Fes to Midelt, Morocco, Sunday January 4th

A thousand things happened in the night in the square below our window. Cats were the least of it, with an altercation at top volume and a long recitation from the mosque seeming to go for ever. I slept in, and luckily we only had packing ane couple of little tasks on the agenda before we took our bus at one p.m. We skipped breakfast in favour of a brunch later, but did have some fruit.

We were now confident Medina travellers and we knew where we wanted to go, having looked at some possible Christmas presents on other days. What a difference it makes to your vulnerability to touts if you are not browsing. Nevertheless I did take one up on looking at a fourteenth century ceiling, and while I did he told me that all his stock was acquired from village crafts people by barter. The ceiling was exquisite, and just showed that it is important not to judge a building by exterior appearance alone. A crowd had gathered just beyond the bridge that we had to cross to reach the shop we were heading for. We saw that we would not be going there today, for the river had burst the walls that confine it as it flows, full of rubbish but unseen, through the lowest part of the Medina. Water was gushing through a little square and through all the shops in the way before it re-entered its course at another wall breach. Boys waded through it wetting their pants, in the way that boys everywhere would.

The river us usually hidden behind a six foot wall, so Fes residents had a rare glimpse at their local waterway which looked to us more like a tip than a river. It is unlikely that the locals will be up in arms demanding a cleanup; dropping rubbish in the street, in the river; or just anywhere at all is routine in the parts of Morocco that we have visited.

Luckily there was a dry shop that had what we wanted, but it was unattended so we just waited. Perhaps the salesman was down at the river. Never had we shown interest in anything without a salesperson had immediately appeared to milk that interest. We wondered about honesty. Here there are so many items displayed outside the tiny shops and stalls. If the seller was occupied, or if a thief was clever, he could make off with all sorts of goods. Perhaps it doesn’t happen because stealing goods is a kind of dishonesty that doesn’t come in shades of grey, unlike conning people. Perhaps there are so many eyes from so many stall holders that it would be seen. I had been thinking about what you would want in the perfect society and whether it would be possible with people. It is intriguing to throw everything up in the air and start with no givens, only human nature.

We found a patisserie seller and bought a large bag of cakes. We wanted to call in to farewell Mouhcine and his boss, and to give them some morning tea. We ran into the boss in the street, and since he said that Mouhcine was at home, we gave him the bag of cakes for all the workers and asked him to say ‘Goodbye,’ to Mouhcine. Back at the hotel we had a quick brunch, packed up and walked to the bus station.

The bus took about five hours to reach Midelt. All this time it climbed higher and higher, through rugged mountains where only low alpine plants grew between the rocks and snow drifts. Fairly early on the conductor had handed out blankets to two passengers, and everyone else was rugged up in layers and wearing cloaks and hats. A lady in a caftan sat in such a way as to reveal the thickest woollen leggings in the world, keeping her nice and cosy. The terrain kept changing, with pine trees appearing for a short while. At one stage we had abrupt and high mountains and on the others an alpine plateau which alternated between being stony, covered in black rocks, covered in boulders, and covered in tussocks which were being grazed by sheep. Sometimes the road divided two completely different environments. It was a very interesting trip but we gradually turned to stone, particularly Keith who had left his coat in his big pack under the bus. Once again people got on and off in the middle of nowhere – although now and then we would see a group of dwellings away off in the distance.

When we arrived at the Midelt bus station, a boy asked us if we were looking for a hotel. He looked unconvinced when we said that we were being met by a friend, and after Keith phoned Mohamed to let him know that we had arrived, he approached us again. His face registered his surprise when Mohamed arrived and greeted us and we all walked off together. He must have heard the ‘We have a friend’ line from tourists before, and knew that it could be a fobbing-off ploy instead of the truth.

Mohamed took us to his brother’s shop, just above the bus station, which he was minding. He settled us in chairs in front of the heater and warmed us up with hot tea. He was serving now and then, but in between we chatted with him and with his friend, Mokhtar, who had called in to meet us. They were both so friendly. We forgot about the cold in the warmth of our welcome. They told us that students in Morocco do a first degree in a Moroccan University and then can do a Masters degree elsewhere. Mohamed had lived and studied in France and Mokhtar had studied in America. Moroccan universities teach in French and, unfortunately, some secondary education does not produce students with a high enough standard in French to go on to further study in it. I compared Australian standards of language attainment at the end of high school with the expectations here and thought that there would be very few students able to study at tertiary level in another language.

Mokhtar drove us back to Mahamad’s house, where we settled into our room. The three of us went out for dinner to a restaurant run by a cousin. We had met several cousins of Mohamed’s already while at the shop and Mokhtar had been declared an honorary cousin also, since they had grown up together as neighbours. Midelt is a large town but small enough to be a close knit community where everyone knows each other. It was established in the 1920s by the French, who were having problems ‘subduing’ the locals – there were problems generally since the French were dispossessing people of their lands and moving them off into other regions. No wonder their presence was not welcomed and partisans were resisting. This is ironic, given the French reaction to being occupied by the Germans during the Second World War, however it is in line with the many disastrous things done in the name of colonisation. The whole idea of being able to take another country and people as a colony, to do with as you please, and to reap lots of economic benefits from is an amazing one. In this region, the benefit of the colonial past would seem to be predominantly in the provision of infrastructure, and I would guess also in the introduction of the French education system, which is currently provided free at all levels here. Of course, I do not know what the education system would have been without the arrival of the French.

Mohamed produced some books for us to look at during our stay which may help us to learn more. He went through the possible options for interesting things to see and do in Midelt, but left it up to us to decide what we would do and when. A walk in the town seemed a good choice for the first morning. We decided to meet at lunch time and to go on an afternoon excursion to the mines.