One container hold untreated water from the well, one holds bleached and filtered water, which is used for washing, another contains filtered and boiled water (which we mostly drank) and the last contains the used “grey” water which is for flushing the squat toilet.
Corinna with her Family