Home Sweet Home

I finally made it to my village today! My counterpart, Said, works for MEDA and lives in EEK. He was working in the one of the villages near mine, so I met him and the driver at the office in EEK this morning. We loaded up my luggage and drove up to my village, which I'll call the Sisterhood. We drove right up to my door and they helped me unload my bags. Then we drove up into the mountains and when the "road" became impassable even in the Land Rover, Said and I got out and walked.
MEDA is funding a massive erosion control project in the area surrounding my village. I haven't figured out if the erosion is caused by farming, grazing or both, but it is a significant problem. Between my limited Tamazight and French and Said's limited English, this is what I understand: Erosion in Morocco, while generally bad because you lose topsoil, is also causing the sea level in the Mediterranean to rise. I haven't had a chance to check this out, but it makes sense that the EU would fund this type of project because the Mediterranean is a prime tourist destination and rising water levels would be a detriment to business. I'll get back to you on whether this is truly the case.
Back to Morocco, Said thought the men were working in one area, so we hiked in that direction. All the while he was pointing out different trees, animals, etc. and giving me their names in Tamazight. When we got to where he thought they were, the men weren't there. We asked a man working in his field and he pointed across the valley. Said thought we should hike up to the top of the mountain (we were already about 2/3 of the way) to get a better view. We did, but still couldn't see them. By the way, at some point, I asked about calling these phantom men on the telephone, but neither one of us had "rizzo," which is what they call the cell phone signal.
I was starting to get hungry, but didn't say anything because it didn't seem like there was much Said could do about it. He must have been getting hungry as well, because he went over to a tree and picked a couple unripe peaches. They were good, really crunchy and sour. He also picked a couple fava beans and we munched on those. I also liked those – they still weren't ready for picking, but they tasted a lot better than the cooked ones I was eating in Ouarzazate!
We climbed up to the top of the mountain while we ate our impromptu snack and found we still couldn't see the men working. Said pointed to a small village across the valley and asked if it was OK if we walked over there. I said, "Sure" but wondered how on earth we were going to get there. There wasn't a path down the mountain, only around the valley. We "hiked" mostly, I just skidded and slipped my way down the mountain. We stopped under a tree for a rest and Said smoked a cigarette. I think it was a hazelnut tree, although I've never seen a hazelnut on a tree, so I'm not sure. I know what it is called in Tamazight and they explained that you crunch it up and mix it with chocolate, so hazelnut seemed like a good guess.
We continued our hike up the other side of the valley and arrived in a small village. It was mid-day on Friday so the men were at the mosque. We hung around for a few minutes and then the man we were looking for exited the mosque and greeted us. We walked around the village for a little while and then went to this man's house for lunch.
First however, we drank tea and ate bread with what I think was melted goat butter. I was pretty hungry, having eaten yogurt and a banana for breakfast, so I ate more bread than I normally would, thinking it would have to tide me over until evening tea back at home. Plus, they kept telling me to eat more. After tea, they brought out a tagine, which I happily ate until I was full. I had to explain to Said and our hosts that I don't eat meat, which brings the inevitable question of "why?" they asked if I ate meat in America and I said no. I explained that I hadn't eaten meat in at least 8 years because I don't like it. They seemed a bit miffed, but didn't press me to eat any of the meat in the tagine.
After lunch we hiked to the top of this mountain and took a look at the infrastructure the village was building. This mountain was a lot rockier than the one we started on, so they were using the rocks to build long, low walls every 15 to 20 feet. The walls followed the contour of the hillside and were meant to prevent rain from washing the topsoil away. Some of the walls were not built properly, so we were checking on the progress since this was discovered. The walls the mean were working on today passed inspection, however there was a whole field with problematic walls. I'm not sure if they will rebuild those or leave them as is.

It was a long day and I was sunburned on my forearms, with a nice white outline of my watch. I had worn a lightweight scarf around my neck at the beginning of the day, thinking it might be cool in the mountains, but it had come in handy as a wrap for my head and neck, to keep the sun off.