Our New Year trip

On Wednesday, December 29th my friend Linda came to Ouarzazate from her village in the mountains.  She was to arrive at my house around noon.  I could not meet her in town because she didn't know when she would actually get here.  She must go out on the highway and wait for transport.  She could wait for fifteen minutes or for five hours.  Upon arrival in Oz she was to take a taxi to my house.  She didn't know where it was or how to give directions to the driver, so she used the directions that Houssaine had written out for me.  I was worried that they might not find  the house, but had arranged to tie brightly coloured plastic bags to the font gate as an identifier.  Still concerned, I took a plastic garden chair out front and sat there waiting for her.  A young neighbour woman was concerned about what I was doing sitting there and came over to question me. Perhaps they thought that crazy new lady was up to no good!!!! In any event, Linda made it just after noon.  We went to Houssaine's for tea and Linda presented them with homemade Christmas cookies.  She had baked nine different kinds this year.  Now this is a considerable accomplishment considering ovens here have two doors which open to a one rack cooking cavity heated by a gas flame.  There is no temperature setting.  One looks at the flame and decides if it is at 350F heat or not.  The cookies were excellent (I also received a plate).  Her second gift was two samples of the flavoured cheese they make at her site.  Both are excellent.

We went to sleep fairly early that night because we had to catch the bus at about 8 a.m. We caught a taxi to the bus station and began our journey to Marrakech.  There we bought train tickets to Casablanca.  We arrived in Casa about 6:30 pm and caught a taxi to our hotel.  It was a lovely evening and the area our hotel was in was the old French section and pedestrian only.  There will hundreds of cafes and people everywhere.  After checking in we immediately headed out for a stroll.  It was such a pleasant evening.  We felt so comfortable and safe.  Now, let me tell you that we being really looked after.  When we reached Kech, there was a phone call from Fatima's husband asking if we had made it.  When we reached Casa, there was a call from Houssaine.  About 11p.m. there was a call from Fatima asking what we were doing.  She was on the bus on her way to Kech from Tan Tan and we had just gone to bed.