As much as I love geology, one of the best parts of doing field work is exploring another country, another culture, and breathing it all in to the fullest! We didn't have too much free time this trip but we did manage to get a free day in Marrakesh so we walked from our hotel over to the Mellah (a very busy spice market) then to the Jemaa el-Fnaa (the main square), over to the Souks (leather market, dying market, woodworking market etc.), over to a bookstore (which was really hard to find! There are not many bookstores in Marrakesh) and finally back to our hotel!
The flowers are beautiful!
The markets are very neat lots to buy (if you feel like paying too much... even with haggling)! Tagines on the left and rugs on the right!
Spice markets of the Mellah!
This is the dyers market (the Souk des Tenturiers). As a fiber artist, it was my favorite Souk
It is all done right it Marrakesh. First you take some wool from the local sheep and spin it up!
"Bales" of yarn!
Add some local dye...
And you have a bright array of scarves, wool, and yarn!
I was pretty excited!
A beautiful array of drying yarns!
The Jemaa el-Fnaa in the morning...
Watch out for Snek!
The tile work is out of this world!
And the food is... of course... amazing!
This is a Lamb Tanjia, a specialty of Marrakesh
This spectacular dish was my favorite of the trip! A chicken pastilla (sweet and savory in a phyllo pastry!)
While Morocco is a Muslim country, you can still get some pretty exciting drinks!
Turkish Delight!
We walked all day but we could have ridden around on a camel!
After a long walk around the city, this cool outdoor pool was just the thing!
The next day we were off, a short trip but a good one... and we left with 2 bags full of rocks and a tajine. Definitely a good haul, but there were a lot of bags!
So... the tajine! This is the clay pot that is used in Morocco to cook many dishes. I bought a small, 2-person tajine from one of the auberge's where we stayed (Ahmed got me a great price!) and brought back some spices. Here's a little pictoral "how-to" for a berber tagine dinner (a pretty good recipe can be found here).
The veggies are pretty easy (and there are thousands of varieties of tagines you can make... this was just what we could find in the stores here in Austin). Just grab an onion, carrots, zuccini, peppers, tomato and potato and chop them up.
Lay down a base of onion slices, some garlic, and pile the meat in the middle (here we used beef) then drizzle with lots of olice oil and heat slowly.
After 15-20 minutes, when the meat is browned, pour a slurry of spices and water over the lot to make a delicious bubbling sauce. Then stack the veggies in the middle like a teepee; I keep the softer veggies out for the first hour.
Then you just cook everything for 2-3 hours
Delicious! Beseha!
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