The le grand taxi to Meknes!

Wednesday we took the le grand taxi to Meknes. We went to the Marché to catch the taxi but the location had _changed.  Doris asked someone where the new location was?  He pointed down the road and told us right at the round about.  We kept walking to each round about and kept asking where the taxi stand was?  Everyone kept point down the road and said right at the round about.  We finally ran out of town and road.  We arrived at the last round about and saw the taxi stand to our right. 

There are two types of cabs in Morocco.  The le grand taxi that travel on a fixed route between towns and the le petit taxi that carry passengers within a particular town – each town has a different color for the le petit taxi. There is set fee for the trip in le grand taxi and the cost is divided up among the passengers while the le petit taxi has a meter.  A single passenger can “rent” the le grand taxi but he or she would pay the full fee.  Tourists will do this but not local Moroccans.  By splitting the fee, it is cheap and affordable transportation.  The taxi can sit 6 people and a driver – 4 passengers in the back and 2 in the front.  If you sit in the back, you are packed in like sardines – you are intimate whether you want to be or not.   The grand taxi only leaves when the taxi is full – 6 passengers.  If you are lucky, it fills up quickly.  If not, you wait.  The taxis have no air conditioning.   Usually the driver’s window is open but Moroccans seem to have an aversion to opening any of the remaining windows not matter how hot it is.  Also many of the windows do not have a window crank so you have to ask the driver for “the crank” to roll down the window. Whoever sits by a window, controls the window.  Even if you can get someone to roll down a window, it mysteriously keeps closing.  Shared taxis are a cultural experience.  We’ve used them in Ghana and in Tunisia.  It’s a simple cheap system that works.

Our taxi filled up quickly for the trip to Meknes.  We sat in the back next to a slender young mother and her baby who was in a car seat.  Yes, the baby had to pay for a seat – a seat is a seat.  No one else in the car is going to pay for more than one seat.  This was incredibly lucky – there is nothing worse than sharing a cab with “large people” – you can’t breathe, you can’t move and the “forced intimacy” is uncomfortable for many westerners.  I actually enjoy using share taxis – it is a cultural experience that most westerners don’t allow themselves to experience.  Also it is an incredibly cheap way to travel.  Doris and I each paid 28 dirham ($3) for a 40 miles trip to Meknes.  The trip took about 45 minutes.  The driver drives like a bat out of hell, weaving in and out of traffic on curves and hills – it is better than the “scary ride” at Disney world.  

The countryside between Ifrane and Meknes reminds me of Colorado or New Mexico.   As you drop in altitude the heat increases dramatically – it was 90 degrees in Ifrane and 104 degrees in Meknes but a dry heat.  Along the way I noticed fields of onions and potatoes, corn, olive groves, apple and peach orchards and huge vineyards – Morocco is a major wine producer.  Once we arrived in Meknes, we caught a petit taxi to the Marché where Doris bought some flowers from a flower vendor – she has been buying flowers from the same vendor for years.  He always remembers her and gives her a few extra flowers from his people to her for her loss.  This always touches Doris deeply that he remembers.  From the Marché we walked to the French cemetery where visited Lancey’s grave. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Medina.  We had lunch at the Restaurant Riad and coffee later on a roof top café overlooking the city near the Mellah, the Jewish Medina that is separate from the regular Muslim Medina.  The original meaning comes from the Arabic world “mel” = salt, it took this name because the Jews were the salt sellers at the time.  High walls surround the Medina – we passed through the Bab Mansour gate and entered the Medina.  We wandered through the streets and alleys of the Medina until we arrived at the Restaurant Riad where we had a lovely lunch in the garden.  We then visited the Mausoleum of Mouley Ismail that was constructed in the 18^th century.  The inner chamber had always been closed to non-Muslims when Doris had been there before but now it is open to tourists.  The inner chamber has fountain and is incredibly cool.  We hung out there for a while to escape the 104-degree heat.  After the Mausoleum we visited the Mellah, the Jewish medina, which lies outside the walled medina.  We stopped for coffee at a roof top café where we had a panoramic view of the Medina, the Mellah and Meknes.  By then we were ready to head home so we caught a petit taxi and then a le grand taxi and headed back to Ifrane.  The heat dropped dramatically as the altitude increased.  It was good to be back home again.