Worldschooling

Hi everybody! I’m here to write a special blog about what we did one day in Morocco. On that day, we got our shoes wet from walking across rivers, got burning hot from the sun, climbed up hills, and walked through Berber villages. But I think it was definitely worth it.

October 18, 2019: Today was a pretty cool day. We got up and had the typical Moroccan breakfast:

Lesson 1: The typical Moroccan breakfast (try making it yourself!):

• Breads (warm crepe bread/ normal white baguette bread/ bread buns)
• Jams (fig jam/ apricot or strawberry jam)
• 3 different types of olives
• Dips (almond butter/ honey)
• Cheese (soft, triangle style)
• Butter (preferably sweet)
• Orange juice (sometimes fresh squeezed)
• Hard boiled eggs

For more Moroccan food press the link below ⬇ http://www.mymoroccanfood.com/

Well anyways, after breakfast, we went on a hike. But we would not have been able to do it without a guide. Interesting fact about our guide: he’s from a 30 person Berber village high up in the Atlas Mountains which is only reached by foot, with no electricity. So our guide led us from our lodging into a really dry sandy desert like area. After walking a ways down, we encountered a river. So we had to cross a few streams of the river before continuing. The guide helped us choose a route over the rocks. I got a tiny bit of water in my shoes, but secretly, I kinda liked the cold water given how hot it was (don’t tell my parents!). Our guide told us a couple of things about the people and the water they can use:

Lesson 2: the Berber privilege of water:

• The village council (Jema’a) decides how much water you are allowed to take from the rivers.
• Dams are used to take part of the water from the main river and create your own stream so you have a personal spring.
• If you do not follow the rules of taking water, the council will switch your dam so you have the same amount as others.
• Your own small stream leads usually to a small farm (just a piece of land for planting crops). Then, when you open your dam, you have an easy watering system.
• A few things you might grow on your plant farm are: mint, corn, thyme, sugar, almonds, oranges, pomegranates, olives…

For more info on the watering systems, press the link below ⬇ https://www.greenprophet.com/2012/01/moroccos-berbers-water-management/Oiioo

The next place we went to was a Berber cave. It was probably the coolest cave I’ve ever seen. It had three floors. We had to climb up this cliff on a really thin trail to get to it. We only went into the bottom floor, but it was huge! The cave spanned back farther than you can even see at the entrance with a flashlight! When you walk in, you have to crouch down because the caves are very low in height. But if you step to the left or right at any time while walking through the hallway, you enter much higher and larger rooms where the Berbers would live their everyday life. So that was definitely one of the best caves I’ve ever seen:

Lesson 3: The hideout cave:

• The caves were hideouts from all the wars happening at its time
• The caves could have been up to 1,000 years old!
• It seemed to me that the cave entrances are designed to be low because heat rises and if there is no space for heat to enter, the caves have a natural air conditioner!

So after seeing the caves, we headed back down the slope to go visit some Berber villages. Our plan was also to have tea in a Berber village. To get there, we got to walk through a few villages before arriving at the one we where scheduled to have tea. When we finally arrived, I was burning hot. No really, it can get warm in northwest Africa! The tea was good. They pour the tea really high to make bubbles. It hit the spot. But mostly the reason that I say this it that they did not only give us tea, but also bread. The bread was pretty similar to crepe bread. It was warm and just… good. Walnuts were also served to us there. It was more than I expected, but still super worth it! And, I was hungry!

After the tea, we started to head back. The hike had seemed very long. It was supposed to be 3 hours, but it did not feel like it. “Hey dad, how long has this hike been, feels more than 3 hours”. And my dad said what I did not expect. “I think about five hours, Jack, not 3”. Even though we surpassed our time by 2 hours, the day was still super worth it.

Thanks for reading my journal entry on Morocco. Please feel free to leave a suggestion, or just a note in the comment section below.

On a final note, if you haven’t already, please subscribe and like the post. Also, we have a YouTube channel called ON THE ROAD WITH LJ so please also subscribe to that.

Here is a link to our 7 video YouTube Chanel:

On the road with LJ

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-Jack👌