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.

Dublin Too

On with the tour.
Architecture was interesting throughout the city.  The colored doors, the pubs and ornamentation was like what I expected.

The 17th turned out to be quite an experience.  The news report said there was over 200,000 people in the city for the parade.  It sure looked like it.  And I was not the only one that wore a green hat.  It would be an interesting piece of useless information to know how many silly felt hats there were in Dublin that day.  The parade went for about 2 hours.  There was a theme as many of the floats had a similar look but I cannot tell you what that theme was.  Maybe you can figure it out.  Maybe wierdness.  Some had acrobats, some had music, and some had creatures of another world.  

Some people climbed up the building to get good shots.  No police seemed to mind.  No one I saw got hurt.  A good time was had by all.

It had been a very dry parade so it was now time to deal with the growl in our stomach and throat.  Just down the street towards the Temple Bar District we came upon the Vat.  With no one in there it looked like a good place to park our tire feet and decide what to do next.  5 hours later we left.

The Temple Bar area is an area where they say 1000 bars are located.  How much Guinness is consumed in this area would be hard to verify.  Outside one bar alone there was a stack of over 100 kegs.  We had awesome food in this area and did not go into more than a handfull of establishments.  I will have to pace myself next year and try to spread myself around a little more. Or maybe i can just move there.

We did visit St Patrick's Cathedral bit did not stay long because they were out of Guinness.  It was St. Patrick's Day you know.  We cannot wait to go again next year.  Enjoy Life.