A very small trip: Meknes

It starts at the beautiful new train station of Fez.

A few years ago I would take the train to go to Meknes almost every day. That's only sixty kilometers or so from Fez, but at the time there was only one track - and there were delays all the time. More often than once, what was supposed to be a one-hour ride would become a two-hours trip. I would often come home at 9 p.m. , and I had to go back to Meknes the next morning at 6 a.m.
That's probably why I don't like to go to Meknes - in my mind, the city means lack of sleep.

(But there are two tracks now, and bridges that shorten the trip; and the train ride only lasts a half-hour - it's like magic).

I only know the Ville nouvelle of Meknes. That's where is the French high school where I taught for two years.

Come visit the city with me; it's a little like Fez, but at the same time, very different.

























- If you want to see more pictures, go to my flickr page.

Fez-Tarifa-Fez: Itinerary of a French immigrant in Morocco

Yes, when you no longer have the "carte de séjour" (in my case, because I have a new job, and my contract is not good enough for me to get the residency), you need to leave the country every three months.

(I obviously don't want to complain here. Morocco is a lot more generous than France in this regard.)

So last week, after having postponed my trip at least three times, I booked a hotel room in Tarifa, Spain, and I left.

At the train station, in Fez, they told me that the tracks were flooded in the north, between Sidi Kacem and Tangier; so, instead, train until Kenitra, and then bus, until Tangier.

Our train was maybe the worst train in Morocco - the one with the broken loudspeakers that make a crazy noise, and where it's freezing.

I arrived in Tangier, I went through the mandatory formalities, and here was my boat.





It was nice, and fast.



The boat didn't stay empty for long; a lot of very hungry, very thirsty, and very loud people got on board.

I was a little groggy when I arrived in Tarifa, and it was pouring with rain. I sat on a bench, and waited a little.



I had photocopied a map of the town, but of course I lost it somewhere between Kenitra and Tangier.

Very quickly though I understood that I wouldn't have any problem to find my hotel, since Tarifa is a tiny town.

In any case, Tarifa is very nice; usually, there are a lot of surfers, but in the winter, it was empty.

I couldn't believe how clean and comfortable my hotel room nice - I really got used to the dirty rooms of the cheap hotels of Fez and Casablanca.

Then I had a beer in a bar; it's was empty, except for the owner and a big bouddha above the counter (eight o'clock i's too early for the "apéritif" in Spain)

The restaurant where I had dinner was deserted as well; I got back to the hotel.

The next morning, a little more than 12 hours after I arrived in Spain, I was back in the harbor.




This time I took a picture of the Moroccan coast; it's so close that it's disturbing.



Those two ducks (?) seemed lost in the sea.



When I bought my ticket, I was told that the captain wasn't sure we could leave, because of the wind. But then he decided it was ok.

The sea was raging; this time, no bar or sandwiches for anybody. Only the stewardesses were able to stand, ready to clean the mess and gather the vomit bags.




I collapsed in my chair, and I concentrated very hard on the TVs and their hypnotic perfume ads.

After having seen Kate Moss and Cloë Sevigny for what seemed to be the hundredth time, I realized we were in Tangier and that I hadn't been that sick.




The sun didn't shine for long. I fell asleep in the bus, and when I woke up my seat was wet - it was raining a lot, and there was a leak in the window by my seat.

Then, in the train, we drove through the flooded field. A little before Meknes, the train stopped; the rain had swept away the ballast, and we needed to wait for the workers to take care of it.

Finally, I arrived in Fez 36 hours after I left, with a brand new stamp in my passport.

I won ! My blog is the "BOMB" !

Bonjour !

Yes, I won the "Best of Morocco Blog Awards", in the category "Personal blog" ! I'm so happy, and proud of my little blog !


Thank you, it wouldn't have been possible without you !

