A little bit too much sheep's head

Posted Tuesday, April 03, 2007, 9:42 PM by Lonely Planet

Dov Quint experiences the warm hearts of Moroccan folk...

My night of sleep wasn't too bad. Except for the fact that every time I awoke in the middle of the night I feared rolling over to see that poor sheep staring me in the eye. It never showed up.

Instead, we awoke to pristine blue skies and began a 90-minute journey to the town of Imlil, a small place in the High Atlas Mountains that serves as a jumping-off point for trekkers in the region.

With the snow capped mountains beckoning us on the horizon, we drove through a landscape which slowly transformed from sprawling fields of olive groves into green valleys surrounded by red hills. We stopped along the river to check out a crowd of Moroccan tourists singing and dancing around a drum circle comprised of local Berber women. We were treated to other entertainment including one man who seemed to be performing the equivalent of a Moroccan stand-up comedy show. As he stood above his donkey, which was lying below him in the grass, he initiated a call and response routine with his audience. I'm not sure of the translation, but I'm guessing it was something to the effect of 'My donkey is so lazy...' followed by the crowd's response of 'How lazy is your donkey?!' I'll leave the punch line to your own imagination.



Continuing on our drive into the mountains, we arrived in Imlil to find a small town surrounded by terraced fields, acting as staircases to the snow covered jagged peaks of the High Atlas. Spread across the lush green valley, clusters of mud-brick houses stacked one on top of another blended into the hills onto which they clung.

The first local Berber to great me in town was a young boy riding a donkey. After smiling and shaking my hand, he then touched his own to his heart, the warmest of Moroccan greetings. The contrast between the serenity of the mountains and the controlled madness and energy of Marrakesh matches well with the people of Morocco. As with the contrasts in surroundings, Moroccan society is a vibrant mix of languages and cultures, and the Moroccans I have encountered seem to approach life with a warm sense of hospitality, and, as I found out during the donkey comedy show, a fantastic sense of humour.

Labels: Africa, Bluelist Winners 2007

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