Barca with Dustin

Living in the Peace Corps, far from home, you miss friends and family.  Skype, cell phones, email all have made it much easier to keep in touch than when I was young.  But, there is nothing better than a visit from home.  Dustin flew from San Francisco to Barcelona, Spain where I met him for a holiday in Morocco.  I grinned from ear to ear when I saw him in the airport.  What a treat.  Now if I can get my Mom to come over with Ashlyn or Cindy, that would be just dandy.

I flew into Girona about and hour bus ride North of Barcalona and arrived 3 hours before Dustin.  We arranged to meet at the Naples Cafe across from the central bus station.  Until he was due to arrive I went walkabout in search of adventure and Sangria.  I found it in the Parc de La Cuidadella after walking down the plaza from the Arc de Triomf.

Back to the Naples Cafe and a cold cervesa I was lucky enough to have wireless and connect on Skype with my Mom and could share Barcelona with her for a short time.
Dustin showed up and off we went for Tapas and Vino.  The streets were narrow and quaint with artistic graffiti on many of the storefront roll down doors.  Other doors were too beautiful to paint.

Sunday was game day, after a day cruising the sites, Dali Museum, Picasso Gallery, cathedrals and the harbor.
Saw a Syrian protest march for the overthrow of Assad.

The city is filled with clean parks, fountains, statues honoring poets, artists, heroes and artwork of all kinds.  A beautiful city.

The game was between Barca and Deportivo.  Unfortunately we did not get to see Messi play as they had already won the championship and it was a meaningless game for the league.  They did parade around the field with the Champion's trophy, set off fireworks and played a great game.  Score  ho hum 0-0.  We stopped by Ryan's Pub on the way back to the hotel Serenity and met some of the local folk. 

Rabat Craft Fair/Chella Roman Ruins

Recently I went to Rabat for a craft fair at the American Club.  The night before I left, after brushing my teeth, the faucet on the bathroom sink broke off and started spraying up like Old Faithful at Yellowstone.  This created a problem as Moroccan plumbing does not have shutoffs at each water fixture.  Needless to say things got wet till I was able to get to the main shutoff.  As it was 11:00 at night and my bus was leaving town at 7:00 I could not fix it until I returned from Rabat.  No toilet and no coffee in the AM.  Boo Hoo.
I met Hayat my coop counterpart at the bus station, loaded up our products and got on our way.  It was decided that we were going to take some different products this time than the carpets, bags and wall hangings we took in the past.  Mineral fossils.  These are really cool and come in all sizes.  We had looked at all the different types of minerals a week before and the people we were going to work with put together what we wanted.  As things go in Morocco the order did not get put together till 2:00 AM the night before we left.  Glad I did not have to stay up to put that together.  Hayat was exhausted in the AM.

The minerals we selected had two fossil types, both 100's of millions of years old.
They come in sizes from 1" to 24" wide.  Carved and polished the ammonites and autosairs are actually very unique.

The craft fair went well and there were a lot of different products.  Most of the lookers were Americans getting ready to go back home after service.  Most also bought product, so over all it was a good fair.  Somewhere along the way I got a bunch of calls from people on my cell phone call list.  Apparently I had Butt Dialed everyone on my phone with a blank text message.  Boy did I feel like a horses _ _ _.

The ambassador came by and gave certificates of participation to the artisans.  Hayat is in the center.

While the Fair was going on a couple of us went to Chella-the Roman ruin in Rabat.  It was built in 40 AD and occupied for 1000 years.  It is inhabited by hundreds of cats and storks.  It is hatching season so there are chicks in all the big nests.

The gardens throughout the site are beautiful.  There is a spring with live fish, a Roman Bath, Stones with Latin inscription, columns, and a marble statuue with the top missing.  It must have been a grand walled city in its day.

The site was well worth the visit and we all got a history lesson.
Do you think I look like a Roman Senator?  Neither do I.  lol. 

Oh yeah.  I forgot that when I got home I still needed to fix the plumbing before I could take a shower (badly needed), go to the bathroom (it was a long bus ride with a couple of cokes) or have a cup of tea (Moroccan tradition). 


 

Marche Maroc Fes April

Marche Maroc is an artisan craft fair put on throughout the year in various cities in Morocco.  The event brings cooperatives from all over the country to display their products and sell them without the burden of a middle man  some events are more successful than others.  Some artisans do well in one and not another.  It is a learning experience for all of them as they get to network with other coops, see different ideas and attend seminars.  The first one I went to was in December at Marakesh.  The next one is in the planning stages.  Hopefully the coops will take a more active role in the future to plan these events.  In my eyes, nothing the Peace Corps does will be successful unless it can eventually be sustainable with out PC assistance.  Welfare does not work.  This event was put together well nd seemed to be a success for most of the people involved.

I went with the the two coops from Midelt, Toudart Iwsta and Andaz Nouska.  One sells carpets and handbags, the other handbags, embroidery, mineral products.  I work for them when they need a break.  I actually sold a carpet this time.  Wow.  Friday was very busy with mostly Moroccans coming by.  Saturday was slower and very hot, Moroccan hot.  Sunday hadfewer people come by but the ones that did were buying.  Many of the buyers were Doctors and nurses associated with the Project Smile, which is a volunteer group that comes and does free surgery for children with cleft lips.  They interviewed over 300 prospects and operated on many of them.  A great program.

 I stayed in Sefrou during the event, about 25 Km outside town towards the mountains.  Most of the PCVs stayed in the Bab Boujalou area which is the old souk, market area.  This place is very entertaining.  I mentioned this in an earlier post.

I went into the old medina with Fatoum to pick up some bags that the leather workers finished for us.  There is a tree in the old medina.  I don't know how old it is but it was the only one like it.  There were metal workers making all sorts of stuff in the square by the tree, teapots, belt buckles, plates, bowls.

All work and no play makes Billy grouchy so a few beers at the big hotel to watch the sunset was just the thing I needed.  Later we celebrated Sanyog and Ruths birthdays at The Pub.  We are Americans you know.  Especial Beer is 15 Dh.  Not as good as Guinness, but hey they have not been making it for hundreds of years.

 

Fes at night is very nice.  The fountains are lit up and people are out in all the parks.