It's beginning to not look like Christmas..

Christmas morning I woke up in a Riad in Fez, Morocco. It was cold and Tom and I cuddled to stay warm. For a moment I was sad, missing my family and friends..then I wished Tom a Merry Birthday and we began our day.



Breakfast was nice in the Riad..yogurt, fruit, bread (thanks to the French) and coffee. Delicious. As we ate we tried to remember our 25 Christmases together and managed to remember mainly the ones spent overseas. Greta spent her second Christmas in Germany and her third in Austria, her 14th in Bali and her 15th in Vietmam and her 22 in Ecuador. Today we missed having her with us in Fez Morocco.


Back to this morning..After we ate we made our plans...we would venture to a hot spa for locals out of town. First we had to find the bus stop and arrange a collective (we would need 6 total in the car) to go to Moulay Yacoub. After a walk through the narrow medina streets then under the big gate (Tom pictured in front of it) we made the wrong turn and ended up at a huge mosque. We turned around and finally got to the bus station, arranged a collective, paid our sum and along with four others headed out of town. We sat quietly as the other passengers spoke in Arabic and the call to prayer was coming from another passenger's cell phone. Finally we arrived at our destination.


First we ate..by now it was lunch and time for a Moroccan tangini. Then we walked down and down and down a hill and arrived at the spa..really a communal bath. I timidly entered my side..the woman's area, Tom went to the men's side. It was steamy, loud, and full of women..and clearly I was the only one with light hair and probably the only non muslim. I followed what everyone else was doing..wore only undies and stepped into the steaming hot water. It was salty..soon other women approached me, touching my arm and smiling...On the decking women were washing each other and themselves and some were even covered in red henna..and they scrubbed and scrubbed. I was asked to swim and when I told the woman I had an injured shoulder she led me to a spout and got a bucket of the healing water for me to pour over my shoulder. A few times the women would chant and sing and the others would join in..And I sat watching in wonder until I could not take the hot water any more.

It was a nice way to spend Christmas..getting lost..finding our way...soaking it all in.




* A Riad is an old traditional home which is elaborately build in the old style..around a courtyard. They are lovely with tile work carvings and uaually a fountain in the courtyard. We stayed at Tizwa Riad..
* The Medina is the old walled city..in Fez it is the worlds largest non motorized urban area..it is very big and full of small winding narrow streets, stores, homes, mosques, etc..
*Tangine.. A stew like dish cooked in covered cermic pots..pictured in the photo above..these were cooked over charcoal fire