Day 7: A Couple of Cool Macaques

Bonsoir, mes amis americains (good evening, American friends). I thought I'd sneak in a quick post again tonight, even though today was another non-veterinary day. Anna and I treated ourselves to a couple extra hours of sleep this morning since there weren't any mules knocking down our door for help. After breakfast, we took a "petit taxi" about five minutes to a street where the "grands taxis" were waiting. Then, through a very confusing series of events, we wound up in a taxi cab with 5 other people in it! I found it a bit absurd that the "petits taxis" won't take more than 3 passengers total (ie, the middle seat in the back is always empty) but you can stuff as many people as physically possible into the "grands taxis." Our goal was to get to Azrou, a city that some of the other vet students had visited previously and liked. The cab fare was only 30 dirhams apiece (roughly $3.50) which seemed really low for a 2-hr taxi ride. We had absolutely no idea that they were going to pack us in like sardines to make up the difference. Two men sat in the front next to the driver and two other men joined Anna and me in the back. We couldn't wear seat-belts for obvious reasons but never fear--we were so tightly squished together in the back seat, that there's no way we would have budged in the event of a car accident. 
I think I'll take a moment here to talk about the concept of time here in Morocco. Basically, there isn't any. We've seen evidence of this at the Fondouk (to the great frustration of the directors, old and new) and it is certainly evident in everyday life outside the confines of the Fondouk walls. Anna and I sought out our 2-hr taxi ride when we were ready to go to Azrou. We didn't expect to have to sit in the 
taxi for 45 minutes while it filled up. When the 7th and final guy put his suitcase in the trunk of our cab, we thought we'd be on our way imminently. But no--we had to wait another 10 minutes while the guy walked away and bought something to drink for the cab ride. You clearly can't plan to arrive anywhere at a certain time unless you are physically driving yourself there. At the Fondouk, this "relaxed" concept of time translates into work projects and repairs taking days instead of hours. Sure, the tools aren't state-of-the-art and sometimes the repairs are complicated. The handymen who work at the Fondouk are anything but lazy, but there's a pervasive attitude of "I'll get to it when I get to it."
The countryside that we drove through today was totally different from yesterday's landscape. While yesterday's ride was through lush olive tree groves, today we drove through much more mountainous terrain and the land was very dry and rocky. We didn't see anything being grown in the rocky fields along the road but we did see bottles of a honey-looking substance for sale perched on a cinder-blocks every 200-300 yards for miles. Our cab driver said it wasn't honey (they don't have honeybees in that region) but instead, some sugar-like substance that apparently doesn't taste very good.
When we arrived in Azrou, there was more chaos as I tried to find a cab driver who would take us to see the monkeys we had heard about and wait for us there to ensure we had a way to get back to the city. Fortunately, we wound up with a very nice young cab driver who spoke fluent French. I'm not sure how you could navigate the countryside without at least a little French since no one there spoke English. 
We were driven about 15 minutes outside of town to a national forest known for it's Macaque monkeys.  We saw tons of monkeys who were happily eating trash and whatever the tourists offered them. Anna squeezed in a short horseback ride while I walked beside her. Our cab driver really wanted me to hand feed the monkeys, but I informed him (in French, of course) that if the monkey bit me, I'd be in pretty big trouble.
There were various crafts for sale at the monkey forest so I got to practice my bargaining skills after we were done with the Macaques. Anna is a bit overwhelmed by the whole bargaining thing (plus, she doesn't speak French) so I've been doing the bargaining for both of us. Bargaining is part of the Moroccan culture and the locals fully expect for there to be some back and forth negotiations.  Because we don't have anything like this in our culture, it's been hard telling a local vendor what we think his products are worth. We watched some Australian folks get totally ripped off at the tanneries last week but I've been pretty successful in my transactions. Either that or there are a bunch of Moroccans having a good laugh at my expense.
We decided to splurge and have our cab driver take us back to Fez without an additional 4 people packed in the car. We've been here long enough that I was able to give the driver directions on how to get us back to the Fondouk. There's a big McDonald's right up the road from the Fondouk, so that serves as a good landmark.
As much as traveling outside the city has been exciting, I always breathe a big sigh of relief when the Fondouk's guard opens the big doors for us and lets us in. 
Anna and I cooked ourselves dinner this evening and I think we'll turn in early so we're well rested for tomorrow's critters.