Travels with BobxLiz: Mint Tea and Bread with the Berbers, October 23rd, but first a traffic jam!

On our way to the Berber villages in the High Atlas Mountains, we encounter a traffic jam in a village where sheep are being sold in preparation for the Feast coming up on Friday. It is the celebration of Abraham and Isaac, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Heartbroken, Abraham obeyed God, and at the last minute, an angel from God sent a lamb to be sacrificed instead of Isaac.

This market was a real mob scene. Sheep are being carried away in every type of vehicle.

Here they are loading the sheep into the trunk of their car.

This man is walking his sheep to his vehicle.

All types of carts including those pulled by donkeys are used.

This man is carrying his sheep on his shoulders. Others had them in their arms.

On Friday, the family will have a ten minute prayer time at 8:30, then they will slaughter the sheep. They give one third of the sheep to the poor, one third they will share later with their family, and one third is for themselves. In the afternoon they visit other family members and friends and about 10:30 that night, they will have a dinner.

We continue into the High Atlas Mountains.

The terrain changes from lush green to a more desolate brown landscape.

Note the many TV satellite dishes when you do a close up.

These sheep have escaped being slaughtered for the Feast Day

and are happily grazing on a hillside of the Atlas Mountains.

We have arrived at the village and are now walking UP the hill to our host's home. We pass a school just as the children are leaving for their lunch break. They are walking to their homes and will return later for the afternoon session. You see the houses in the background. Our hosts live at the top of those homes.

We walk through a level glen where the shade is quite welcome.

Further up we climb.

Three Peace Corps volunteers meet us there and serve as our interpreters. Two of the volunteers are from the U.S. and one is from Rabat, Morocco. One is pouring mint tea for us. Our leader, Andrew, is watching. This is a long living room with benches along the walls, room for all of us.

They serve us several types of breads, honey, nuts and butter, all local products, and all very tasty.

Our hosts are standing next to Andrew in the doorway.

Andrew and our hosts outside their home

Our host is showing Andrew a turnip from his garden. This is a long turnip, but we know it is a turnip because it smells like a turnip.

This is the oven where our hostess baked the breads she served to us.

After we leave our family, we drive to Ait Benhaddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Berber village, high up on a hill. This area has been used for movies and we will spend the night in Ourzazate, movie capital of Morocco. After lunch in the new part of this village, we will climb up into this village. Some will climb up to the top and some of us will climb up halfway.