And otherwise, some news:
-Bachir is getting better, but he's still not capable of working; I don't know if he will ever be.
- Fouad is still taking care of the house, since our life right now is in Fez. And he's doing a great job.
- Fred started yesterday a new exciting adventure - but really I can't say more about it.
- As for me, I am working on my new job. I start tomorrow, and I'll tell you all about it soon.
- And our mudbrick house ? Well, despite the torrential rains, it's ok. I miss it, I miss Ouled Emgatel, and I know we'll come back, but right now it's just work, work, and more work.

Fred's adventures in Morocco: a tour of Sidi Ali, and a video

Last year, Fred worked on a projet for a big website devoted to the sufi brotherhood he works with, the Hamadcha brotherhood.

We had no news of the website, but we learned a few days ago that it was online - finally.

It's in Arabic, but here are the highlights of the site.

First, the virtual tour of the two mausoleums of the most important saints of the brotherhood, in two villages near Meknes. (The wonderful 360 degrees panoramas were made by Sylvain.)
First, you have the mausoleum of Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch, the founding saint of the Hamadchas.

The other mausoleum is that of Sidi Ahmed Dghoughi, Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch's follower.



And, when you're done with those great pictures, go see Fred's video on the same website. You'll note his wonderful haircut (I don't know what happened), and also that his name on the url has been somehow hispanicized, from "Calmès" to "Golmez" (I don't what happened either - but after all, Fred's grandfather was from the south of France, so I guess that's close enough).

Life in Fès: A Walk in the Atlas

I'm ashamed of this, but I posted this on my French blog more than one month ago; and I'm even more ashamed to say that I considered not translating it, just posting the pictures (lazy me). But finally, I don't know how (I'm so tired of the computer because I've been working on it 10 hours a day - new, exciting job!), I managed to do it. So here you are.

Sometimes, I'd rather be somewhere else; go far away, see new places, speak other languages.

For me, right now, this isn't possible. Too much work.

And when I leave Fez, it's to go to Casablanca or Rabat - not the best places to relax.

So, I just take a walk in the Atlas, a neighborhood in Fez, in the Ville Nouvelle. It costs nothing, and it's just a few minutes from my apartment.

It's one of my favorite places in Fez. It's popular, lively, and colorful - and it's the place to go for food, with a lot of small restaurants, and all kinds of stores.






On the next photo, you can see buckets of khlie, dried beef, preserved in fat. It's delicious, and quite expensive.

(it's often hard to take pictures in the street in Morocco. You need to ask people for their permission - well, I guess you don't need to, but it's more polite. Most people agree, but sometimes not, like this guy who was selling vegetables. He got quite angry actually. But too late, I had stolen that photo).

Just by the CTM (the national bus compagny), there is an old man who sells used books. I sometimes buy European magazines from him, for 5 dirhams.

Nominated !

Hi everybody,

I know, I haven't been around much lately.

Because I found a new, very exciting job. But very different from what I'm used to do.

I'll be back very, very soon.

Oh, and by the way, I've been nominated by Morocco Blogs in the category "Best personal blogs". Please vote for me! (I'm on the right sidebar). Merci beaucoup!

Update: Thanks too my dear readers, I'm now first in my category! Keep voting !

Joyeux Noël

Merry Christmas ! Here in Fez nobody seems to know that it's today.

(and the new year was last week... confusing.)



Christmas rabbit with glasses and dog pretending to be a reindeer found on Fill(es) with color.

No rain in Ouled Mgatel, and a promise

Time passes very slowly in Morocco, december is almost here, and the sun still shines in Ouled Mgatel, and it still hasn't rained.




That's a big relief for us, -we had plenty of time to fix the house - but a bad sign for all our neighbors.

Last year, at this time, we were in the mud and the rain, and we were living in a crappy hotel in Fez.

Now we have a comfortable life here in our apartment in Fez, but we still don't go very often to our mudbrick house (even though we just spent a week-end there with French friends who live in a yurt in France and who thought that our house was a palace).

We'll be back.



(and this is, hopefully, the last picture of our house in that shape... not proud).