Aha! The Snow Beckons Beyond.

This weekend was the first organized excursion with the Amideast program.  The itinerary included a short trip to Azrou and Ifrane, passing through the Middle Atlas mountains and a "monkey forest", a day in Fez, and another short trip to Volubilis and Meknes.  In all it was very beautiful and informative.  The trip itself was quick due to the amount of planned activities, and the highlights included shopping in the famous souk of Fez, seeing a real tannery, touching snow in the Atlas mountains, and a strange night out in the back room of a very sketchy club.  Though our time was strictly governed by tour guides this time around, I would love to spend time in Fez for more than vacation, and all of these cities would be worth visiting if you have the chance.

The Middle Atlas

Ifrane, the Switzerland of Morocco.

The new door to Fez's souk

The souk in Fez is built over a river, and now it runs as a canal through the city.

The traditional tanneries of Fez

View of Fez from above.  How many satellite dishes can you count?

Madrasa within the old city of Fez.  This is a school- can you imagine studying in here?

A shoe stall in the souk.

A drinking fountain.  All of these are still in use.

A traditional pottery section of the Fez souk.

Gates to the royal palace in Fez.

Fez wraps around a mountain.  From atop the mountain there is a 360 view of the surrounding city.

Standing among the ruins of Volubilis.

Volubilis' capitol.

This week has been full of truly soul searching moments about my future and my reality.  I won't do a lot of talking here, but I will post pictures of the trip with the annotation of a reading that my sister gave me for my trip. The book which she gave me, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, by Rebecca Solnit, includes the following passage: "The world is blue at its edges and in its depths.  This blue is the light that got lost...the blue at the horizon, the blue of land that seems to be dissolving into the sky, is a deeper, dreamier, melancholoy blue, the blue at the farthest reaches of the of the places where you see for miles, the blue of distance.  This light that does not touch us, does not travel the whole distance, the light that gets lost, gives us the beauty of the world, so much of which is in the color blue."