Horse-Drawn Carriage

On my way back to the town where I live down here in the Sahara, I went with some of my friends, Chadwick, Tirzah and Emily, to the coastal city of Essaouira. I was happy to be there. I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in the last several weeks. Essaouira is on the coast, so generally it was cool during my visit there.

While it's often cool there, in the middle of the day it can get a little hot, particularly if one is in the sun. So I was happy to agree when one of my friends suggested catching a ride in one of the horse-drawn carriages which transport people there in Essaouira. As far as I can remember, here in Morocco I've only seen horse-drawn carriages in Marrakech and Essaouira. And I'd never previously rode in one in Morocco, so I was glad he suggested it.

Especially since I live in a rural area, I see donkeys transporting people more often than horses. However, I haven't seen any donkey-drawn carriages anywhere in Morocco. Down here in the desert, I see people using donkeys to transport carts of various items, including food, metal, lumber, concrete blocks and other building materials. It's always interesting to note the differences amongst various regions when I travel here in Morocco, including means of transport.

An Explosive Performance

While I was recently in the city of Essaouira, I got to see fantasia. In fantasia, Moroccan men line up next to each other on horseback. They're traditionally dressed, and are sitting on horses draped with colorful decoration. The men are holding old guns which use gunpowder. The men all charge forward on their horses at the same time. After a short run, they fire their guns. It's a bit tricky for them because they try to fire them at the same time to make the sound of a single explosion. In the performance, the men are commemorating attacks against Berbers years ago. Given that fantasia isn't something which one gets to see that often, I was glad I got to see it on the beach when I was in Essaouira.

Feline Residence

This weekend,
it was another windy morning
in the city of Essaouira
on the Atlantic coast.

Along a pedestrian street in the medina,
that is, the old part of the city,
with streets lined with bricks
and similar stones,
a few of us PCVs were walking.

We were walking down the usually busy street
a bit earlier in the morning
such that few people were on the street.

On a small step
we spied a cardboard box,
the home of a cat
and her two adorable kittens.

What Did He Want?

I arrived yesterday in Essaouira, a small coastal city, with a half dozen other PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). After we got out of the grand taxi, we were collecting our baggage from the trunk amidst a flurry of activity. The parking lot was crammed with grand taxis; people were asking us if we needed lodging; people were moving through the lot with pushcarts.

In Moroccan towns and cities, Moroccans use pushcarts to move a variety of items, including fruits, vegetables, and animals. Yesterday morning in the grand taxi parking lot, I saw a Moroccan man with a large pushcart facing me. I stepped closer to the taxi so he could pass by me. But he didn't move.

Next I thought that he was looking for alms. But he didn't say anything. Nor did he put out his hand as if to implicitly ask for money.

My fellow PCVs had collected their bags, and we'd paid the taxi driver, so I walked away from the taxi with my fellow volunteers unsure what the man with the pushcart had wanted. One of my fellow PCVs said that she sometimes feels bad when she doesn't use the services of the men with the pushcarts. I'd never seen people transporting travelers' luggage in carts, so it hadn't occurred to me that he was waiting for us to hire him to move our baggage.

Capital Improvements and Construction of Churches

I live on a short unpaved street; thus, it's a dirt road. When I walk out of the front door of my two-unit apartment building and turn left and walk a few hundred feet, I reach the second most prominent street in my town; it has many shops, including hanoots (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "grocery stores") on it.

Last month, when I left my town to go to IST (In-Service Training), the town was preparing to pave that road. When I got back from IST, they had finished paving the road.

Although I've seen the workers using a steamroller when they are finishing a paving job here in town, the road isn't completely smooth once they're done paving. There are some loose bits of gravel on the road, which eventually make their way to the edges of the road. Even then, the rest of the road isn't completely smooth, because the bits of gravel which are molded to the road aren't completely flattened into the road. The more prominent road in my town, the main road, is paved a little more smoothly, since it's part of the road system which you see on a map of Morocco.

Earlier in the year, the town had ripped up certain roads and was making improvements to the sewer system. Once they had made the improvements to the sewer system, they then paved those roads.

In sharing these developments in my town, I'm led to point out some things about countries in which the Peace Corps places PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). Since some of you at times have sounded surprised about the level of development and infrastructure in Morocco, keep in mind that the Peace Corps sends PCVs to developing countries which are at different stages of development. Consequently, some countries in which PCVs work are more developed than some of you might expect.

Also, remember Morocco's history, which has in large part been influenced by its geographical location. Being at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, Morocco has long occupied a strategic spot. As a result, many peoples over time have tried to occupy and colonize Morocco. The Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans invaded Morocco. The Phoenicians established the port cities of Tangier and Essaouira, as well as Tetouan. Roman ruins remain at Volubilis in northern Morocco. Arabs also migrated to Morocco, bringing Islam with them in the 7th century. And of course, much later, the French colonized Morocco, resulting in the Treaty of Fes in 1912, which made Morocco a French protectorate until Morocco gained independence in 1956. Over time, 100,000 French nationals settled in Morocco. In the 20th century, the French built their "villes nouvelles," or new districts, in many Moroccan cities, in which the French lived. The French also made significant changes to the infrastructure of Morocco, installing electricity, paving roads, laying railways, and establishing Casablanca as a major port. So when thinking about the level of development in Morocco, remember the historical context in which this development is occurring.

Also, when noting that there are churches in Morocco, remember the historical context in which these churches arose, and who built them. European colonists set up churches in Morocco for their own use. These churches remain in many cities in Morocco, among them Tangier, Tetouan, Fes, Rabat, Casablanca, Agadir, Essaouira, Marrakech, and Ouarzazate. However, they are overwhelmingly attended by tourists and other non-Moroccans living in Morocco.