From Phyllis in Morocco - Part 3

More sketches from Phyllis in Morocco. They are now at Dar Louisa, in the walled city of Taroundant.

Phyllis' room and balcony

Poolside at Dar Louisa

Some excerpts from her delicious daily reports:

This place is so beautiful it is hard to describe. There are jasmine vines and lots of other vegetation on the walls. The birds come into the courtyard at night to sleep and make a great wonderful racket. In the morning they wake up and start to cheep and sing about the same time as the first call to prayer which is around 5:30. I was too excited to sleep last night so slept very little. But who cares? I can nap or not.....whatever. Adbelilah is our chef. For about $18.00 a day he will make us 3 meals a day. We asked for 2 meals with a small snack of fruit and stuff for the third. We are eating everything that is put before us.....including vegetables and fruits, we are drinking the tap water, and we have only seen real toilets (no squatters), so we are traveling very first class. All of this because Suzie and Bill traded our casa in Mexico for these delightful riads. Fatima is our housekeeper, and she quietly goes about keeping everything beautiful and clean. It's a bit decadent, I know....but oh so delightful. This riad also has a private hammam. We can be scrubbed, manicured, pedicured and massaged. Which we will do. Anyway.....I will for sure. We have mint tea everywhere and often. Everyone wants our money, but they are mostly very, very nice about going about getting it.

Taroudant is a walled village. The walls are 800 years old. The tops of the walls look just like the castle walls in fairy tales. The merchants here do not hassle us like they did in Marrakech Still everything must be bargained for.The climate is more temperate here. The days are warm but not hot, the evenings pleasantly cool, and the nights not cold but cool enough to use a blanket and sleep well. Taroudant is much more tranquil than Marrakech, fewer tourists, easier to mange, still busy will all manner of vehicles. Lots of bicycles. Fridays are the day of prayer and the day for cous-cous. The shops were closed at 1:00 today for people to go to the mosques. We could hear the prayers throughout the city and from Dar Louisa. After prayers it is traditional to go home for cour-cous. Adbelilah made delicous vegetable soup for dinner, followed by Moroccan cous-cous smothered in vegetables with a small amount of lamb. Dessert was pears poached in a light sauce flavored with allspice. After we had a fire and mint tea in the salon. I'm feeling very, very fortunate, pampered, lucky and happy. This is a real vacation. So different from what I imagined or expected.

Never, ever have I experienced the sort of exquisite care, food, attention to detail as we have at Dar Louisa. I am almost embarrassed to tell about it. Abdelilah makes all of our meals, serves us drinks by the pool, builds fires for us in the evening in the downstairs salon, took us on a walking tour today and will take us to an oasis tomorrow. While Abdelilah is taking such care of us Fatima is making our beds, doing our laundry, sweeping, and such things. All of this is cheerfully done.