Hotchkiss Morocco 2009

Follows are some of the more treasured images from the Hotchkiss program as captured by Anne, Genevieve, Taesoo, and Sarinda:

Anne's Photos:

Moulay Idriss

Setti Fadma, Ourika

Ourika

Genevieve's Photos:

Essaouira Camel Train

Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca

Volubilis

Taesoo's Photos:

Panorama of Moulay Idriss

Da, Genevive, Taseoo, and Kevin - camel caravan in Essaouira

The Group inside Hassan II Mosque

Hassan II Mosque exterior

Sarinda's Photos:

kempie et wendy devant Café Clock

my favorite post office (Volubilis)

Wendy sarinda Fès homestay fatima zhara et sa maman

almost all of us at Établissement El Araki in Marrakech

Christina and Sarinda

Sarinda and guide

Escargot at Djemaa el Fna!

Posted by Alex Safos at 6:26 PM | Permalink

I just got word from Kempie that the group has made its return to Marrakech after a blustery beach camel ride in Essaouira (pics to come). So for this final evening's menu: one last stroll through the medina, one last gawk at Djemaa el Fna, one final reflective moment amidst swooning swallows and blooming passion flowers then back to US for most, Asia for some, tomorrow.

--Alex

Posted by Alex Safos at 5:51 PM | Permalink

On our last night in the Ourika valley, we were honored with an Ahawash, a traditional performance of Berber music and dance. It was a very special opportunity and the energy in the air was contagious! As guests, we were lucky to be the preferred dance partners for most of the village children.

Genevieve, Anne, Kevin and Taesoo in traditional garments

The dancers and musicians getting started

We are now in Essaouira and about to visit the fresh fish market!

Posted by Marie at 12:47 PM | Permalink

The group has made its way down the High Atlas mountains and to the Atlantic coast town of Essaouira with its evocative ambience and whitewashed medina (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Much more very soon. But first, an Atlantic sunset and fresh, grilled seafood (the langoustines are mammoth). Word has it that the Amazigh through quite the farewell bash for the group last night...only a few days remain of this Morocco journey.

--Alex

Posted by Alex Safos at 6:27 PM | Permalink

We've been in Morocco for two weeks but I feel as though we've lived four here thanks to our incredibly varied program and the fact that something as simple as where we wake up and how we begin our ablutions is an event of sorts. We are en route for Essaouira having just left our homestay families from the douar (small village) in Ourika. Yesterday was a full day; alongside the Dar Taliba gardeners and lots of hardworking local students, we helped to finish up the planting. Once the olive trees were freed of their black plastic and set in holes of rocky red clay-like soil, we moved on to the salle de cours for some theater by the students who joined us for these past several days at Dar Taliba. Two girls performed a fable in French about the importance of keeping one's pride in check. Four student acted a longer one-act in Tashlhit (my phonetic spelling for the local Berber language) called L'Ecole de la Vie / School of Life. This showed the generation gap/clash that can exist between a young man who wants to continue his studies and a father who is illiterate but knows so much about life and wants to convey much to his son about a good, spiritual, hardworking life. Symbolic and important – both of these plays' messages tie in nicely to what we've been learning from the people with whom we've spent our mountain time.

(We just drove past a man biking along with a milk crate full of 5 palm trees. I have great appreciation for the various means of transport we've seen here. Bikes and small carts, donkeys and tri-pod motorcycles... so far my favorite personal transportation scenes are donkeys with loads of hay (or mint!) wider than the donkey is long, the man atop, bobbing side to side as his donkey moves forward. It's almost peaceful watching them advance at their steady but slow pace.)

Walking back to the douar after a hike/climb to the first (of seven) waterfall at Sitti Fadma, I asked our local guide Mohammed what his favorite moroccan meal is. Framed by the gracious appreciation that seems to be such a pillar of Islam, his response was typical. Perhaps I should have predicted it.
“Le repas que j'ai devant moi.” / The meal that I have in front of me, he said. “Any meal that is served to me is a meal for which I am grateful and which I will enjoy with whoever shares it.”

We've come to Morocco with little to no depth of experience with Islam; perhaps we've done some reading or have Muslim acquaintances. But through conversations with so many welcoming, generous, peaceful and warm Moroccans, everyone in our group has come to acknowledge the appeal of this religion. I listened to Mohammed's thoughtful explanation of sharing a favorite meal and formulated my question another way so as to get to a preferred menu...

--Sarinda

Posted by Alex Safos at 3:11 AM | Permalink