Hammam-a mia! (& more)

Hello! It’s been another busy week of classes, etc. in Fes. This week in my darija class, we moved on to learning how to give and ask for directions, as well as how to order from a restaurant and the names of different foods and cooking styles—which, after greetings, are usually what I say to most Moroccans I meet.

The differences in my professors’ teaching styles are becoming more pronounced with each lesson. Despite the fact that the students in our class have different levels of experience in Arabic, Nozha generally teaches towards the top of the class, which sometimes makes it difficult to follow the lesson. Abdenebi’s stories about Arab culture have grown from five minutes to fifteen (or longer!) every class. After last Friday’s quiz, he lectured us in English and Arabic on everything from the history of Jews in Fes (for whom he was sympathetic) to politics in Morocco (complicated) and his opinion of Saudis (not very high).

School keeps me busy during the week, so on Saturday I went around and toured the medina with a couple of friends. First we set off for the Merenid tombs, an old graveyard on a hill that overlooks the medina. The tombs aren’t much to look at, but the view of the city is amazing—you can see how the old city, with its (estimated 365) minarets, is nestled in the valley, and the Ville Nouvelle is visible in the distance. Next, we were off to find the tanneries, one of Fes’ biggest tourist attractions. This proved to be harder than we thought, and after some wandering a shop owner led us to a viewing point with the promise that it was free to look at the tanneries.

All the guide books warn of the tanneries’ stench, and the shop owners give you mint to smell while out on the viewing platform. Frankly though, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the alleyways that take you to the tanneries—that’s where it really reeks. The tanneries look just like the postcards, with men waist deep in the dye and leather drying in the sun. We didn’t buy anything around the tanneries, where leather goods are way overpriced for tourists, but I’d like to get some small thing made of leather here as a souvenir.

Sunday I went on an ALIF trip to Volubilis, Moulay Idriss, and Meknes. Volubilis was the Roman provincial capital in today’s Morocco, and one of the empire’s furthest outposts in North Africa. Today, it’s a collection of ruins that apart from some interesting mosaics, was less impressive then I imagined (though in all honesty, that is me being a travel snob comparing the ‘Bilis to the ruins I saw last summer). Moulay Idriss was a drive-by viewing, but as non-Muslims’can’t visit the town’s shrines, that would have left little for us to do in the town.

Meknes was a nice stop: I’d been debating back and forth whether or not I should go there for research after my trip, (and ultimately decided against it), so I’m glad I got to see the city for a few hours. The Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, located in Meknes, is, according to my Rough Guide, the only Muslim shrine that non-Muslims can visit in Morocco, and for me, definitely worth the visit.

I’ve found the Moroccan rule that non-Muslims are not allowed to almost all of the country’s religious sites a bit frustrating, as there’s lots of wonderful history and many a place for meditation that I would love to see and experience. Last summer, visiting the Great Mosques in Damascus and Aleppo were highlights of my trip to Syria. But rules are rules, and the rule here is no non-Muslims allowed.

After visiting the mausoleum, I wandered over to Place el Hedima, a large square with restaurants and the entrance to the souks surrounding it. Inside the souk, a shop keeper explained (in the fastest French I’ve ever heard) the uses for all his spices and oils, and just past the mounds of olives and lemons in perfect cones were the butchers’ stalls and sweets shops. Souks are sometimes overwhelming, with the smells and the sounds in the dark, closed alleyways making it hard to take it all in at once, but the overall atmosphere of Meknes—much more relaxed then Fes—was a nice place to take some pictures of the traditional markets and medina life, though I feel like I can’t do the places I see justice with my camera!

This post is getting long, but there’s one more thing I want to get to before concluding, but before, let me say that life with my Fassi family is great. Earlier in the week Hannah and I came home to a surprise: our own room! The family had cleaned out the spare room that serves as storage room for Najib’s shop and put the foyer couches in it as beds for us! It’s a small space, but it’s nice to have a place to unwind with a little privacy. I continue to eat very well: we had a new tajine a couple days ago that was chicken smothered in spicy noodles, potatoes and carrots, and Rashida has been making the world’s most delicious eggplant that I’ve been scarfing down shamelessly.

However, the highlight of family life though was yesterday evening, when my host mom took us to the hammam. I’ve wanted to try a hammam for a while, and for a variety of reasons: the cultural experience, the fact that hammam scenes are common in Orientalist paintings (Google “The Turkish Bath” by Ingres to see one of the more famous examples), and because the past few days of intensely hot weather (yesterday was 108 degrees Fahrenheit!) I was feeling the need for a cleansing bath.

I’m so glad that my host mother and her sister were there to guide us, because as any guide to Morocco warns (and correctly!), the hammam can be a bit confusing the first time you go. Basically, the hammam is a Turkish-style steam bah, three rooms of different temperatures (hot, hotter, and cooler) where you collect either hot or cold water in buckets to wash. After claiming a spot in the hammam (usually in the hot or hotter room), you sit down in the steamy room with your buckets around you like a fortress, and after a few minutes of sweating, you douse yourself from the buckets with bowls. Next you rub on sabon bildi, a paste-like olive-based soap which is smeared onto the skin until you glisten.

After you rinse of the soap, it’s time for a good hard scrub (or five). Using a kiis (a rough flannel glove that feels a lot like a green kitchen Scrubbie) you scrub (and are scrubbed) vigorously until no trace of old skin remains. Then, after washing and conditioning your hair, you may soap up again, rinse again, scrub again.
The hammam is not for the shy, nor the prudish. But it is totally relaxing, cleansing, and (especially being with my host family), a welcoming place to get clean. I feel totally fresh and new, and as the hammam is often as cheap as most hotel showers, it’s likely I’ll going again on the road.

On that note: I can’t believe I’m into my final days in Fes! Friday I leave for the desert (trip sponsored by ALIF), and Monday I’ll begin the second part of my summer where I’m on the road every few days. I feel like there’s still so much to do before I leave Fes, and I know I’ll be sad to go when the time comes to move on. But now, darija beckons, so thank you for continuing to follow my trip (and reading this far!)!