Train to Fez

I knew this would happen…I’ve fallen behind.  We’re doing so much and my limited down-time is split between answering emails, updating both blogs (here’s my work blog), sleeping, and drinking wine.  The day of the souk, we also picked up the Pearce/Lehnertz crew at the airport, scrounged up 3 cars to drive to fantasia only to find that it doesn’t start until today, had a henna artist come over and give us protection from the Evil Eye (photos to follow), and had a trip to the hammam (public bath).  I have video reviews from each person who went to the hammam, but the videos are too large to upload so I’ll save that for later.

Yesterday we took the train to Fez.  We had to get everyone ready by 9 a.m., which is not easy when you have 19 people who just ate dinner at 10 or 11 the night before.  It was quite a victory to get everyone up and out the door.  Uncle Abdullah drove Lana, Larry, and the bags to the train station.  The rest of us went on a 25-minute stroll through Mohammedia and arrived at the station with plenty of time to spare. 

The train was about an hour late – not uncommon here, and when it showed up it was not announced over the PA like the rest of the trains had been.  We jumped on and looked for our seats.  We had purchased first-class tickets so that we could gather everyone in compartments rather than spreading out through the 2nd-class seating, but all of the compartments were full.  The train agent kicked everyone out of 3 compartments and gave us our seats. 

The train was really comfortable – great AC, a sliding door on each compartment to keep out the noise/cigarette smoke/heat, and cushy seats.  I think the Moroccan train system is having some technology growing pains, because many other people got on the train after us and had tickets with the same seats as ours.  Apparently, the fact that we were there first gave us some sort of seniority. 

We made it to Fez by about 3 p.m., and made what was supposed to be a quick pit-stop at the bathroom.  There were about 30 ladies in the bathroom trying to wash so they could pray, and because waiting patiently in line is not a virtue that is shared by most Moroccans, a fight broke out when an old lady cut the line, pushed Aliya out of the way and ducked into the stall.  The drivers for the mini-bus and MamaHonkieMobile waited patiently for us and then drove us to a parking lot, where a couple of guys with hand-carts grabbed our bags and walked us to the two guest-houses we have taken over for 2 nights.

Here are a few photos from the train.  What is most amazing and awesome to me is that the kids have adapted SO WELL to being here.  They’re waiting patiently, chillaxing, playing games, finding something to eat even when the menu is a little limited, and my most favorite adaptation example…one of the kids was on the toilet and couldn’t vacate (a common issue right now), and another kid had to pee urgently, so Kid #2 took a bucket into the shower and took care of business.  I’m not mentioning any names, but it was AWESOME!