The Cybercafes we found in Fes made Spain's Internet Cafes seem to have blistering speed. At Madrid we had found internet at Ono.com for about 10 Euros. The connection at Ono was fast and they had MSN Messenger installed too. In Fes it was an exercise in patience but it was very cheap, only 7 Durhams per hour (about a Canadian dollar) which was cheaper than the first minute in New York City. And internet here was proof that the familiar outside world of gender p.c.ly diminishing, still existed and that Morocco was part of the "modern world", but choosy about which parts it takes into its identity and which part it chooses to pass on.

Emblematic of all of Morocco was graffiti I saw in this town - "Ca Va?" Whatever systematic corruption and western influence corrupting the family structures and morality there may be, the culture is still distinct. Apart from the Bruce Willis T-shirt worn by one boy, his companion in the traditional slippers and robes, we were surely slipping into an undeniable other culture where people walked slower, greeted a high percentage of people they saw, sat in cafes and played cards and met strangers' eyes without the evaluative clothing scan I'm accustomed to with a face ready to smile.

	Fes is made up of three ages of cities, one from the 8th century (by the Gregorian calendar), one from the Middle Ages and one from the early French colonial period.  Having heard stories of the maze of medieval streets and the rate that unofficial guides will offer their services, we went to the tourism office a couple blocks from our hotel and hired a guide to walk us through Fes. Through petit taxis her took us to Old Fes. (The back gateway of the walled city is pictured at left)
	The old city is like right out of the pages of an illustrated Bible with people dressed modestly in sandals and robes (caftans and djellabas) walking through narrow palm covered walkways, the sounds of chickens, donkeys, and goats going through the streets beside hand wheeled carts and bountiful litters of scrawny feral kittens. The friendly and able Berrakah Aziz met us at our hotel to guide us for 3 hours through Old Fes
	Different areas of the old medina (Mellah) were different departments: spices, carpet shops, workshops for the metal work of lamps and teapots, leatherwork, furniture carving and upholstering, fabrics by the bolt. In Old Fes is the leathermaking area and leather dying area. The dying vats pictured is where sheep, goat and camel leather are treated with pigeon poop then water, then dyed with spices and flower petals (saffron and poppies among other things) to give a lasting natural dye for anything from coats to purses, footstools and belts.

	Bringing goods through Fes means donkey, mule, horse, handcart, or, small truck with fantastic maneuverability of the driver. Coca Cola is still sold in reused glass bottles which are collected in the cases we saw by man and horse.
	In a country with 70% under the age of 25, children were everywhere. Older sisters of 7 or 8 walk with a protective arm around the shoulder of a toddler brother. On some corners little boys of 6 or 8 minded the stand of candy, cough drops, gum and cigarettes. Down another street 3 little girls played store with a carton in the ajar house door, one selling imaginary produce for the other children's gum wrapper money. Children play with sticks and boxes and imagination. Children work too selling re-used bottles of water, packets of Kleenex and chocolate bars, cigarettes singly and by the pack, paper hats and gum. Men walk the streets selling as well -- an assortment of shirts or belts. The exodus I expected to see as the call to prayer sounds is a trickle. We glance in an open doorway as some pray in the mosque but it seems for 95% of people, the call goes unheeded, trumped by conversation or business.
	In another part was an artisan's co-operative housed in a building that had been a hotel for nomads coming to market in the middle ages. The weavers were able to give a quick run down on how weaving is done and prices of fabrics being woven (left, a scarf for 50 Durham and a full loom width bolt of mixed weave of silk and cotton for 200 Durham or $33 Canadian). Along another road in Fes was a billowing stream of readymade clothes for normal wear or tunics and burnooses for special events with eye-catching brocades, lace and beadwork of 2 layers or 3 pieces. They were hung with poles to make a tent of colors providing shade and shape to the kiosks.
	Going through the high-walled cobblestone streets a sharp turn could bring you to a neighborhood bakery where women or children could bring the dough to be baked. At intervals were "public fountains" which were ornately tiled wall with a public tap. Each house has metered water allotment but if they wished, they could use the public water without charge. In the adobe walls electricity ran on the outside or under a skim coat of plaster.
	A close up of the tilework and plaster carvings of verses of the Qu'ran is worth admiring in one of the oldest universities in the world in the Old Medina of Fes.
	In the street there were all manners of cars and trucks, buses and taxis, donkey carts, handcarts and wares balanced gracefully on a platform on a man's head. Outside of Fes we saw women carrying bundles of firewood by this same method. Here you can see the Spanish architectural influence among the foot and wheeled traffic as well as the mosque. Mosque minarets in the city and especially in the countryside give the same effect in the steeple of chapels.

Back in the French quarter, ice cream bar kiosks and seed and nut stands held the place of Canadian chip wagons and hot dog stands. In some main streets there is 3 or 4  nut stands per block.

The French colonial architecture, city plan, cuisine, cheek kissing and language was everywhere. The same staple of baguettes and French pastries as Spain and France were at a surprising per capita density. Cous cous, the real national dish, was readily available too as was the ubiquitous sandwich. In some places we found tagine (a slow stewed vegetable dish, sometimes with meat).

As in Spain, Sprite, Fanta and Coca Cola are the usual choices apart from mineral water but the national drink is mint tea made from Chinese gunpowder black tea, sugar and fresh mint leaves. In Madrid there is a Museum of Ham and pork was everywhere in sandwiches, as main dishes, in salads; in Fes pork was, of course, nowhere, it being a Muslim country. Vegetarian was no more hard or easy to find here than in Canada or Spain. Meat is considered a good thing, and meatless more of a poor man's meal.

	This is the Fes Train Station, where we arrived at from Tanger and went through again by night on our return via a high speed train from Oujda to Casa.
	Shepherds outside of Fes.   From Fes we moved on to Oujda on the next leg of our trip.

2002, Pearl and Brian Pirie      | Trip Main Page |