In the wee hours of the morning (around 4am) we awoke to the crackly amplified sound of “call to prayer” from the local mosques. Later that morning around 8am, we were treated to a traditional Moroccan breakfast of Zohira’s wonderful bread and jam and of course, Moroccan tea. We then headed up into the mountains for quite an amazing hike.
We hiked in the High Atlas mountains to a peak near Toubkal, which happens to be 4160 meters high! Hakim led us through Berber villages with active crops and gardens, flowing waters, flowering trees and up windy stone paths to our destination at the very top of the mountain peak. We ate lunch in the Imlil village (fresh bread, salad and tagine, of course) and lingered over many cups of Moroccan tea. (Moroccans sip tea slowly, and we are trying to assimilate into Moroccan culture by extending our tea sipping each time we participate in this custom). In the evening we returned to Marrakech to experience yet another fascinating Moroccan tradition, the hammam (or traditional Moroccan group baths). It is typical for a Moroccan to go to visit the hammam one to two times a week in their various communities for their personal cleansing needs. Armed with buckets, special black soap, towels, gritty hand mitts, and floor mats, we entered the hammam, only to discover that this particular hammam was more spa like than most and we found that some of these items were provided. The environment is moist, warm and strangely private as most bathers went about their business without much interaction. In the central room there was a fountain in which women were seated on stone stools with a basin of flowing water in front of them. We joined in silently pouring buckets of warm water over our heads. Strangely, this reminded us of being in the bathtub as children with someone pouring buckets of water over our heads. We returned, squeaky clean for our 10 pm evening meal (Moroccans eat quite late and we found ourselves sleepily nibbling upon our second tagine of the day.)
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