Amslane Day 2- Continued river explorations
In the afternoon Fatim and her friend joined us walking past the village close to the last orchard near the river head. There was a surprising amount of trash, especially in two larger streams from the houses into the river. I was shocked when I saw Fatim throw her yogurt container by the side of the road without a second thought. There are no facilities for trash disposal or easy way to carry it out of the village, but it strange to me that the main trash disposal area connects into the river they rely on. People also throw things away anywhere really so the landscape looks pristine at first but upon looking closer it is embedded with plastic bits- numerous bags and processed food packets. I’m curious to learn if they ever had disposal zone or system in the village that was less connected to the river and further from the houses to limit pollution. Traditionally these mountain communities have only had biodegradable products being made or brought into the village, so perhaps the attitude of throwing things to degrade into the landscape has not changed as rapidly as modernisation and plastic products coming in.
We made our way back to the house as it got darker after a few more informal interviews with women working in the fields. This family (and from what they say most families here) eat meals very late, dinner started at 11.00pm and this evening so it was quite late to get to bed. Even considering the ‘old time’ hour difference (the rest of Morocco being an hour ahead) this is still quite late. Definitely will be hard to find a balance with my early bird waking habit if it stays this late each night.