Centre Ville and Lion

Centre Ville (wisst il-medina)

In commemoration of the prison camp that briefly existed in Ifrane during the second world war, a (German? Italian? Different guidebooks give different nationalities) soldier carved a stone lion. The last lion in Morocco was sighted in the thirties, I recall reading. (And of course, the lions to which the Christians were fed in the Colosseum were shipped from the very region of Morocco in which Ifrane is located. Imperial elephants were also procured from this area) The local custom is to get a photo taken while touching the lion. It was difficult for me to get Dylan in front of lion, so relentless were the throngs of Moroccans in their zeal for a family picture in front of the stone cat.

The lion is located at a fountain in the gorgeous French-style "centre ville" of Ifrane. Here one can find a variety of pizzerias, boulangeries, patisseries, and glaciers. In August, the Moroccan tourists spend hours here sipping coffee or tea, enjoying a pastry or icecream, and most importantly, seeing and being seen. Storks can be found on nearly every roof here. It is very easy to relax here.

At the "source vitel (sic) refuge"

The "wildlife refuge spring" is effectively a city park located just a few dozen meters from the bustling centre ville. As far as city parks go, this is easily prettiest, most secluded one we have seen. We--and dozens of the Moroccan vacationers who visit Ifrane during the month of August, Ifrane's busiest month--have discovered that it is a perfect shady retreat from the torching August afternoon. (August in Ifrane is relatively cool, with temperatures peaking in the low nineties; in Fez just down the mountain, peak temperatures are 120). In the dry, desert atmosphere that predominates even in Ifrane's comparatively high elevation, shade is a guaranteed refuge from a sun that is so bright and hot that one can actually feel, in real-time, the creation of a sunburn in its exposure. Here in the leafy wood, it feels 20 degrees cooler. The "vital spring" amounts to a network of interlocking lakes and ponds formed--by human engineering--along a meandering gurgling stream. The whole system goes on for kilometers, and it is all concealed within a leafy enclosure, so that it is quite possible that one can be walking along a road just a few meters from the water and remain fully oblivious of its existence. All one has to do is descend down into the trees to discover this wonderful "alternative reality."

While some of the springs are favorite swimming holes of the Moroccan vacationers, and hence are teeming with Moroccan picnickers, others remain perfectly secluded, and are the favorite watering holes of frogs and turtles. I was unable to find turtles on the day we brought the camera along with us, but the frogs are always ubiquious (any afternoon dozens can be seen sunning themselves on rocks or lilipads). Below are some pictures we took at the "source vitel refuge."

The Marché

The marché is the traditional, Moroccan-Berber section of town (the "centre ville" being the more picturesque, French part of town). The marché is a network of shops, restaurants, and cafes where one can find butchers (specializing in the various meets: cow, lamb, turkey, and chicken), a creamer, spice venders, legume venders, fruit venders, vegetable venders, appliance venders, hardware stores, and photo shops. While very few Moroccans can be found dining at the more upscale French restaurants downtown (they do patronize the cafes and glaciers), throngs of Moroccans can be found dining at the various restaurants in the marché. The standard fare seems to be roast chicken with rice, fries, and olives. The meal is prefaced by an appetizer of harissa (a mild, salty hotsauce) and fresh bread. While the food is not particularly healthy and a long way from fancy, we have discovered that we are sufficiently embued with "the spirit of anthropology" to find ample pleasure in participating in the local custom; in any case, when prepared well (and we have found a favorite restaurant), the chicken is delicious, the rice and french fries soak up an optimal portion of the chicken fat, and the harissa and olives provide just enough spice, so that on a late afternoon the famished and weary shopper is quite satisfied (lunch is commonly eaten at around 3:00pm here, and as comparatively early breakfasters, we find we are generally quite hungry by this time). Perhaps we should be mindful of that bit of Epicurean wisdom: to the hungry, a bit of bread and water affords as much pleasure as the daintiest, most exquisite dish. Strange, and relieving, how far Epicurus was from being any kind of "epicure." Another pleasure is the mint tea which we take with helwa (sweets and pastries) at our favorite little French café in the marché.

See all the mint in that pot of (green) tea?

These travellers (Erika, Dylan, and Thomas) are tired; we are walking to the marché at 2:00pm, when the sun is cruel. The walk is about two kilometers.

Another view of that pot of mint tea!

Children playing cards

Dylan and Thomas made friends who also reside in the apartments where we live in Ifrane. The picture posted includes two other children who they recently met. Because it has been very hot during the day, children usually meet up in the evening and play together in the playground in the backyard of the complex. Although in this picture they are playing a card game in our apartment where it is cooler inside during the day. The young girl is of Malaysian descent but was living with her family in New Zealand before arriving in Morocco. Her name is Re-ing. The boy is Adam. His background is also varied. His mother is of Berber decent and his father is Arab. The people who live in our apartment complex are either affiliated with Al-Akhawayn University or with the French School, which is right next door. The adults work at the university and the children attend the school. It is a multi-ligual, multi-cultural community.

Call to Prayer, 1:40pm, Friday, Aug 14th.

The Cobles have just started up their blog. We call our blog Coblemaroc because Maroc is the French spelling for the country, and that is the way we see it here on official signs and literature when it is not written in Arabic (when it is called il-Mamlaka al-Maghrebiyya, the Kingdom of Morocco, or il-Maghreb for short. Maghreb means simply the Abendland or Occident, the place where the sun sets, the West). The name Morocco/Maroc is actually derived from the name of the city of Marrakech (in Arabic, Maraksh).

We promise to try to create an interesting blogread out of our Morocco experiences, and we will try to include messages from our children. We understand that life is short and many folks won't have time to peruse this very often if at all--that's how it goes! An occasional superficial glance from any of you is already far more than expected, and highly appreciated. In other words, please feel welcome but never obligated to peruse our posts.

As I write this (1:40pm) the (recorded) Muezzin is making the midday (dhuur) call to prayer. The late afternoon prayer (asr), which takes place at about 5:10 at this time of the year, is the last of the five prayers incumbent upon Muslims to perform daily, since the first prayer takes place just after sundown. The reason for this ordering of the prayers has to do with the Muslims' use of the lunar calendar, according to which the calendar "day" technically begins after sundown, or so I read. (Thanks to Ansar Ahmed for clearing some of this up.)

Right now we are having some troubles with our camera (we can't get a lithium battery with the right voltage and the alkalyne batteries aren't working). So after we have bought a new camera and taken some pictures, we will make a new post. We promise that the town is extraordinarily photogenic, so hopefully we will be able to take some pictures worth checking out. Until then, cheers!