Ait M'hamed Day 3
Fighting feral dogs outside the house made the night less than restful. And like in Brahim’s house- some tiny rodent has decided to scurry around in the night by my head, but I don’t mind as long as they don’t bite. I really like dogs usually, but these are quite scary and extremely beat up and many injured- Malika warned me that they were very dangerous and I should stay away. At night the dogs are constantly howling, growling, whimpering and seemingly fighting in packs in the hills. Like in Amslane nobody owns them or has companion dogs, only a few are kept to guard sheep and goats. There are also a lot of cats- like all over Morocco, but they don’t seem to have fights as much or be aggressive so far.
The soundscape is very perceptibly different here. On the surface many of the same noises were present in both doaurs- chickens and roosters crowing all hours, donkeys hawing and crying, and sheep and goats bleeting. Dog barks were minimal but still a feature in Amslane in the evenings, and there were far fewer donkeys so fewer cries. There the cows were more vocal- hence my curiosity as to if they are less common here since I have not noticed any cow like cries. The echoing between the hills since there is more than one valley in Ait M’hamed (Amslane was all situated in one larger valley) really amplifies the animal noises. There are also so many donkeys that it seems as soon as one starts crying it sets off a cacophony of cries through the hillsides.
Walked down into the souk today, people were definitely confused by me and I had trouble asking about prices, but it worked out in the end to purchase some produce, dates, and the crunchy chickpeas. The Saturday souk seems to be very lively, with lots of stalls selling non-food items like old clothes, electronics, dishes etc. and many stalls cooking meat and other items with tables for people to sit at eat under marquees. After I headed back, only to find a herd of sheep munching at the food scraps plants and plum trees by Malika’s doorstep.