Berber Villages, day 2

Although the stars on the roof were lovely, we didn't get all that much sleep. We were surrounded on all sides by animals in their pens, including cows, donkeys, and roosters. The cows weren't bad, but the donkeys and roosters were braying and crowing all night long. Also, Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day, and in Muslim countries the call to prayer is broadcast  from the mosque. That meant that around 6 am we woke up to chanting blaring from a loudspeaker. Although not conducive to sleep, it was a really cool experience since we definitely don't have those at home. It also meant we got to see a gorgeous sunrise.

One direction

And the other

 After a Berber breakfast of homemade bread, honey, and tea, our donkeys were brought around and once again loaded up. Our guide jokingly called them Berber 4x4s.

Was it you he-hawing all night long? Bad donkey!

 The day two trek was even prettier than the first, as the mountains got higher and the vegetation changed. We took time for some funny photo ops:

Photobombed!

Hang on, Jason!

 We had also been given a large number of toothbrushes to hand out in the villages, courtesy of Global Grins. As we passed a tiny village school, we made our first distribution stop. It was really fun to see how excited the kids got, and to try to explain to them what the toothbrushes were for! It was also a nice break, as the hiking on day two was longer and harder, and the temperature was also warmer. We were all wishing for turbans to protect the back of our necks from the sun!

The international sign for brushing teeth.

Not a bad view

 Our guide pointed out that even the most rustic and isolated homes had their own personal hammams (steam baths). In the background of this next picture you can see a hammam for one person, right out where the cows are.

Hammam, house, cow. You can see the hammam is really as small is a cow, definitely for only one person!

Typical Berber village

 We were getting really hot and hungry when we suddenly came upon groves of trees creating a beautiful, cool forest. Luckily this is where our guides had picked for us to eat. We settled unto some mats they pulled out and drank mint tea while they cooked our lunch. We were very surprised to see our rough, manly guides bring out this beautiful dish of rice, tomato salad, and olives!

Presentation is very important, apparently

 We all really enjoyed our delicious lunch, then gladly accepted our guides' suggestion that we take a Berber nap - ie, a one hour nap out in the woods. It was wonderful, and only interrupted by the sudden arrival of a shepherd and his flock of sheep and goats. They scared a few people who were trying to find a place to pee in the woods!

After lunch we only had to hike about an hour more to get to the village we would be staying in for the second night. We once again had the opportunity to take a hammam, although this one was much smaller and a bit more rustic. This village also didn't have any running water, so we were asked to be very careful with how much water we used.

Inside the hammam - this one was really only big enough for 2, maybe 3 people. The hot water is in the hole in the wall, and the fireplace that heats the water and the room is below that. Cold water comes out of the tap, which leads to a big barrel outside filled with water from the stream.

 After the hammam, we went outside and were greeted by dozens of children from the village. They took us all to their school yard and taught us some of their games. We, in turn, taught them red light green light, tag, the chicken dance, and the hokey pokey. The chicken dance was a HUGE hit! It was so much fun to play with them. Jason also got to hand out more toothbrushes, and was absolutely swarmed by kids. It was amazing to see how excited they got over something so simple.

When it was starting to get dark we headed back to our place for the night and ate a late dinner, then crashed. Below are two pictures to give you somewhat of an idea of the house. The first is the view from our bedroom window. What you can't tell is that right below the bedroom was the stables - we were literally sleeping on top of them and could occasionally hear the cows moving and mooing.

Luckily this night the donkeys slept too.

Berber homes are typically built around a center room that is open to the sky (there's a hole in the roof). Off of the central space are the kitchen and several bedrooms. The bathroom (a squat toilet) is also off to the side.

Here you can see the big barrels of water brought from the stream

 This house wasn't quite as clean as the first, and we were all getting a bit tired of squat toilets, flies, and feeling a bit dirty. Mostly though, we were tired, so we climbed onto foam pads on the floor and listened to the cows as we tried to go to sleep.