Hello Everyone,
The VaughanTown language school worked out really well. It was nearly the same as the program we attended 8 years in Belmonte Spain. I wrote more extensively about it then, so I’ll just review a few details about the current program now. There were around 12 volunteers and 15 students housed at a spa resort in Alhama de Aragón, Spain, from Sunday morning until Saturday afternoon to talk English. For about 80 hours of that week, we (the volunteers) spent “just talking” one-on-one with the students at various locations in the hotel or walking around the little town, in 50 minute sessions, separated by 10 minute breaks or lunch/dinner or other activities. All of it was intended to immerse the students in hearing and speaking English, while learning new idioms and phrasal verbs that were recommended for each session. The students typically have studied English grammar, but don’t have much experience with hearing and speaking it. They are shy and inhibited about conversing in English. That’s what the volunteers help with. There were lots of activities along the way to help, as well as with paring up at the meals in the restaurant.
It was a very intensive, but also a very rewarding experience for us. Normally, as a tourist in a foreign country, our interactions with the “locals” is very surface, like asking directions, ordering food etc., like tourists do. We don’t get to carry on any kind of deep conversation with them, in their country, because of the language barrier. In this VaughanTown experience we end up talking to these folks who start out as strangers, but end up talking to us about their families, their careers, their life, their likes and dislikes and other personal things that turn them into somewhat close friends by the end of the week. It’s a very unique experience, that I would highly recommend to anyone with a week to spare and wouldn’t mind helping someone with their English. Vaughan encouraged us to bring some “toys” we could use as props, so I brought a few card tricks, that I showed off at meal time, along with my magic foam balls. At the conclusion celebration I performed my magic string trick for everyone. There is more detail about VaughanTown in my report from 2017 here, if you would care to take a look: https://puciello.com/wp/3-hello-from-belmonte-spain/
Now, on to Morocco……
Have you ever had lunch cooked for you in a Carpet Store? Me neither, until we went on a “food tour”, with Mostafa, in the Fes Medina. For several hours, he walked us around the narrow streets, up and down the hills, showing us their food. As we walked he purchased some ingredients like eggs, olives, bread etc. Then he sat us down in the back room of a carpet store while he had someone there prepare a Moroccan lunch Tagine for us. The carpet store was just a comfortable quiet place owned by a friend, to sit and eat. He let us sample a common, high protein, breakfast staple of ground Fava beans cooked with lots olive oil and garlic into a kind of soup. It was very tasty. Check out the photo gallery for some pics of this little adventure.
Moroccans are happy to tell Americans that they were the first country in the world to recognize the United States independence in 1777. After applying to the UN for their own independence in 1944, Morocco finally won it from France in 1956. Humans have been living here since way before recorded history and they have been colonized many times over the years by invaders. They are still ruled by a King, there are Roman ruins here and a lasting cultural influence from the Ottoman Empire. In addition to Arabic, they speak French and learn both fluently in school. Their old cities were surrounded by tall walls, many of which are still standing. The area within the walls is the historical center called the Medina. That is where we focused our exploration. There are 9000 skinny, winding, steep streets in the Fes Medina that, at times, get very thick with people and tour groups. However, the chaos inside is surprisingly quiet! There are no motorbikes allowed. Everyone walks. Everything is brought in with donkeys or in small rectangular two wheeled carts, pulled or pushed by humans. It works surprisingly well.
Fes was built with 5 kinds of housing, from a single rooms to palaces. The middle type was called a Riad. It was a family home 4 or 5 stories high and built around a small square courtyard open to the air. There were 2 separate stairways each serving 2 sides of the square. Riads were kind of like the “upper middle class” family houses. The Fes Medina went through a long decline about 25 years ago, before it was discovered by tourists who moved in, bought up and turned most of the Riad housing into small hotels. That’s where we stayed. It was really an interesting experience. There were no keys to the room or front door. You could lock your door (with a primitive kind of lock) from the inside, but when you go out there is no way to lock it. When we came back we just rang the doorbell and someone came to open it. Our room was on the third story, 30 narrow, uneven, winding steps up. It had Arab decor with beautiful carved wooden doors & windows, a giant brass chandelier and modern facilities. But…. Oh, those stairs! Breakfast was served each morning on the terrace that was built on top of the roof. It had a beautiful view of the city, but, to get there we had to come down our 30 steps to the courtyard and then ascend another 72 of those winding uneven steps, up the other staircase to get to the terrace. Then, after breakfast, back down and up again to our room. Elevators are not one of the modern facilities they have in the Medina! We really got our steps and flights in, staying this Medina.
One day we took a several hour private walking tour of the Medina with a private guide, Jamal. We saw how leather is processed and tanned, by hand (and foot) and a 14th century “water clock” that rang a bell every hour (but even the experts can’t figure out how it worked). In addition to silk, they make garments out of Agave thread. I had never seen this before. It has a similar feel to silk, but a little bit coarser. It’s much easier and less expensive to produce than silk. And, so they know who is at the door, most doors here have 2 door knockers, with different sounds, one for visitors and one for family.
Though most things in the Medina are very photogenic, most people here (especially women) do not like their picture taken and will object if you try. I wasn’t sure if there was some kind of religious thing or superstition about it or what. However, some of the vendors and workers will allow taking photos if you pay them something. I guess you can always compromise your standards for money. We did get some interesting pics for the photo gallery, though, if you want to take a peek. There are pics of some things I haven’t discussed in this travelogue.
One day we took a road excursion to the Atlas Mountains and stopped to take some photos of a Berber cave home, the Roman ruins of Volubilis and a national park with little friendly Baby Macaques monkeys running around. Also, the Medina has hundreds of cats walking around all over. They appear well fed and friendly. Maybe that’s why we didn’t see any rats there? There’s a lot more to tell about Fes, but I fear I’ve gone on too long already. You’ll have to go and visit it for yourself some time. However, before you head into a Moroccan Medina, make sure you have a good GPS mapping app on your mobile phone, with downloadable maps. It’s completely impossible to find your way around the winding streets without one. Paper maps were almost useless.
They have Internet/Wi-Fi here but it’s not always reliable and we had a difficult time handling photos with it, which is why this report is so late in coming. Carol has finished her a Blog Post about Fes, Morocco. You can find it at this blog address link: https://carolapucci-tips.blogspot.com/2025/05/s-moroccos-oldest-city-where-tourism.html
Our next stop, a short train ride away, is the capital city. It’s smaller than Fes and not as touristed. More about that next time.
Your favorite travelers……………….. Tom and Carol
Fes Photos
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