Ait M'hamed Day 8 & 9
Day 8
Walking down to the taxi station this morning was quite a task. You’d think trail running shoes would be advantageous in the mountains, but only half way down the hill and my feet and treads were so heavy with mud that I was having trouble making my way on the path and lifting my feet. When Abdellatif arrived we decided to walk in the rockier forested hillside by the school where we met a couple grazing their small herd. They happily participated in a survey and identified some wild fodder species for us. The others grazers were not so interested so we headed back to town to meet Touda and try to find one of the officials at the office. After waiting around in the office Touda took us outside to a store next to the main road cafes. We were able to interview two shop owners and a shepherd, so was a productive morning. Since it’s the first day of Ramadan there was lower energy and less activity in the square area, and both Abdellatif and I were feeling rather ill- so was probably best we were fasting. Both tired from lack of food and sleep, we decided to finish early since the transit is less frequent to get back to Azilal in Ramadan. Smells of the Iftar evening meal are proving quite distracting as I type up interviews. I understand why people mostly sleep and have shortened working hours in majority Islamic countries during Ramadan. But being up at nigh for 3 large meals are going to be hard for me since I’ll have to be working during the day instead of napping.
Day 9
I was rather relieved when Abdellatif texted this morning to say he was ill and would not be coming today. After a brief rest, I decided to prep the main dishes and cookies for iftar tonight since Malika would be working. I think it won’t be too bad fasting, although I guess I’m not doing full Ramadan since I have still been drinking water since it is so dry and hot here, despite some rain.
After cooking to prepare for the evening and typing up some notes I headed out to survey some more wild grazing plants in the hills behind the school. Was a nice hike, but I decided to head back when the weather started to turn. On my walk back I noticed far more people just having their donkey’s tethered and the owners resting-really a different pace during Ramadan. A lot of women were walking from the road near commune offices with big white plastic bags on their shoulders with oil and not sure what else, have to ask Malika about them. Also when walking I noted there was a lone black cow grazing by the houses above the road in the Lebab douar. Took another short hike to the river/grazing area behind Malika’s house and got some more fodder pictures. Also saw 3 cows grazing across the way, should try to visit that household at some point and more near the river since they all seem to have animals and grazing land.
Spent the rest of the evening cooking eating and emailing. Fatima would come to the house and watch me periodically. Made a decent iftar meal, but Malika came home late from work and had already eaten tagine, so did not want any. The thunderstorm has gotten intense, all the poor animals outside- cats and dogs must not be very happy. If it keeps up we might not be able to do interviews tomorrow as well, but I have plenty of documents.